Knowledge Bank

The Make it Right Project was initiated in December 2006 by Brad Pitt. The project’s goal was to build green affordable housing on a large scale to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Pitt spent time with architects, community leaders and displaced residents to come up with ideas about how to develop ecological housing and at the same time have creative designs that would connect the community with their new environments. The Pink Project - also part of this initiative- is an ambitious commemorative installation that is used as a communication tool to raise awareness about the crisis. It is essentially a work in progress involving collaborative building in which anyone can participate. The Make it Right Project employs decision making through community involvement but more importantly aims at steering social and ecological change creatively.

This architectural firm works for opening the notion of quality architecture by taking into account social equality and environmental awareness. They promote sustainable building design using dialectic strategies –through research, writing and speech. Their projects are inspired by natural living systems and aim at creating an organic relationship between human and natural environments. Some of their projects include the Make it Right Project, and the Rugby Radio Towers in Warwickshire.

Graft is in cross-disciplinary production company interested in the creative potentials and methodologies of different environments. They are involved in music, car design, art installations, academic projects and "eventings"  in a variety of projects throughout the globe. In other words, they use creativity to deal with social and urban issues in an alternative way.

Interdependence Day is a forum that aims at establishing interdependence as a reality of global daily existence and to support policies and institutions that affirm its democratic realization. Through seminars and cultural events CivWorld looks at creating a space for dialogue to create new ways of dealing with issues such as environment, development and globalization.

Container Cities are an alternative solution to traditional space building in which shipping containers are linked together to provide strongl modules that can be combined to create a wide variety of building shapes. Container City building technology has a great social impact because they provide extremely affordable housing that at the same time is environmentally friendly.

The Green Museum is an online museum and of environmental art. Their goal is to develop a community of artists who are engaged in raising awareness in environmental issues, community and social change.

Observatorium is a non for profit, artist run forganisation that creates exhibitions, public sculpture and networks. It develops projects relating to public space using an inter-disciplinary and participatory approach to decision making for environment design.

Rural Studios is an alternative academic centre that also holds exhibits, building projects and research programmes from both Auburn and international students. Their mission is to enable students to use their skills in the building of their environment through participation and human contact. Rural studios promotes educative schemes that influence individuals to become overall political, social and environmentally engaged citizens.  

Sponge is an open network of individuals who work towards sustainable development of built and natural environments. Through a set of communication platforms and ideas exchange Sponge focuses on ecology as a priority for the construction industries. They organize networking events, seminars and workshops in which they practice collaborative policy development.

This is an art centred collaborative regeneration initiative forr the former mining town of Castleford, England. 11 improvement projects include the relocation of memorial public benches, the development of a children’s play forest in what used to be an abandoned council allotment and the improvement of the Ferry Fryston Green. This is project is lead by  regeneration, design and development organisations and supported by the Channel 4, City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, English Partnerships, Yorkshire Forward, Groundwork UK and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. 

www.channel4.com

This is an artist lead participatory project initiated by the Aberdeenshire Council to regenerate the remote town of Peterhead in Scotland.  The artists Sans Façon worked with DEF Landscapes initiatives to create a regeneration plan for the town. Through organising a conference, creating a history map and curating 3 artistic interventions in the town, Sans Façon generated engagement form the local inhabitants in the visioning of the future of the location.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Sit Down! was a regeneration project in a multicultural district of Copenhagen. It was financed by the City of Copenhagen and Realdania – a foundation that supports projects in the built environment. Six temporary interventions were delivered by artist collective Publik that engaged the local community in the improvement of the area.

A partnership between Burnley Borough Council, artist team Co Lab Project and Civic Architects to develop public art proposals for a Housing Market Renewal scheme. This scheme is tackling the housing market failure in the Northwest of England and used participatory community engagement to inform their proposals. The piece Peer Plaques are several commemorative plaques been spread-out around the area with quotes from the local inhabitant’s answers to the question"What is your first thought when you think about your neighborhood?"

www.co-lab.org/commissions

 An architects practice specialising in designing social public spaces and green spaces with great importance given to community consultation. They offer an alternative vision to community consultation by enabling the community to lead the design process by their own experiences and from their position as lay people.

www.civic.org.uk

 A project to renew the design of a 1970s ring road in Ashford using a design approach that gives equal balance to pedestrians and motor vehicles on roads and highways. Shared Space- European urban design a policy makers - are working with artists such as Michael Pinsky, John Atkin, John Maine, Nayan Kulkarniu and Simeon Nelson to work on the surrounding landscape, lighting strategy, and road.

www.kent.gov.uk

Shared Space has developed a design manifesto for planning, management and maintenance of streets and public spaces based on the balance of traffic with other forms of human activity. Through the absence of traditional signage, road markings and humps and barriers, human behaviour is controlled by everyday life norms. They have work in partnership with local authorities in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany among other countries.

www.shared-space.org

A investment foundation that supports projects that help the built environment. It focuses on projects that improve quality of life through the building of public spaces. Their methodology is based on communication and research and operates through a grant making and investment strategy. They aim at maximizing the balance of returns on equity while still funding the development of built environment with a direct benefit of common good.

www.realdania.dk

2,200 acres cover what used to be landfill waste. Today it has undergone a massive renewal project, which converted the site into a great park for recreational use. Still under development, Fresh Kills is an example of creative land reclamation that will transform how we experience vast, past industrial urban landscapes.  Using innovation ecological restoration techniques, the park aims to be a wild life sanctuary as well as a site for public art, recreational activities and sports. 

www.nycgovparks.org