A meeting of the minds is taking place in Londonderry this week. It has been organized by Marlboro College Graduate School's Center for Creative Solutions, and is the Center's 2013 Workshop. After the Flood: Regenerative Design, Renewal, Resilience is designed to assist the people of Londonderry in envisioning uses for the flooded properties the town acquired through the FEMA buyout program.
A Center for Creative Solutions overview of the project states:
The Center for Creative Solutions’ workshop, After the Flood: Regenerative Design, Renewal, Resilience, will engage a rural Vermont community in reconceptualizing the disaster and loss incurred by Tropical Storm Irene to build a renewed sense of community and future. In this context, we will explore ways that severely damaged properties in the floodplain, which will become town owned properties, can become community assets. The goal of the workshop is to provide the Town and community with actionable ideas to advance the future of these “buyout” properties. The nature of this inquiry is to question assumptions and reframe critical issues. Integral to the creative process is learning from the community and bringing together and engaging with different points of view to uncover the potential and possibilities for the sites.
Participants, including experts in the arts, design, planning, engineering and sustainable landscape design toured Londonderry on Monday before partaking in panel discussions on the community, the river and the storm. Their ultimate goal will be to identify options for flood buyout properties at the intersection of Routes 100 and 11.
For six days a team of professionals including three Londonderry residents will gather and synthesize information on the sites, river and community from a variety of perspectives. Through interviews and formal and informal interactions with community stakeholders, the workshop team wants to learn what is most valuable for reconstructing the life and identity of the community post-Irene. Coming to understand the community’s sense of itself, past and present, together with questioning assumptions about what is possible on the sites new thinking and opportunities emerge. The workshop goal is to generate several viable options for the buyout properties that advance the town’s vision for its future.
The six-day workshop includes three community events, at which Londonderry residents are encouraged to attend:
- Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Old Town Hall Post Irene: Community Identity and Future
- Thursday, August 8, 2013 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Depot Building Open Studio: View Work - in - Progress
- Saturday, August 10, 2013 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Depot Building Next Steps: Community Discussion
The Center for Creative Solutions 2013 Workshop is being held in partnership with Windham Regional Commission and received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
