Community Based Projects @ BSU: About CBP


introduction
	Teaching, research, and service constitute the mission of Ball State University, Indiana's only public institution of higher education with a college of architecture and urban planning. Composed of the Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning, with historic preservation and energy research programs, the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) has, since its founding in 1966, established and promoted specific programs that combine teaching, research, and service activities that focus on the environmental design and planning professions. One such program is the Community Based Projects (CBP) Program, which is primarily responsible for activities focused on the many communities that make up Indiana--from inner-city neighborhoods to rural, small towns.
cbp history
	The CBP Program was informally established in 1966 with the college's admission of its first class. From the beginning, students were involved with projects in Muncie and other communities as part of their academic studios. In 1969, with its participation in the first Indianapolis Inner City Study, the college established the Urban Design Studio, the forerunner of the CBP Program. The program was formally renamed in 1979 to better reflect its wide range of activities, which have ranged from environmental-impact and growth-management studies to neighborhood revitalization and planning strategies for downtown development. Since 1969 the CBP Program has been involved in more than seventy-five Indiana communities, ranging from one-day charrette workshops to a twenty-two-month consultancy. It has participated in national (R/UDAT--Regional/Urban Design Assistance Teams--studies in Lafayette and Anderson) and state- sponsored (White River Park P/DAT--Public/Design Assistance Teams--and Indiana Commission for Higher Education Public Education) programs, but the CBP Program primarily has been involved with hundreds of local governmental, civic, and service organizations. In each project, the desires and needs of the community are interfaced with the educational philosophy and goals of the program. Since 1969, CBP has been directly or indirectly responsible for approximately $120 million in public capital improvements throughout Indiana and countless dollars of related private investment.
program goals
	The primary goal of the CBP Program is to give CAP students a series of viable learning experiences in urban planning and design, citizen participation methods, neighborhood revitalization, etc. This goal is based on the belief that a more realistic and pragmatic understanding of these activities can best be gained by the students through their participation in a community-based, problem-focused, hands-on format. The second instructional goal of the program is to provide public education in environmental planning and design to both the public and private sectors so that they may more effectively participate in the decision-making process that is an integral component of creative problem solving. This goal is based on the belief that an informed and educated public is the key to an effective participatory format for all community planning, revitalization, and development efforts. The development of communication techniques geared to increasing public awareness and facilitating a “take-part” process is an important focus on the program. The third goal of the program is to provide service in the form of technical assistance in urban planning and design matters to both the public and private sectors. This goal is based on the belief that responsible decisions concerning the future of Indiana's physical environment must be based on accurate, unbiased information and objective comparisons of alternative strategies and proposal. The fourth goal of the program is to promote applied research activities that focus on Indiana urban contexts--from inner-city neighborhoods to small rural towns. This research concerns itself with the methodologies used in the analysis, programming, planning, and design synthesis) of urban environments and the teaching of professionals who will be involved in them.
program expertise and experience
	Community-based activities, like the other units of the college, stress interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to education, research, and service. Whenever possible, teams of faculty members and students representing various disciplines and expertise work together to address the environmental issues and problems to be solved. The departments and programs in the College of Architecture and Planning represent a wide range of expertise and emphases, including urban design, citizen participation, history, preservation and adaptive use, research methods and process, and computers and computer-aided design. Often representatives of disciplines at the university not based in the college, including sociology, political science, physics, economics, and natural resources, contribute to the success of CBP activities. This approach allows for the use of a broad range of substantive and procedural resources.
procedures and format
	Projects are the product of collaborative efforts of diverse CBP planning and design assistance teams made possible due to hundreds of volunteer hours donated by faculty, students, and community participants. The format of each project is unique and is developed specifically for the respective context in which the project is rooted. Projects are unified by the program's commitment to public participatory planning and design. All community based projects are solely initiated by community invitation. Each prospective community is analyzed before any CBP assistance is initiated to insure that the community in question has all the necessary ingredients for a successful project. Virtually all projects undertaken by the CBP Program follow one of three major formats: academic studio or class projects, charrette workshops, or grant-supported research, design, or planning studies. The format is determined through negotiation and discussion among the community representatives, the CBP coordinator, and participating faculty members. The criteria used in determining the optimum format include community and academic goals, community and academic time schedules, and available community resources. Often a CBP project may involve using more than one format in a sequence that is deemed most advantageous to both the community and the college. In the past, academic studios have been held after a grant-supported study of a charrette workshop. The initial study will often pinpoint more project-specific opportunities that require additional studies. The academic studio format normally involves an instructor and his or her studio class focusing on a project as part of their normal academic work. The duration, intensity, and result of this type of project is negotiated between the instructor and the local community organization and will depend on the educational objectives of the course. This format is typically used in places within a few hours' drive of Ball State.
the charrette workshop
	The charrette workshop format has been refined by the CBP Program during the last five years. It is most often used in communities too far from Muncie to use the academic studio or in situations requiring a substantial amount of community involvement. Modeling after the nationally acclaimed AIA-sponsored R/UDAT Program, this program uses the intense two- or three-day community-based workshop as a vehicle for initially responding to community-defined issues, problems, and potentials. Heavily dependent on substantial community participation, this procedure is best used at the “front end” of the planning-design sequence when major aims include citizen awareness and education, goal formulation, problem and issue assessment, generation of “talk pieces”, ideas, and images, and overall strategy development. To date, this format has been successfully used in over fifty communities throughout the state. The faculty and students who participate on these workshops are specifically selected for their expertise, skill, and commitment to citizen participation and an interactive planning and design process. This format requires a great deal of organization and commitment on the part of the community. The planning before a workshop usually takes three to six months. Central to this organizational effort is the designation of a contact person who will be the liaison between the community and the CBP coordinator. The contact person can be a public official (e.g., mayor), private sector representative (e.g., director of local Chamber of Commerce), or committed citizen. Even more important is the establishment of a steering committee whose members most represent the broadest spectrum of both public and private sector. This committee will normally have between fifteen and twenty members and will be responsible for the logistical requirements of the workshop as well as representing the concerns of the community. The actual workshop takes place in the community at a public facility with twenty-four hour access. In the past, meeting places have included firehouses, town halls, businesses, houses of worship, and community meeting rooms. The actual workshop, which lasts two or three days, is organized by the Project or Study Director and steering committee and includes information-gathering sessions, open and closed work sessions, and public meetings. These charrette workshops have proven themselves to be great catalysts in prompting a community to analyze and establish goals and to implement programs for improvement.