University, city and residents engage at Ponderosa event
This spring more than 40 91勛圖厙 students and faculty sought solutions to preserve Boulders 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.泭泭
On April 27,泭approximately 60泭city staff, Ponderosa community members and 91勛圖厙 students and faculty, attended the event, Lessons from Ponderosa Mobile Home Park, sponsored by泭MetroLab, a 91勛圖厙-city of Boulder collaboration, applying university research to key urban design, technology and management challenges.泭泭泭
Because the university is seen as a neutral party and we don't have a stake in the project, residents feel comfortable to say whats on their minds, and we can gather useful information, says Brian Muller, director of the Community Engagement, Design and Research (CEDaR) Center.泭泭泭泭
The event began with an introduction by Muller and Kurt泭Firnhaber, city of Boulders deputy director of housing, which was followed by a choice of a gallery walk or "community conversations.泭 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泭泭Wilberding); Inclusive Community Design (Bruce Goldstein); Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative (BAHRI) (Jennifer泭Fluri); Sustainable Community Development Clinic (Deborah Cantrell) and Growing Up Boulder (Aria泭Dellepiane, Nia泭Efeoglu, Catherine Hill and Sara泭Taketatsu).泭泭泭泭
A subsequent discussion of how Ponderosa communitys experience could inform organization and design of affordable housing in Boulder was based on work by students from the Program in Environmental Design, the University of Colorado Law School, Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative (BAHRI), Growing Up Boulder (GUB) and the neighborhood.泭泭
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 citys goals and establishing timelines in advance.泭泭泭