ABSTRACT
The North Side Neighborhood Visioning Project demonstrates a move toward design as civic action and community building. The North Side Project demonstrated integrated collaborative roles and responsibilities, integrated processes, and integrated outcomes. Place theory and practice recast the landscape architect as an insider, a member of the community. To make places, designers must become sensitive to the attributes of place, distinguish what a place-based approach is, and understand how design processes and plans can enhance relationships between places and people. Service-learning makes visible what is hidden in the on-campus studio setting. It advocates reflection and critical revision, dialogue and responsiveness. Integrated evaluation and reflection support the “shifting ground” premise of this essay and underscore the need to continually reframe all aspects of the design process, in and outside the academy, as a set of “actions” that strengthen civic and community building for students, faculty, and residents.
