On Tuesday, November 18th, we will have a special meeting that includes a presentation from Paul Byron Crane, a local landscape architect with the City of Everett. The presentation will take a look into how Rosengård, a neighborhood of Malmö, Sweden, has managed to transform into a sustainable, collaborative, and diverse community. The event will take place at GGLO (a local architecture firm) located in Downtown Seattle from 6pm to 8.30pm. The first half hour will include food, drinks, and time to socialize followed by the presentation around 6.30pm. Paul’s presentation will be a mix of video and PowerPoint with Q&A at its conclusion. Following the presentation, we’ll have plenty of time to hang around to chat on a wide range of urban issues. And, we’ll probably need help to finish off what’s left of the food!
A brief summary of the presentation:
Rosengård, Malmö, Sweden successfully moved from a period of riots, due to a disenfranchised immigrant population to actively empowering and engaging young women in participatory place making. Thirteen young political refugee teenager women from Iraq and Afghanistan organized and led design workshops, community events working with Rosengård residents and the City of Malmö Environmental and Parks Departments.
Learning how to accomplish physical change to support positive sustainable development, the spaces between existing buildings shaped their proposed projects; a playground, enhanced town center, and community gardens. These projects in this presentation have been recently built by the City of Malmö adding to Rosengård’s social capital.
Through dialogue and community organizing of 6,400 participants, 136 workshops, events comprised of over 60 % of political refugee women. Their informed holistic decision-making, through an empowered strong local process, together with deliverables of strategic physical improvements started the process of building a sustainable Rosengård. The “pink” large play area and the enhanced town centers “social square” was completed in September of 2013. With the leadership and collaborative genius of these young girls Rosengård has now become the new Eco district in Malmö, Sweden.
Tuesday, 18 November
6pm to 8.30pm
GGLO at the Harbor Steps
1301 1st Ave #301, Seattle, WA 98101
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.