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In this episode, we are joined by Mark Lakeman, the founder of the non-profit placemaking movement and organization known as The City Repair Project. He is also the principal and design director of Communitecture, a cutting-edge community architecture and planning firm. Mark is on a mission to develop human and ecological communities with urban design and placemaking, permaculture and ecological building, encouraging community interaction, and more. How has Mark's leadership benefited communities across North America? What do sustainable public places have to do with the collective welfare of humans? Hit play to find out now! In this conversation, we discuss: What “neighborhood revitalization” means and how to achieve it. How to use design to facilitate human interaction. The sociological impact that isolation has on human beings. How to establish and maintain sustainable public spaces. To follow along with Mark and his intriguing work, click here! Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/38oMlMr
Humans are social creatures, and despite the fact that many of us live together in large groups, there are still issues of isolation. How does the development of sustainable public places foster connections and create opportunities for interaction, inclusivity, and community building – ultimately enhancing the well-being and social cohesion of urban populations? Mark Lakeman joins the podcast to explain… Mark is the founder of The City Repair Project and the principal and design director of Communitecture. Using urban design and placemaking, permaculture and ecological building, encouraging community interaction, he is committed to developing human and ecological communities. Are you ready to explore the future of urban living and the role you can play in creating a more connected and sustainable world? Dive in now to learn how sustainable public spaces can transform neighborhoods, revitalize communities, and combat social isolation! In this episode, we cover: How Mark redefined his role as a designer. The foundations of ecological design principles. The benefits of seeing design through the lens of democratic participation and collaboration. The consequences of living in isolated environments. To follow along with Mark and his intriguing work, click here. Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/30PvU9C
City landscapes are perhaps the most decimated and human centric habitats in today's world. These landscapes are in need of thoughtful rewilding. Cities are some of the most domesticated places, but also positioned in some of the most historically fertile places. Cities were built where they are, because these places had access to a diverse array of resources. Many think rewilding means running away to the wilderness–but that's not the case. For one, this is not a practical reality for most people. Two, because of their prime location and social capital, cities are both ripe for, and in desperate need of, rewilding. Permaculture, with its inspiration and core principles deriving from more regenerative sedentary, delayed-return societies such as indigenous horticulture, can be an effective tool for the urban rewilder. Using permaculture for place-making, becoming a part of your place, is a great way to start this journey. To talk with me about this today is Mark Lakeman.Mark is the founder of the non-profit placemaking movement and organization known as The City Repair Project. He is also principal and design director of the community architecture and planning firm Communitecture. He is an urban place-maker and permaculture designer, community design facilitator, and an inspiring catalyst in his very active commitment to the emergence of sustainable cultural landscapes everywhere. Every design project he is involved with furthers the development of a beneficial vision for human and ecological communities. Whether this involves urban design and placemaking, permaculture and ecological building, encourages community interaction, or assists those who typically do not have access to design services, Mark's leadership has benefited communities across the North American continent.Notes:CommunitectureCity Repair ProjectMaya Forest Garden, by Anabel Ford and Ronald NighA Pattern Language by Christopher AlexanderPhenologyPhoto by Greg RaismanSupport the show
Mark Lakeman is an architect, placemaker, and urban planner. He is the founder and design director of Communitecture, and the co-founder of both the City Repair Project and Village Building Convergence. He believes that public spaces play a foundational role in human society. However with relatively recent colonial systems they have been subdued and replaced by a grid system that connects cars and commerce but not so much people. Now, he is working to revive them by breaking through the cultural inertia and bureaucracy that works to maintain the status quo. Mark and show host Neal discuss the profound impact that Mark's parents had on him—one an urban planner and the other a researcher studying public spaces in ancient cities. After a few years working in traditional architecture firms, he became disillusioned with their values and traveled the world learning how contemporary indigenous villages were organized. Since then, he's been committed to turning Portland into a place full of lively communal spaces and town squares through placemaking activities—like Little Free Libraries, a concept that he helped create himself. For more on Mark's work, visit communitecture.net, cityrepair.org, and villagebuildingconvergence.com.And check out our Latitude spotlights highlighted at the top of the episode. Latitude Change Agent spotlight: Mark Voss Ecosystem Directory partner spotlight: EcoNest Architecture and Paula Baker Laport's new book "Prescriptions for a Healthy House" ———————-At Latitude, we're more than a real estate firm; we're your partner in the transformation of homes, communities, and habitats towards healthy, resilient, and thriving communities. By combining specialized real estate consulting services with a creative agency model, we work with property stewards and developers on capital and fundraising strategies, team formation, branding, marketing, and sales. ---------Are you a professional wanting to create transformational outcomes with your work? Join the Regenerative Real Estate Community to get access to workshops, regenerative real estate investment opportunities, and connect to other leaders and culture creators within the greater real estate industry to create the impact you seek in your work.
This is the WFHB Local News for Monday April 24th, 2023. Later in the program, Environmental Correspondent Zyro Roze explores urban permaculture and village building with Mark Lakeman, the eco architect and place maker behind Portland Oregon’s City Repair Project. More in today's feature report. That’s Bet Savich from Friends of Lake Monroe. We’ll hear …
Here I have an excellent and timely conversation with one of the great Urban Permaculture Designers in this Country, Mark Lakeman out in Portland Oregon more about Mark: MARK LAKEMAN, ASSOCIATE AIA – PRINCIPAL, Communitecture, Inc. Mark Lakeman Bio: (B: 1961 – ) Mark Lakeman is the founder of the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon and served as the Co-Director of Creative Vision from 1995 to 2008. He has also been a long time board member as well as a core member and project leader for the annual Village Building Convergence. Mark is also the founder and principal of Communitecture, Inc, a cutting edge design firm with sustainable building and planning projects at many scales. These highly popular projects include such social and ecological innovations as The ReBuilding Center, numerous ecovillage projects and infill co-housing examples, and many projects involving low income and homeless people in the development of sustainable community solutions. Find us here- www.permaculturenewyork.com https://www.instagram.com/permacultureliving/ https://www.facebook.com/permaculturenewyork
ABOUT THE EPISODEMy guest, Michael Hebb, is an innovative and influential cultural figure and our conversation was fascinating, inspiring, and frankly blew me away. In End of Life Conversations, you’ll hear from a man who, since losing his father at 13, and feeling like a teenager out of touch with his peers and his family, has been on a quest to understand the secrets of human connection. His journey has been a wild and interesting ride so far, from studying the great philosophers and mystics of the ages, to considering how architecture impacts belonging, to staging large-scale community civil disobedience efforts to strengthen communities. He eventually ended up collaborating with some of THE greatest writers, thinkers, and creators of our time to transform human connection. With the metaphor of gathering around the table, Michael Hebb has created culture-shifting movements such as the City Repair Project, Death Over Dinner, and his most recent creation, the End of Life Collective. Each has offered participants a deeper level of human connection, most recently focusing on the thing that we have most in common. Death.You can learn more about Death Over Dinner by visiting www.deathoverdinner.org. His newest initiative, End of Life Collective (which I’m grateful to say I’m involved in) can be found by visiting www.eol.community ABOUT THE HOSTHi! My name is Lisa Keefauver, and I'm the founder of Reimagining Grief. I’m on a mission to change the narratives of grief, one conversation at a time. Learn more by visiting www.reimagininggrief.com In addition to hosting this podcast, I offer 1:1 grief support, Grief-Smart Workplace Consulting, Group Guided Mindfulness Meditation Sessions and a unique line of Empathy Cards. I work as a freelance speaker and writer on the topics of grief, loss and empathy for many outlets including as a VIP contributor to Thrive Global. If you’re feeling social, follow my journey on social media @reimagininggrief. If you like this series, please make sure to leave a rating and write a review TODAY on Apple Podcasts.#lisakeefauvermsw #reimagininggrief #widow #widowsofinstagram #socialworker #speaker #writer #educator #empathy #empathycards #griefisasneakybitch #death #grief #loss #mourning #griefandloss #griefjourney #griefquotes #griefsupport #griefguide #podcasts #podcast #podcastersofinstagram #podcasters#spotify #applepodcasts #itunes #death #dying #deathculture #deathoverdinner #deathconversation See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
What if you got your neighbors together and occupied the public spaces on your book, transforming them into whatever you would all want it to be? What would you include? ...A solar-paneled tea station? A little free library? A mural? This is the type of urban placemaking that the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon inspires and facilitates. In this Upstream Conversation, we spoke with Mark Lakeman an urban place-maker, permaculture designer, and community facilitator who co-founder of The City Repair Project. In the last decade, he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone. We spoke with him while he was visiting Santa Cruz about the capitalist history of the Urban Grid and how to reclaim our streets, revive community, and belong once more to place. Upstream's theme music composed by: Robert Raymond. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation — Thank you! www.upstreampodcast.org/support For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast Twitter: @upstreampodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcast and Spotify: Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/upst…am/id1082594532 Spotify: spoti.fi/2AryXHsto
What if you got your neighbors together and occupied the public spaces on your book, transforming them into whatever you would all want it to be? What would you include? ...A solar-paneled tea station? A little free library? A mural? This is the type of urban placemaking that the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon inspires and facilitates. In this Upstream Conversation, we spoke with Mark Lakeman an urban place-maker, permaculture designer, and community facilitator who co-founder of The City Repair Project. In the last decade, he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone. We spoke with him while he was visiting Santa Cruz about the capitalist history of the Urban Grid and how to reclaim our streets, revive community, and belong once more to place. Upstream's theme music composed by: Robert Raymond. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation — Thank you! www.upstreampodcast.org/support For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast Twitter: @upstreampodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcast and Spotify: Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/upst…am/id1082594532 Spotify: spoti.fi/2AryXHsto
What if you got your neighbors together and occupied the public spaces on your book, transforming them into whatever you would all want it to be? What would you include? ...A solar-paneled tea station? A little free library? A mural? This is the type of urban placemaking that the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon inspires and facilitates. In this Upstream Conversation, we spoke with Mark Lakeman an urban place-maker, permaculture designer, and community facilitator who co-founder of The City Repair Project. In the last decade, he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone. We spoke with him while he was visiting Santa Cruz about the capitalist history of the Urban Grid and how to reclaim our streets, revive community, and belong once more to place. Upstream's theme music composed by: Robert Raymond. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation — Thank you! www.upstreampodcast.org/support For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast Twitter: @upstreampodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcast and Spotify: Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/upst…am/id1082594532 Spotify: spoti.fi/2AryXHsto
For this episode I had a fascinating conversation with Mark Lakeman about the power of public spaces in transforming neighbourhoods, small communities, and even cities. We journey together as he takes us around the globe for 7 years while he visited and studied indigenous cultures and their perspectives on public spaces, a voyage that was inspired by his disillusionment with the corporate architectural industry and in particular by a toxic cover-up underneath new Bank of America building, a building that his team was involved in designing. Mark is literally carrying on his parent's legacy as his father helped create Portland's Pioneer Square and his mother studied public spaces in Medieval and Neolithic villages. Now fueled by his own vision and applying principles of permaculture design, he is transforming cityscapes into public gathering grounds. Mark is an international leader in the development of regenerative public places, villages, and farms. As a revolutionary designer and urban permaculture activist, in 1996 Mark cofounded the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon, where he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than 700 new regenerative projects. Through his leadership in City Repair and its annual Village Building Convergence, and his architecture and planning firm Communitecture, Inc., Mark has also been instrumental in the development of dozens of participatory organizations and urban permaculture design projects across the United States and Canada. Mark is a cofounder and lead instructor of Planet Repair Institute's Urban Permaculture Design Course (UPDC), and he is also a faculty member of Pacific Rim College's School of Permaculture Design. He is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including the National Lewis Mumford Award for Social Justice Design. Mark works with governmental leaders, community organizations, and educational institutions in many diverse communities. If you value community vibrancy and connection and are interested in indigenous values of coexistence, this episode will hopefully give you a strong foundation for action in your own neighbourhood. Episode Links: www.communitecture.net www.cityrepair.org www.villagebuildingconvergence.com Mark's Workshop at PRC: Permaculture, Place-Making and Planet Repair Learning Links: Pacific Rim College's School of Permaculture Design Online Natural Building Workshops at PRCOnline
Sarah sits down with Mark Lakeman of City Repair Project at the first in a series of live community conversations. Together they discuss our frayed civic fabric and how we can come together to address the problems we face.
Donate to The Permaculture Podcast Online: via PayPal Venmo: @permaculturepodcast "What have you seen through your lived experience and via your increasing network that gives you not only aspirational hope, but also 'perspirational' perspective & confidence of moving past demonstration projects and moving toward broader-scale impact?" Posted by Christopher Kopka during the May Ask Me Anything on Patreon. I don't see the land and agriculture-based permaculture movement pushing past the point of small or demonstration projects in the near future because of the expense and labor required to create, manage, and harvest from fully integrated systems. Compared to modern agriculture, the tools currently do not exist to scale-up without a large investment in human labor, which drives the price of on-farm production. Farm labor is skilled labor and we must not only train those people but also pay the costs up-front. Compare this to spreading the expense over years with leased machines or purchasing farm equipment on credit. I do find hope in the projects that exist, however, in showing us a way forward as we answer the question of labor costs compared to mechanized production. All the farms I've visited created an abundance of food, and importantly financial income, on a small scale. The two most integrated, Island Creek (pictured above) and Salamander Springs, focused growing on around 1 acre (.4 hectare), required three people working 35-45 hours per week to operate from sowing seeds in Spring to the Fall harvest, while training the interns and assistant in integrated farming practices. Island Creek grew a large market garden of foods including annuals of corn and greens, while growing perennials and strong self seeding plants such as figs, leeks, garlic, and Egyptian onions. Salamander Springs focused largely on a Three Sisters garden, with different varieties or corns, beans, and squash, supplemented with Spring ephemerals foraged and tended on the property, and a small garden full of onions, brassicas, and greens to extend and supplement the season long income. The largest I visited, Radical Roots Farm in Virginia, operated on five acres. Even though they used a small walk-behind tractor, this farm, run by Dave and Lee O'Neill, included multiple on-farm interns throughout the year. It's been several years since our interview and my tour, but at the time it took around 7 people with light mechanization to operate the farm from seed to harvest. The O'Neills also enhanced their regular farm income with a nursery business. From what I've encountered at these farms and in other conversations, the successful farms were in the right place while receiving financial support and growing slowly. Holly at Island Creek received the land she farms on as a wedding present and her husband operates a prosperous roofing business. Susana Lein at Salamander Springs purchased an inexpensive piece of hard Kentucky hilltop for not a lot of money and built up over many years. Though I do not know the intricacies of the O'Neill's origin story, they were successful business people who found ways to grow the nourishing foods they wanted to by supplementing their on-farm vegetable income and living frugally with what they had, again building up over the years. I mention these examples as they sit in a place of—and as I'm reminded by Taj Scicluna's thought for a 4th ethic for permaculture—transition. I've said before, on the podcast and elsewhere, that I don't think permaculture will be the system that directly changes the world, but I do see this system of ecological design as a model of how far we can go and what will get us to the next steps. We now are the pioneers who push the envelope and help existing groups and those who follow us to create the new world we imagine, with systems yet to be discovered or named. These edges are where I find inspiration as permaculture practices influence larger projects. Some examples of those include Dickinson College and Farmers on the Square; Hilltop Urban Farm; and City Repair Project. Years ago I lectured about permaculture at Dickinson College, which also runs a large organic farm. At that time I had engaging conversations with the professors, and in the times since, the farm staff continue to integrate more regenerative practices. Those often focus on intentional design and positive ecological impacts. I continue to visit the farm which encourages local agriculture through a CSA, but also on-site energy production and waste recycling through the production of biochar, biogas, and effluent fertilizer. The farm also participates in a weekly farmers market, Farmers on the Square, in downtown Carlisle, PA. The first time I went to the market, there were only a dozen or so vendors selling vegetables and a few value-added products such as jams and jellies. Now the market spreads across the square in Carlisle and is filled with vendors selling fresh produce and vegetables, as expected, but also bakeries with fresh breads; meaderies; wineries; cheese makers and dairy purveyors. A wander through the market over the years moved from a few fresh food stuffs to a whole diet available for sale without going to a grocery store. Another example is the 501(c)3 non-profit Hilltop Urban Farm, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The director, Sarah Bexendell, is a permaculture practitioner and brings her knowledge of permaculture and experience in city and urban planning to the work of the farm. Through these actions, Hilltop Urban Farm helps to create youth farms, incubator farm projects, and also reach farmers markets throughout Pittsburgh. Or, there is City Repair Project, founded by permaculture practitioner and teacher Mark Lakeman (Interview 1, Interview 2). Using the elements of permaculture design CR helps communities reclaim local culture, power, and joy in a way that influences street art and engagement. These groups, using business funds, governmental money, and institutional influence, have a broader reach for those of us interested in creating greater regenerative approaches with wider cultural impact. Partnering with groups such as these in our own area, serving on boards, and participating in the local community allow us to bring our ethics and principles to the forefront of the conversation.
In this episode we dive into the social aspects of using design to repair the fragmented social fabric of the urban landscape. The City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon has been working for a quarter century on making places within the city that help to bring together communities and establish new rituals and celebrations around community empowerment. The results are beautiful and artistic public spaces woven throughout the city, created by residents, and a change in the feel and functionality of neighborhoods towards safer and more cohesive communities. Rhidi explains how the qualities of the village are being brought back into a city grid that was designed for the extraction of capital and not the encouragement of life and health of communities. Ridhi's links: https://cityrepair.org/ https://oregonhumanities.org/programs/conversation-project/catalog/exploring-power-and-privilege-with-courage-creativity-and-compassion/ Ridhi full bio: Ridhi D’Cruz is a placemaking consultant, sociocultural anthropologist, and permaculture educator living in Portland. They work to foster place-based empowerment within diverse communities, including people facing housing insecurity and governmental agencies, by drawing on diversity, equity, and inclusion, cultural sustainability, social permaculture, and placemaking and asset-based community development. They also enthusiastically participate in life affirming practices involving urban wildcrafting, plant medicine, natural building, and participatory technology. Ridhi is currently a co-executive director of City Repair Project, a grassroots placemaking nonprofit organizations in Portland.
SUBSCRIBE: WWW.EARTHREPAIRRADIO.COM In this episode we dive deep into climate change projections for sea level rise and insightful solutions to this complex problem. Much of the conversation is focussed on the San Francisco Bay Area and lessons learned from a massive design challenge to address future sea level rise along that area of coastline. But the conversation is relevant for all coastal areas in the world, highlighting the utter urgency to simultaneously halt the melting of glaciers and sea ice, while preparing for the inevitable rise of waters caused by the melting. Mark Lakeman is very well known for his inspired permaculture activism, and he brings that same passion to this discussion on the changing climatic and geographic situation on Earth. Mark's links: http://www.communitecture.net/ https://planetrepair.wordpress.com/ http://www.cityrepair.org/ http://www.resilientbayarea.org/ Mark's biography: Mark Lakeman is a co-founder of the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon and served as the Co-Director of Creative Vision from 1995 to 2008. He is presently active as a project coordinator in the annual Village Building Convergence. Mark is also the founder and principal of Communitecture, Inc, a cutting edge design firm with sustainable building and planning projects at many scales. These highly popular projects include such social and ecological innovations as The ReBuilding Center, numerous ecovillage projects and infill co-housing examples, and many projects involving low income and homeless people in the development of sustainable community solutions. After working for several years in the 1980’s as a lead designer of large scale corporate projects, in the 1989 Mark embarked on a series of cultural immersion projects with numerous indigenous societies in order to derive place-making patterns which could be applied to urban settings in the United States. These patterns include broad participation, local ownership, and transference of authority to local populations, creative expression in planned and unplanned processes, and social capital as the primary economic engine of change. His travels lasted until 1995 when he returned to Portland to undertake a series of creative, culturally restorative initiatives. His cooperative initiatives include the Last Thursday Arts & Culture Project, The City Repair Project, Communitecture, Inc., the Intersection Repair Project, the T-Horse mobile public gathering place, Dignity Village, the annual Earth Day celebration of localization, and the Village Building Convergence (VBC).
Interviews and documentaries about Nonprofit Organizations in Portland Oregon
In this episode we have five short documentaries by former MISC students. We have a piece on Kairos PDX by Radio U alum Aimee Craig as well as four stories that were produced this summer by our Summery Documentary Program students. We'll hear sound-rich portraits of Rahab's Sisters, Bus Riders Unite, Community Cycling Center, and City Repair Project.
This week on "Rebel Hearts": Kristie talks with Mark Lakeman, Portland based design activist and co-founder of the non-profit placemaking organization "The City Repair Project". Mark is the lead designer of the architecture and planning firm "Communitecture", and in 2003 was awarded the "National Lewis Mumford Award" by the international organization "Architects & Planners for Social Responsibility" for his work with "Dignity Village". After working as an architect for several years and witnessing the politics in corporate architecture, Mark went on a quest for wisdom traveling around the world, studying with indigenous cultures and shamans and asking the question "what is wrong with my community?". In this interview he shares with us the solutions that he found and the knowledge he is currently implementing to change communities.. Mark teaches us about the Jeffersonian Grid and its connection to Roman Colonialism. He talks about how that structure was used to conquer, the influence it has on our consciousness as well as our way of life. He educates us on the Land Ordinance of 1785 and how during the times of colonization a whole new system was implemented completing disregarding the sacredness of the land and human life. Since the founding of the "City Repair Project", Mark has been implementing the knowledge he gathered through his travels and studies in changing structures in the city of Portland: from permaculture to intersection painting, creating living spaces for the homeless and bringing communities together, Mark shares what is possible for all of us in order to change communities- and our life- for the better. Mark inspires us to take action, from wherever we are at the current moment!
Mark Lakeman of the City Repair Project discusses motives and methods for igniting neighborhood change, street by street.
Mark Lakeman and The City Repair Project