City Repair was formed in 1996 by a group of Portland community activists who were searching for ways to encourage people to become more community and ecologically minded. Their first project was to convert a residential street intersection into more of a neighborhood public square, and since then they have helped to facilitate many community building projects as well as help inspire similar undertakings in other communities across the country. Michael Lakeman, co-founder of City Repair, has said that although it is a non-profit organization, City Repair is more accurately a movement—a localized attempt at repairing the planet. At the root of the movement is the mission to reestablish the relationship between people and their natural environment, as well as the relationship of people with each other.
City Repair organizes placemaking projects—creating community gathering places for healthy socializing, and educational and ecologically-oriented events meant to build and repair human relationships with each other and with the natural world. With a mostly volunteer staff and many volunteer community members, City Repair has successfully completed projects including permanent and temporary placemaking installations, community events, educational presentations, consultation and technical assistance, and more.
One of the groups most ambitious and successful undertakings is the 10 day event they hold each spring, called the Village Building Convergence (VBC). The premise of the event is to undertake projects aimed at building a stronger sense of community in neighborhoods. From meeting houses to public squares, to educational installations, all of the projects VBC undertakes share a common goal of creating public spaces for the entire community to enjoy. The VBC Placemaking Committee acts as a support system for the neighborhood groups who first come up with their own idea for a community building project, offering them support in gaining community volunteer support, helping the group figure out permit processes, and generally assisting them in turning their concepts into reality.
City Repair starts accepting applications for VBC projects in the winter, and normally decides which projects they will be involved with by late winter or early spring. For the most part, communities and potential sites approach VBC, but sometimes members of the program are aware of ongoing community efforts that they actively seek out for collaboration. According to Michael Cook, a placemaking coordinator for the program, the only criteria for approving sites they strictly adhere to is determining whether the group is sincere or not; it doesn't matter what level of skill participants have or how grand the project is. As long as it’s intended as a public space and is for the community’s greater good, City Repair is dedicated to helping them get from wherever they are in their process to where they dream of being.
City Repair Project
1131 SE Oak Street
Portland OR 97214
