Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Symposium Thing-a-ma-bobber.... (No Class Day!!)

Instead of going to class on October 18, 2010, I was able to go to a session at the research symposium in Langford. I decided to go to the one over "Milestones in Urban Revitilization" in the Wright Gallery at 3:00 pm. This lecture was taught by June Martin. She did research over sight design and development in East Athens, Georgia. It was mainly done in an area prone to crime and illegal activities.

This study was done over many years ranging from 1994-2009. The main target to change and improve was referred to as the iron triangle. This area was a place that had one of the highest amounts of crime related to.

They decided to improve many parts of this area, and prioritized two housing areas that were run down and utilized by many people for illegal activities. Once this was improved, they were able to bring many residents in that would never consider the area with the previous conditions.

They learned many different things that were extremely important to turn a dying neighborhood into a better living place. One of the most important lessons was to actually visit the site. They visited the area on a regular basis to see how it improved as they made certain changes and to see if they could make it better in any way.

Some East Athens Lessons Learned include:

1. Economic Improvement
2. Housing Developement
3. Improved Policing
4. Recreation and Cultural Assetts
5. Improved access to Services

They learned to get this project done they needed:
1. Commitment from Community
2. Commitment of Resources
3. Empowerment of Community

Overall I thought it was an interesting topic of how much work and the kind of decisions it takes to recreate a community and improve the basic problems it has.

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