Course Description

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INTDS 301 is a unique course in which you will be asked to apply best practices in sustainability and eco-art to a local environmental problem. This course serves as the capstone to the Arts & Environment Interdisciplinary Minor, and can also be applied to a variety of other minors and majors.

At present CEED is taking the lead in promoting a comprehensive, community-based program for economic revitalization of Meadville. Aimed at stimulating economic, environmental and social sustainability, we have collaborated with a broad based group of community partners in developing plans for Meadville, PA. Not Your Run of the Mill Community. Moving this plan forward will provide the focus of our work this semester.

Much of the groundwork has been laid. CEED has built strong alliances with

• Economic Progress Alliance
• Meadville Redevelopment Authority
• Crawford County Solid Waste Authority
• Chamber of Commerce
• Crawford County Commissioners

The key to creating a sustainable future for Meadville include understanding and discussing

• The plight of cities in PA
• Role of Higher Ed in Economic and Community Development
• Sustainability and land use planning and zoning as relevant to change
• Best practices for land use planning, zoning, green building, and community development
• Restoring urban streams
• Asset Mapping – inventory of community assets 
• Community Development Corporations (CDC’s)

You will be asked to engage in reading and discussion to help clarify how these issues relate to our work. You will also be asked to select one of the following projects to work on. You may work alone or in a group.

Projects

• Design and plan a comprehensive proposal for the creation of a community based green renovation company (for profit? Not for profit?) that will address current problems with renovating aging housing stock in the greater Meadville area.
• Asset-mapping and coordination of plans to mobilize local citizens to engage in this project. Asset mapping involves looking at the strengths of a neighborhood or community. For more information see Dr. Jody Kretzmann's website.
• To work with the Crawford County Historical Society to secure cultural asset designation for Mill Run.
• Add to Meadville, PA: Not Your Run of the Mill Community presentation – this could involve developing photoshop images similar to those prepared by Professor Geffen for the Art Faculty Show that would expand upon our ideas. Images would be added to an existing powerpoint for presentation to community groups.
• Create a 3D model for Mill Run that would be scaled to the size of a train set and feature just key sites. See Groundworks show in Pittsburgh or the Groundworks homepage. The best example of this model is part of a Groundworks slide show.
• Murals – design development and/or planning for infrastructure (e.g., contact info, teachers who might be interested, building owners, etc).
  • Channellock tools – windows
  • Building on Linden Street just after you turn off of the Smock Bridge –possibilities for collaboration with Second District School or Elm Street area
  • Along Park Ave
    • Firestone Building;
    • Lew Davies Community Building;
    • Hairitage (across from Wendy’s);
    • PNC building back side per Ed Fine’s request;
    • Meadville Tribune building;
    • Hovis on Park Avenue;
    • building that Pizza from Mars is in…the side of the building that faces Park Ave, just upper story;
    • back of Mercatoris building (fronts on Park Ave.);
    • MMC on Liberty side;
    • North Street building that you see heading east next to empty lot by Used to Be New
  • Designs for the mural on the niche in Market Alley
  **Shannon Ferret, an Americorp vista intern can help with some of this work. Shannon has an art background and has developed a list of building owners and their contact information..
• On North Street, explore ideas for green space for empty lot next to Used to Be New.
• Research and experiment with surface treatments for roadways re: highlighting Mill Run, especially along North Street.
• Ecological riparian restoration of Mill Run near City Building.
• Rick Williams, city planner, proposed that we open up Mill Run on the corner of Arch and Water Streets and create a “gateway park’ for that site.
• Wetlands/rain garden/stormwater mitigation near East End School – Patricia Johanson will be here and she has experience in this area and it could be a very cool demonstration project for place based education at East End. French Creek Project has a grant to do two big stormwater mitigations and are still exploring site options. Our thinking is to help with this and to bring art into the formal design of the site.
• Develop a logo and website for the Crawford County Vision Team.
• Design development for Interstate-79 project PennDOT plans to reconstruct the interchange on Interstate 79 in Meadville in about three years. They are interested in the use of art during the renovation process. Here is one example of artistic treatment of I-79.
• Design development for the parking garage project on Water Street – Joe Chriest, Meadville City Engineer, wants to do this. We could install sign art there, but also design a fence to replace the one that got taken out by the concrete that came off.
• Downtown Mall – Meadville's city planning commission is interested in an artistic renovation of the downtown mall. Some plans were drawn up during LS301 in 2004. Technically this is a façade and is eligible for CDBG money for façade renewal. He also mentioned several other fiscal options that seem worth reviewing, thereby making this a viable project.
• Gateway design plans for North Street by C&J Industries re: North Street improvement project (PennDOT)
• Video booth idea creating a community site for recording oral histories that would also function as a park of sorts.
• Explore getting highway signs announcing you are entering the French Creek Watershed, like those for Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

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Schedule and Topics

I. Introduction to Meadville

1/19 Week one - Intro presentation Meadville History (Professor Pallant) and CEED presentation (Professors Pallant and Geffen

1/24 and 26 Week two – background on CEED’s latest efforts

• 1/24 - Professor Geffen presentation on Not Your Run of the Mill Community
  • Homework: Site visits- turn in sketch or photographs, impressions, and site description of three sites that match your project interests
• 1/26 - Mill Run presentation and discussion - Field trip on Thursday

1/31 and 2/2 Week three – Discuss projects, share ideas, brainstorm.

Homework: Look at Greenmuseum website essay on how to begin a community based project and discuss on 1/31 in relation to our work.

Homework: Readings on eco-artists doing similar work: on Greenmuseum website, look at Susan L. Stienman (Elkhorn City project, also on Groundworks site), Helen and Newton Harrison (especially Fecal Matters from Groundworks and the Green Heart of Holland). Discuss as background to our work, possible inspiration.

2/7 and 2/9 Week four –

• Paper one due electronically February 7 (send to both of us) : No more than five pages long. Must have at least ten references and answer the question: "What can Meadville learn from sustainability actions in other cities in the world?" Among the cities you might consider are Pittsfield, Mass, Franklin and Marshall University's efforts in Lancaster, PA, Vandergrift PA, Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA. Here are a few useful websites to get you started.
  • European Green Cities
  • Community Arts Network
  • Paradigms on the Move: The Groundworks Monongahela Conference
  • Additional class links here

2/14 and 2/16 Week five –

• Bring rough draft to class to workshop on 2/14.
• First Draft of Project Proposal Due 2/16 . Concise description of
  • What you intend to accomplish for the semester on your project
  • How you itend to accomplish it, i.e., what methods you will use
  • What resources you will need, i.e, spray paint, Photoshop, crayons, a phone card...
  • What community partners you are working with and audience for project
  • A week by week timeline for completing a first draft of your project by 3/2
  • What your final product will look like: model, Power Point, recommendations, economic analysis, etc.
• Outside visitors (Andy Walker, Rich Friedberg, Jack Lynch, Rick Grossman, Ann Stewart)

BEGIN WORKING ON PROJECTS....THIS IS YOUR OUTSIDE OF CLASS WORK WEEKLY!

2/21 and 2/23  Week six

2/28 and 3/2 Week seven   

3/7 and 3/9 Week eight ….
           3/7 Patricia Johanson’s visit

3/14 AND 3/16 - Week nine

3/21 and 3/26 --- SPRING BREAK

3/28 and 3/30 - - Week ten

4/4 and 4/6 - Week eleven

Community presentations?

4/11 and 4/13 - Week twelve

Teleconference with Advisory Board Members (specifically Harrison's, Knox and Goldsmith)

Service Learning Mini-conference? Date unknown as yet but around here?

4/18 and 4/20 - Week thirteen

4/25 and 4/27 - Week fourteen

Projects due - present to each other.

Stage show downtown?

5/2 Last class - summary and wrapup.

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The audience for the papers you will be writing, and designs you will be preparing, in addition to us, will include the

• Mayor of Meadville, Meadville's City Council, its city manager, its historian, members of the Meadville Redevelopment Authority,the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, several business owners, and ultimately
• thousands of residents in and visitors to downtown Meadville

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Grades will be based on class participation, one short paper, preliminary site reports, your project proposal, and your completed project..