A new collaborative program between Washington University's School of Architecture and the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago will bring together graduate students at both schools to explore ways that architectural and urban design can help revitalize cities. The two-and-a-half year program is being funded through a $75,000 grant from the Graham Foundation for Advancement in the Fine Arts.
Beginning this fall, students in both programs will study current urban policy issues and devise design strategies for projects in their own cities, while sharing lectures, reviews, symposia, site visits and other opportunities for mutual exchanges of ideas and research. The project will involve historical and comparative studies of the two cities and further both schools' commitment to working within their communities to address urban design issues.
"St. Louis and Chicago provide important and varied insights into the impact of economic and social change on the built environment," noted Eric Mumford, Ph.D., assistant professor of architectural history and theory, who, along with Jo Noero, the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture and director of the graduate architecture program, is overseeing the St. Louis portion of the project.
"Although both cities were major centers of culture and economic growth during the age of industrialization, they are among the U.S. cities most affected by de-industrialization," he continued. "Despite their historical importance, they have been largely ignored in recent decades as sources of architectural and urban design research. They provide good sites for developing a variety of models for urban design in the post-industrial age."
Noero added: "The decline of Midwestern urban neighborhoods, characterized by dilapidation and abandonment, was once a problem of the inner city, but now has begun to press outward to the inner ring of suburbs. While redevelopment efforts have had some success, all too often they have been ineffective or too unrealistic to have the intended effect."
The collaborative study will enrich understandings of this complex urban problem through intellectual and design interchanges among faculty and students at both schools. Visiting professors, lecturers and practitioners will ensure broad, multidisciplinary perspectives for investigating urban revitalization.
The students will draw upon the insights garnered from studying the two cities to form partnerships between the schools and community groups and public agencies. At Washington University, the design projects will be coordinated through the School of Architecture's Urban Research Center. The community aspect of the project will tackle pressing issues, such as sustainable neighborhoods, community demands for diverse design projects, public involvement in revitalization, and design for urban living conditions that makes walking a real and attractive transportation alternative.
"The study will illustrate through the design of projects developed in consultation with local residents that design matters in addressing complex urban problems," Mumford said. "The project seeks to establish new frames of reference and understanding of Midwestern cities to encourage additional, much needed research and professional practice in the area of North American urban revitalization. The two schools of architecture working in tandem are ideally suited to further this process."
