Re-villaging the city

On Sept. 25 Asheville was host to a unique event headlined by global justice activist and goddess religion writer, Starhawk, as well as Janell Kapoor of Kleiwerks International. Entitled "Visioning Asheville's Future," with about 400 people attending, the event was held at Jubilee and lasted four hours. The aim was to create a working vision of the city, as a village-scale urban center by adding to the work of existing groups. The evening included ceremonial elements and a talk by Starhawk, a natural history of Katuah by Jeannie Martin, a slide-show presentation by Kapoor, guided visualization and interactive wall-posting of next steps, as well as a raffle and auction of local wares and services. Kleiwerks is a natural building non-profit based in Asheville that has headed up community-based projects globally as well as in western NC. Its founder, Janell Kapoor, has been based in Asheville 10 years and was the prime organizer of the event. She says, "Natural building empowers people by putting them in control of the direction and means of building." With the resurgence of building in Asheville in the last 10-15 years this could be considered a critical time in the kind of development that takes place here. Jonathan Payne, proprietor of a downtown coffee shop says: "It's time for the people to shape development here and make sure it's human scale. What kind of urban renewal do we want? Gridlock, structures that overshadow the amazing architecture that's already here? There's no reason we can't have a beautiful, strollable city that is also economically vibrant." For inspiration, during the presentations, examples from other locales and cultures were mentioned. Starhawk observed: "Europe has gathering places like plazas, Latin America has the zocalo–which is like a public square, places like New Orleans have neighborhood bars which are integral parts of community exchange. We don't as an overarching culture here have public places to meet and greet... maybe we can think about how to change that." Currently, the City of Asheville is overhauling its city plaza with a dynamic and functional looking design, but it remains to be seen how community-inclusive it ends up being, with nearby real estate being billed as "the premiere address in Asheville" and "luxury." City Repair, a Portland, OR-based organization, was also featured. With its neighborhood-oriented naturally built structures that cultivate public life, there is a merging of lines between private and common spaces–a veritable shifting of the notion of private property. City Repair sponsors the Village Building Convergence in Portland and next year Asheville will have its own version, billed Ashevillage Building Convergence. Putting all the notions of property and buildings in terms of place was Jeannie Martin, director of the naturalist program at UNCA and an Asheville native who gave a natural history of Katuah. According to her, "The Blue Ridge used to be Himalayan in proportions... the French Broad River is the third oldest river on the planet... and Katuah has more kinds of trees than all of Europe, over a hundred." Consciousness of long-term conservation and respect for place informed the subsequent visioning process. Categories included shelter, food, water, energy systems, spirit, transportation, health, economy, government and wildness. Some ideas that got a lot of attention were a green roof for the civic center, community-owned solar and water systems, common agricultural land, an eco-team to advise city council, and the destruction of Wal-Mart and replacing the parking lot with gardens. Some visions were presented by people that are in the process of making them happen: affordable integrated health care, shared biodiesel cabs for shuttle to the airport and other transit, and a local currency. Twenty local groups doing work around sustainability issues were represented, and there was an effort to build on existing frameworks rather than re-inventing the wheel. Vera Macabe Watson, an Asheville native and textile worker said: "We've sure never seen anything like this around here. It was a bit like the Design Science Lab that was here this summer, but more new-agey." Indeed, but maybe old agey as well, as Kapoor said: "What is truly important, beyond what we have been trained to think? In our wildest imaginations, what calls to us?" For a summary and follow-up on the visioning event, or for information on Kleiwerks or the Ashevillage Building Convergence go to www.kleiwerks.org.