Projects + Partners :: Current Projects
2008.2009 PROJECTS
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Envisioning ways that Chicago can become a sustainable urban model for dealing with the local/global water scarcity dilemma. Access to clean water is fundamental to the lives of healthy human beings. While the United States is by and large considered to have adequate water resources, water scarcity and droughts occur regularly throughout the country. Water shortages are even routinely reported in cities directly adjacent to the Great Lakes, which hold 20% of the Earth’s freshwater and 95% of the freshwater in the U.S. The Archeworks Water Project will be a collaborative multidisciplinary project that promises to have significant impact on environmental sustainability, social equity and educational programming in the city of Chicago. The Water Project reflects a report from the United Nations that two out of every three people in the world will be facing water shortages by 2025, a situation that will inevitably lead to global conflict. In the very near future, clean water will be the world’s most valuable resource, the new oil. With the support of the Office of the Mayor of Chicago, Archeworks will work with a broad array of governmental, community, and academic colleagues to develop the Water Project. The project will strive to become a catalyst for the sustainable revitalization of several neighborhoods within the city and as a “Green Legacy” for Chicagoans. Student ProjectsThird Avenue – Education / Community Archeworks will work to promote the long range development of an environmentally friendly intermediate transportation infrastructure in urban environments to accommodate new modes of personal transportation. As part of the overall regional plan, this “third avenue” concept dramatically combines the need for low-speed, short-distance and energy-efficient commuter transportation with new concepts in surface water management infrastructure in a creative synergy. Archeworks will work in the city of Chicago to (1) develop specific concepts for the establishment of the “third avenue,” (2) to advocate public policies designed to implement the construction of “third avenue” infrastructure, and (3) create public awareness and demand for “third avenue” development. The hope is that these ideas could be included in proposals for Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics. Water Pressures – Education / Health Archeworks will partner with artistic circles, a Chicago-based collaborative media organization, on a public education program to examine collaborative models for water management around the world. Archeworks will lead the process of conceptualizing and testing prototypes for a Global Water website, designed to be an interactive online portal for community engagement and knowledge sharing on issues of water management, scarcity and pollution. A key component of this project will be working with water experts, community organizations, urban planners and engineers, researchers, and the public at large to begin the process of knowledge sharing for this collaborative website. Little Village Pocket Parks Project Archeworks will partner with a group of community-based organizations in Chicago’s Little Village community to design of a series of new community-managed open spaces, or Pocket Parks. The goal of this project will be to engage community residents in a participatory design process that results in new open spaces that promote sustainable land use, advance community health and well-being, and celebrate the unique character and heritage of Little Village’s Mexican immigrant community. A key component of this project will be a series of Archeworks-led design charrettes involving local residents, landscape architects, and community artists. Give us feedback on this project
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