ARCH_500-600 Options Studio: ‘Inclusion and Neighborhood Resilience [v. 2.0]: Designing for Equity in Metamorphic Cities’

“Fifty years after the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development— and nearly that long after the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968— the fight against the interlinked scourges of housing discrimination and racial segregation in America is far from finished. Economic isolation is actually growing worse across the country, as more and more minority families find themselves trapped in high-poverty neighborhoods without decent housing, schools, or jobs, and with few avenues of escape.…”

—The New York Times Editorial Board, “The Architecture of Segregation” (Sept. 5, 2015)

Postindustrial cities are characterized by population, economic, and infrastructure decline, yet some communities within them are resilient. Resilience is a measure of sustainability that represents a community’s ability to respond to, withstand, and recover from adversity. In St. Louis, Todd Swanstrom of Community Builder’s Network has identified a number of neighborhoods that are referred to as “rebound communities.” Although these neighborhoods have generally lost population, witnessed abandonment, and undergone racial transition, they have also demonstrated elements of revitalization in recent years. Swanstrom notes that rebound communities exhibit common characteristics: an architecturally significant building stock, distinctive landmarks, and vital social networks.

Fox Park in south central St. Louis shows many of the attributes of an ideal neighborhood: historic architecture, a 2.69-acre park, and strong neighborhood institutions and organizations. Built in the early 1880s, this once German community gained historic district designation in 1985 thanks to over 350 fine examples of diverse styles and types of structures, including St. Francis de Sales Oratory, the only German Gothic church in St. Louis. However, the central landmark in the neighborhood is Fox Park itself. Formerly a lumberyard, the original 1917 park grew over time, extending the original parcel over two adjacent ones. Spearheaded by a revitalized neighborhood association, the park has undergone substantial renovation following the H3 2014 masterplan. Emblematic of the neighborhood’s resurgence, Redfin named Fox Park the hottest neighborhood in St. Louis metropolitan area in 2017.

Despite significant population loss over the last thirty years, high crime rates, and other social ills, Fox Park has shown significant signs of resiliency. Due to its proximity to downtown and other entertainment districts as well as a magnificent building stock not yet affected by escalating real estate prices, Fox Park has become a favorite among millennials who are rehabbing an ever-increasing number of houses and spurring neighborhood rebirth. However, one of the challenges for rebound communities if revitalization is too rapid is that it can lead to gentrification and displacement.

This studio built upon Fox Park’s momentum while being sensitive to the neighborhood’s desire to remain inclusive. The studio called students to re-imagine the vacant lot across from Fox Park at the corner of Victor and Ohio streets, which is bounded on the south by Rung for Women. In collaboration with DeSales Community Development Corporation and capitalizing on the park’s proximity to Brick City Makes, students were challenged to consider ways to revitalize the lot as well as rethink the existing park infrastructure. Proposals entailed providing mixed-income housing and space for social services while strengthening an under-addressed border of the community. Designers had to think creatively and propose innovative ways in which the new building and existing infrastructure could both mediate and incorporate the needs of the evolving community.