City Repair's Village Building Convergence: A Peek at Four Projects in Portland Neighborhoods

Last year, I was introduced to City Repair and its Village Building Convergence (VBC). I fell in love immediately with both the organization and the event. City Repair has some lofty ideals—but they have the strength, ingenuity, and know-how to back them up. Their Village Building Convergence is pretty inspiring; with quiet guidance the VBC teaches groups and individuals to think and act like a community and how to create a sense of place. I took a closer look at four of this year’s VBC projects, and learned a bit about what motivates the people who’ve undertaken them.

Buckman Puts Compost to Good Use

Parking strips will be converted to garden plots in Buckman.

My first stop was to meet with Nancy Oberschmidt in the Buckman neighborhood. We had met at last year’s VBC, when she and the rest of the Buckman Sustainability Committee had developed a community composting site. Since we last saw each other, the composting site has doubled in size to keep up with the demand of the neighborhood. Staying in the same sustainable theme, the group decided the next logical step would be to start some garden plots. Nancy knew the perfect place: the parking strips in front of an apartment building directly across the street from the composting site that sat weedy and in full sun. The landlord was more than happy to give up the unused space that will be turned into six 3 ½ X 7’ garden plots. Oberschmidt said that the committee took applications on a first come, first serve basis, and the plots were claimed very quickly.

“This might be the future for us,” Oberschmidt says, referring to the city’s pilot composting program. “If the program goes city-wide, our compost bins may not be in as high demand.”

She sees lots of room for growth with the garden, and is eying the sloped lawn in front of the apartment complex—currently full of weeds and high grass. She’ll give these first garden beds a chance to prove themselves a pretty and functional alternative to grass, then talk to the landlord about possibly expanding up onto the lawn.

A Mariner’s Compass Leads the Way to Greater Sense of Community in St. Johns

Rendering of the Mariner's Compass Rose in St. Johns.

Ivy Stovall has no shortage of praise for City Repair or the VBC.

“I’ve always wanted to live in a village, always wanted to create a tribe,” Stovall admits. “I thought I was alone and that that was an impossibly romantic notion. Then I heard about City Repair, and [realized that] people were already articulating this vision.”

Her home sits on a large plot of land, almost underneath the St. Johns' bridge, and she has used the VBC to execute place making projects right on her own property. This year, she is excited to expand out into the intersection with a traffic-calming street mural of a mariner’s compass. Stovall says she can name at least 15 children under the age of three within a small radius of the intersection, and their safety on this much-used road was one of the main inspirations for the project.

She also wants to remind folks of what this area really is, besides just a commuter’s cut-through.

“It is a major walk-route to Cathedral Park, and runs adjacent to Baltimore Woods, filled with tall native Oak,” Stovall explains. She hopes that the compass will increase the visibility of the people who live here, and the people who use it as a means to connect with the natural world, and with each other.

Art and Function Are Good Neighbors in Grant Park

Art from the Heart in Grant Park. Cob bench model (left), foundation (right).

Emily Conradson from Art from the Heart is excited about her organizations first VBC project—a cob bench decorated with mosaic tiles.

“Our outdoor parking area is visually challenged,” she admits. An art school, studio, and gallery for adults with developmental disabilities, she wanted to transform the outdoor space to resemble the lively space within. She thought about the cob structures she had seen in past VBC projects.

“We made a cob tower in the studio this winter to see what it was like to work with,” she says. The success of that project helped garner interest in applying to be part of this year’s VBC. She says that not only students and artists’ affiliated with Art from the Heart are interested in participating, but people from the surrounding community are as well.

“[Building a cob structure] is a labor intensive project, and it lends itself to community involvement,” states Conradson. She is excited about the jump-start this VBC participation will give them, and for their June 10th event, which will unveil a new mural, pieces from 40 Art from the Heart artists, and the cob bench, which they intend to mosaic.

An Outdoor Classroom Program Grows in Roseway

Outdoor classroom in Roseway.

At last year’s VBC, I visited the Madison High School Outdoor classroom, a magnificent cob structure built by volunteers, teachers and students, and surrounded by an edible garden. This year, they’ll be adding straw bale and cob seating, a blackboard, and an information kiosk. The plan to expand the classroom is in response to the overwhelming positive feedback it has received. Sue House, science teacher and this year's VBC project coordinator, says that many different classes are taking advantage of the outdoor space.

“Some are science classes doing experiments or growing food, others are classes like journalism and social studies who use the outdoor classroom as a more casual discussion space.” She says adding more seating and a chalkboard will encourage even more classes to utilize the classroom.

House calls the support from City Repair invaluable. They give guidance, help with fundraising and volunteer coordination.

“When I tell students that we had volunteers last year who traveled from Germany, Israel and Canada just to participate in the VBC, they begin to understand that this is a big deal and that people from all over the world care about improving community and coming together to interact with other people in the process of place making.”

She says that student involvement has increased this year.

“’So when are we making cob?’ is a frequent question from those who don’t want to miss out,” House says. “We started the foundation work and cob mixing this week in preparation for VBC, and even in the cold and rain, students are getting their feet dirty and building community.”

She is hoping that the attention brought by the VBC will also help raise some funding needed for the garden program. The school can no longer afford the salary for a garden coordinator, an integral position for the viability of the garden that serves as a living laboratory for many of the outdoor classroom classes. House says that teachers have only a limited amount of time to dedicate to garden maintenance, fundraising, community outreach, planning, food production, composting, and garden curriculum planning.

“In my ideal world, this job would be just as important as any other,” House says.

VBC is happening May 28-June 6. Learn about opportunities to get involved.