A conversation with Mark Lakeman of City Repair

February 21, 2013

Handout

Description:

A pervasive cultural epiphany is blossoming in Portland, Oregon. Perhaps like nothing quite seen before, it consists of innumerable small and simultaneous revolutions that are not coordinated, and yet stem from a common impulse. One of them, key for all the rest, is process for transforming ordinary street right of ways into community gathering places. Called "Intersection Repair", this way of legally reclaiming streets has enabled citizens across the city to facilitate a vast new spectrum of cultural activities in every locality, literally providing a cultural crossroads where transitional localization projects are being realized, and are expanding from each of these nodes of action.

Mark Lakeman is a national leader in the development of sustainable public places. In the last decade he has directed or facilitated designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone. Through his leadership in Communitecture, Inc., and it’s 501©3 affiliate The City Repair Project, he has also been instrumental in the development of dozens of participatory design projects and organizations across the United States and Canada. Mark works with governmental leaders, community organizations, and educational institutions in many diverse communities.


Tags: City Repair, Placemaking

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