Co-producing Solutions with Community Partners
CORE Series for Faculty
September 19, 2023
Nadia M. Anderson, RA
Associate Professor, David R. Ravin School of Architecture and Urban Design
Director, City Building Lab (CBL)
College of Arts + Architecture
nadia.anderson@charlotte.edu
Dr. Colleen Hammelman
Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Earth Sciences
Director, Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP)
colleen.hammelman@charlotte.edu
Action Research
Co-production of knowledge
Reflection, theory and practice
Multiple knowledge producers
Grounded in relationships
Action oriented
Source: Audia, C., Berkhout, F., Owusu, G., Quayyum, Z., & Agyei-Mensah, S. (2021). Loops and building blocks: a knowledge co-Production framework for equitable urban health. Journal of Urban Health, 98, 394-403.
Public Interest/Community-Engaged Design
Valuing Multiple Sources of Knowledge
Shared, Community-Centered Decision-Making
Shared, Community-Centered Ownership, Belonging Culturally Encoded in Built Environment
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Change in Power Structure of Professional Practice, Education
Top: Architecture + Coffee, https://miphz.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/infographic-public-interest-design/
Bottom: Detroit Collaborative Design Center, "Community-Engaged Design Educational Toolkit," https://www.dcdc-udm.org/engage
Designing a food retail solution for West Charlotte
Limited food access in West Charlotte
Long-standing community action to build alternatives
Partnerships
MOU Provisions
7 Community Leaders
7 Faculty Researchers
4 Phases during 8+ months
Objectives and Scope of the Collaboration | Topics covered:
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Commitment | Topics covered:
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Ground Rules | Outlines rules of engagement developed by the collective, including (among others):
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Principles of co-creation, co-owners, and action | Codifies that principles of co-creation and co-ownership are the foundation to the collective. “This means all Parties commit to contributing information and ideas in good faith, fully participating in discussions and events, respecting all perspectives, and not sharing data created together without express permission.“ |
Designing a food retail solution for West Charlotte
Phase 1: Laying the foundation
Phase 2: Designing the intervention
Phase 3: Building the plan
Phase 4: Implementation and sharing out
Designing a food retail solution for West Charlotte
Co-production of knowledge
As we examined local and national food access efforts, we found tension between authority and capacity. Community-based efforts often were rich in social capital but lacked the institutional assets needed for them to scale at a significant level. At the same time, institutional efforts - whether driven by private, non-profit or government interests - often left out community voices and authority, and seldom allowed opportunities for the community to benefit economically. Our initiative recognizes and aggressively seeks to reconcile this tension. - Phase 2 report except
If you look in hindsight, I really appreciate the fact that when we started off as a part of the food innovation group that we created some ground rules and we created some expectations that were mutual, to the university’s effort, and its role with this contract with the county, but it also respected the valuable input of community that were actually impacted by [the project]. - Participant reflection
Activating a community-based food ecosystem
Image adapted from the Center for Regional Food Systems at Michigan State University
Project as Catalyst
Community-Engaged Research and Scholarship
What type of knowledge does engaged work generate?
What "products" of engaged work demonstrate research, "count" for RPT?
What is IMPACT, how is it demonstrated, how does it constitute scholarship?
What is Peer Review for community-engaged research?
Vera Villanueva, "WANG: Outside the Ivory Tower," Yale Daily News, February 2, 2018, https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/02/18/wang-outside-the-ivory-tower/