Imagine Humboldt Initiatives for a Thriving Community
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IMAGINE HUMBOLDT INITIATIVES FOR A THRIVING COMMUNITY CHILDCARE CENTER SAFE PATHWAYS PROMOTING PASEO IMAGINE HUMBOLDT INITIATIVES FOR A THRIVING COMMUNITY PROMOTING PASEO SHOWCASING LOCAL ASSETSF FOR THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF HUMBOLDT PARK ChicagoLAB 2016 Under the Direction of Dr. Ivis Garcia-Zambrana And the Inspired Team at Archeworks Project by University of Utah Students School of Architecture + Planning Paulo Aguilera T. Cameron Carter Casey Walrath Natalie Watkins Document Completed June 22nd, 2016 Presented to Our Gracious Partners: The Puerto Rican Agenda in Humboldt Park, Chicago IL TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................7 Exdcutive Summary ChicagoLAB Community Partner Community Engaged Learning 2. SITE ANALYSIS......................................................13 Location and Geography Humboldt Park History Demographics Community Assets 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...............................21 Literature Review Case Studies 4. METHODS & DESIGN PRINCIPLES.....................29 Methods Engagement Design Principles 5. PROPOSALS...........................................................35 Paseo Brochure Mural Lighting Projected Lights Community Map Community Map Content 6. IMPLEMENTATION.................................................49 Next Steps Implementation Guide Conclusion REFERENCES..............................................................54 6 1. INTRODUCTION 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HUMBOLDT PARK AND PASEO BORICUA Located near downtown Chicago, Humboldt Park has been a center of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community for more than half a century, with the historic Paseo Boricua at its heart. Running along Division Street for the half-mile stretch between Western and California Avenues, the Paseo presents a striking image for visitors, with sixty-foot tall representations of the Puerto Rican flag spanning the street on each end. View of a Puerto Rican flag statue from California Avenue, on the edge of Humboldt Park. Each of the two flags on Division Street is 59 feet tall. The flags represent the claiming of a space, a community home, a tourist destination, and, for some, a defiant stand against encroaching gentrification and the threat of housing displacement. This report represents a planning document prepared by students at the University of Utah for its Summer 2016 ChicagoLab, a Community Engaged Learning project that matches students with professionals and community partners on projects in the city. This year’s program focuses on the Humboldt Park neighborhood, and this report will detail work done in conjunction with the Division Street Business Development Association (DSBDA). 8 CHICAGOLAB INTRODUCTION TO CHICABOLAB ChicagoLab is a six-week summer program that gives University of Utah students studying urban planning and architecture the opportunity to work on real projects in Chicago for a variety of clients and stakeholders. Focusing on different projects each year, ChicagoLab is administered by Archeworks, an education and design studio in downtown Chicago. Archeworks partners with design firms across the city to provide office space, lectures, tours, and studio critiques for student projects, and also matches students with professional mentors, giving each the opportunity to receive personal feedback. The class is taught by Ivis Garcia Zambrona, PhD, Assistant Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah, who also facilitated many of the community partnerships in Humboldt Park. The community focused projects, combined with lectures and design centered instruction from Archeworks, presents both planners and architects a unique opportunity to learn in a hands-on, interdisciplinary setting that draws on a broad variety of skills. The ChicagoLab cohort for Summer 2016 consists of 13 students: two from the Master of Architecture program, two Architecture undergraduates, two from the Master of City and Metropolitan Planning program, and seven Urban Ecology undergraduates, one of whom is also studying Civil Engineering. Students in Architecture and Urban Planning attending a lecture for PRETTY PICTURE ChicagoLab. 9 COMMUNITY PARTNER DIVISION STREET BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION ChicagoLab 2016 has worked with several partners within Humboldt Park, most of which are associated with Puerto Rican community organizations. This report focuses on students working with the DSBDA and its director, Eduardo Arrocho, to help develop projects that promote the Paseo and emphasize its character for both residents and visitors. The DSBDA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the “economic, social development and growth” of the neighborhood with the goal of “development without displacement.” It runs a number of projects on the Paseo, including a small business Eduardo Arocho, Executive Director, Division Street Business incubator space, a solar panel initiative, and support for Development Association entrepreneurs in the community. Along with the DSBDA, we have received feedback from the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC), a grassroots activist organization, and the Puerto Rican Agenda, an association of neighborhood leaders who advocate policies that benefit Puerto Ricans locally and nationwide. Puerto Rican organizations in Humboldt Park are tightly networked and have relationships with each other and with Professor Zambrona, so the group has depended on their knowledge and feedback to shape our projects. 10 COMMUNITY ENGAGED LEARNING The principle guiding ChicagoLab is Community Engaged Learning, which the University of Utah defines as “a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development.” We focused on an asset-based approach, emphasizing what the community has to offer rather than what it lacks. Assets include individual gifts and abilities, community organizations, and physical infrastructure. Focusing on assets means approaching the community not as a problem to solve, but a place that offers a tremendous amount that we can learn from and contribute to. The Promoting Paseo group organized our Community Engaged Learning around two few key principles, which we’ve adapted from University and class guidelines: EDUCATION Education for ChicagoLab came from many sources, including readings, lectures, and documentaries on Puerto Rican history and grassroots activism in Chicago, as well as other relevant topics like Public Housing, gentrification, and design principles. The most important knowledge has been experiential, gained from spending time in the area and interacting with its members. ENGAGEMENT AND RECIPROCITY Engagement comes through experiential learning and requires that students communicate with partners as equals, and with humility. Reciprocity assumes a willingness to offer ideas and receive feedback, which we did through multiple iterations of the project. Students attended lectures, We believe these principles enabled us to develop a deeper presentations, and events in appreciation the value and complexity of community Humboldt Park and Chicago as part engagement, which is extremely useful knowledge in planning of the Community Engage Learning process. and related fields. It should be a key building block for future collaboration among students, the university, and communities in ChicagoLab. 11 12 2. SITE ANALYSIS 13 LOCATION AND GEOGRAPHY Humboldt Park is about a mile from downtown Chicago, bounded roughly by Pulaski Road to the West, Western Avenue to the East, North Avenue to the North, and Union Pacific railroad lines to the South. The neighborhood is not contiguous with Chicago’s official Humboldt Park community area, but includes parts of both the Humboldt Park and West Town community areas. The neighborhood is accessible from downtown via the CTA Blue Line running southeast by northwest along Milwaukee Avenue, and there are also a several bus lines that run through the area. In the center of Humboldt Park sits the eponymous 220-acre park, which features open areas, playgrounds, trails, a fitness center, and a large lagoon. 14 HUMBOLDT PARK HISTORY Throughout Chicago history, successive waves of immigration saw Humboldt Park become a home for German, Scandinavian, Italian, and Polish communities. These groups, like many immigrants across the city, organized themselves into ethnic enclaves over time. But by the mid 20th century suburbanization and white flight saw many residents of European descent move out of the city. In their place, Puerto Rican migrants, having been displaced from other parts of the city, began moving into Humboldt Park. Despite their status as American citizens after the 1917 Jones Act, Puerto Ricans had long faced poverty, discrimination, and hostility, and were often treated as outsiders by white residents of Eurpoean descent. Puerto Rican children were separated from other students in schools, and in some cases Puerto Ricans were even barred from worshipping in local Catholic churches. In 1966, after years of simmering tensions within the community over government neglect and police mistreatment, a riot broke out after after police shot and killed a Puerto Rican man. It lasted for three days, and in its wake the first Puerto Rican community organizing began, with demands for better treatment The 1966 Divisions Street Riot was the catalyst for community organizing in Humboldt Park. 15 HUMBOLDT PARK HISTORY and political