Rebuilding a Community

Rebuilding a Community

by Tim Ostberg, ArchiJunkie, February 25, 2009

Community is precious; It can help make many events happen. It can make positive changes in neighborhoods, villages, countries and schools. It is the SPACE BETWEEN that holds us together. At the Town Forum the other night at our school, as I walked into the room the first impression was of the energy, excitement and enthusiasm of students. IT WAS CLEAR. The writing board was full of thoughts, ideas and well-discussed suggestions for a better department. It was a beginning; a COMMUNITY ACTION Over the years we have lost much of the community of our schools of architecture, the spirit and the energy. It has been replaced with rules, regulations and procedures. It has become process without content. We have lost the days when the whole community came together once a week to share a meal, or the times after a long week, when we all celebrated our thoughts. We have lost the casual conversations, between students and faculty, faculty and facutly, staff and all. We have lost our center, the spirit of the place - the community of the place. NOW is the time to come together again. The energy is there everywhere NOW for the Echo of this community! And the echo needs help. We need space for this to happen. Not just endless halls which can never really become a place. We need sponsored events. We need resources to make events happen. And we need to be in one place not scattered throughout the campus. Places come from community and community is about coming together to make a place. We must be in the same place!

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Evangelos P. Limpantoudis

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