This spring more than 40 CU 麻豆影院 students and faculty sought solutions to preserve 麻豆影院鈥檚 Ponderosa Mobile Home Park as it transitions to a more resilient model of affordable housing. The diverse 68-unit community has a long history of infrastructure issues, including impacts from the 2013 flood and challenges in providing utilities, health and safety services.听听
On April 27,听approximately 60听city staff, Ponderosa community members and CU 麻豆影院 students and faculty, attended the event, 鈥淟essons from Ponderosa Mobile Home Park,鈥� sponsored by听MetroLab, a CU 麻豆影院-city of 麻豆影院 collaboration, applying university research to key urban design, technology and management challenges.听听听
鈥淏ecause the university is seen as a neutral party and we don't have a stake in the project, residents feel comfortable to say what鈥檚 on their minds, and we can gather useful information,鈥� says Brian Muller, director of the Community Engagement, Design and Research (CEDaR) Center.听听听听
The event began with an introduction by Muller and Kurt听Firnhaber, city of 麻豆影院鈥檚 deputy director of housing, which was followed by a choice of a gallery walk or "community conversations.鈥澨� Participants interacted with students who presented their site/housing designs for Ponderosa (from Praxis class) and held mini workshops to test prototypes for community engagement techniques (from Inclusive Community Design class). Every 10 minutes, the gallery walk would break for a presentation from one of the CU partners including, Environmental Design Praxis Studio (Neal Evers and Seth听听Wilberding); Inclusive Community Design (Bruce Goldstein); 麻豆影院 Affordable Housing Research Initiative (BAHRI) (Jennifer听Fluri); Sustainable Community Development Clinic (Deborah Cantrell) and Growing Up 麻豆影院 (Aria听Dellepiane, Nia听Efeoglu, Catherine Hill and Sara听Taketatsu).听听听听
A subsequent discussion of how Ponderosa community鈥檚 experience could inform organization and design of affordable housing in 麻豆影院 was based on work by students from the Program in Environmental Design, the University of Colorado Law School, 麻豆影院 Affordable Housing Research Initiative (BAHRI), Growing Up 麻豆影院 (GUB) and the neighborhood.听听
Closing thoughts included the desire for more cross fertilization for design/social sciences disciplines; more interactions with city at the beginning to help the university align its goals with the city鈥檚 goals and establishing timelines in advance.听听听