Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Christine Mondor
The Race is Really the Prize: Designing Community Capacity in EcodistrictsCities are interwoven diagrams of economic, social and ecological patterns.As our society developed technology to build power lines, dams and levees,food supply networks, and other modern infrastructure we overcame manyecological limitations. As a result, city planning shifted away from ecologicalconcerns to focus primarily on economic and social issues. We wanted toknow what economic and social opportunities would arise if a neighborhoodrenewed itself by deep planning around environmental systems?Sustainability frameworks such as the ILBI’s Living Cities Challenge (Institute2011) are changing the practices of urban and architectural design byadvocating for urban scale systems that are environmentally performative;the emerging term ecodistrict has been used to describe this planning. Thisplanning is often focused on the technical and engineering implications ofperformative place-making, especially with infrastructure related to distributedpower generation, net zero water, and net zero energy. Consequently,technology has been seen as the biggest challenge. In our work in urbancommunities we have observed that while infrastructure—the “hardware” ofa community will continue to be a focus for problem solving, the “software”of community capacity is the variable that most affects the success of aproject. We believe that community capacity will be the locus for transformationand the next threshold for design opportunity.High performing systems require innovative design and engineering, yet themost effective systems require community capacity to imagine, implementand steward the systems. Innovative urban scale systems depend on thecommunity’s strength in decision-making, knowledge development, legalstructure and financial resources. In this emerging context, our professionwill have opportunities to orchestrate community capacity simultaneous tothe design of the physical environment and we need design methods thatacknowledge the interrelatedness of social engagement and the built environment.This dual focus aligns sustainability as a wicked problem wheretechnological issues are interwoven with social issues and puts the verydefinition of community as an issue of design.This case study examines sustainability through physical place making, aswell as the social and cultural infrastructure. Through work with communitygroups, nonprofits and local government, the concept of an ecodistricthas evolved beyond environmental performance to be both a physical anda social strategy which offer opportunities for design. This study suggeststhat community resiliency can be created when built environment improvementsare coupled with civic engagement; where making place is a community-building act.
Volume Editors
Martha Thorne & Xavier Costa
ISBN
978-0-935502-83-1
