Urban Design as a Collective Enterprise: The Challenge of Housing Development in Memphis (TN, USA)

ABSTRACT

This paper uses three theoretical frameworks to critically reflect on the outcomes and implications of an urban design process stemming from an action research planning experience. The process, focused on the re-development of a public housing complex in the Vance Avenue Neighborhood (Memphis, TN, US), was carried out by a community university partnership—the Vance Avenue Collaborative—playing a fundamental role in trying to re-orient planning practice and research in the city of Memphis. The paper offers some general insights to reflect on the role of urban design as a public and civic endeavor supported by collective interdisciplinary research.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban design
• action research
• cultural heritage
• housing development
• community development

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the residents, community members, and university researchers who participated in the Vance Avenue Collaborative in various capacities. Special thanks go to Ken Reardon who directed and coordinated this planning project while chairing the CRP Department at UoM, and Laura Saija and Katherine Lambert-Pennington who have fundamentally contributed to the research process. I also would like to thank Sara Tornabene for her research and design contribution to this project, and for her strong encouragement to write this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. According with guidelines of the department of interior, the Collaborative explored the possibility to have Foote Homes listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Despite being supported by many local organizations advocating for preservation and various experts, the process of formal recognition of the complex found strong oppositions by local institutions. Nevertheless, the restoration proposal was generated following the Department of interior guidelines for preservation and rehabilitation.

2. A more detailed visualization of the proposed design was elaborated after the completion of the Community Transformation Plan thanks to an international community design workshop funded and organized as part of Dr. Laura Saija's Marie Curie Research Fellowship (Saija 2017). A video communicating the UD proposal was prepared by one of the workshop participants, Sara Tornabene, and it is accessible at: https://vimeo.com/108988628.