Outreach

Related to my research interests in historic architecture and landscapes, I have tried for many years to help people and communities make more informed decisions about heritage preservation. Back in the early Eighties while working for the St. Louis Community Development Agency, I collaborated with William H. Whyte’s organization Project for Public Spaces to examine how pedestrians actually used downtown streets and to design pedestrian improvements that actually reflected their needs. That research collaboration resulted in a successful $500,000 grant for pedestrian improvements from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

For fifteen years while teaching at Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota, I served as Community Relations Coordinator and subsequently Chair of the award-winning Minnesota Design Team, a pro bono organization that helps small towns apply the design arts to envisioning healthier futures. My research into community design process culminated in my book Community Design: A Team Approach to Dynamic Community Systems (Sage Publications, 1999), and I received a Distinguished Service Award from the Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

For the past four years since returning from Minnesota I have been working with Missouri communities to help them appreciate and build intelligently upon their natural and cultural heritage as the means to more sustainable economic development and healthy communities. With my colleague Randy Gray, former coordinator of the Missouri Main Street program, we have conducted downtown visioning workshops across the State of Missouri as part of Governor Blunt’s DREAM Initiative to promote downtown revitalization. As Sir Alfred North Whitehead observed, "Celibacy does not suit a university. It must be wedded to action." Matchmaking between the Museum and Missouri communities relates very well to the role of Academic Coordinator.

Kirksville DREAM Presentation