design:SD Heads to Hill City

Hill City has officially been selected as the next design:SD community! In fact, the design team will be heading west next week, October 1-3, 2009.

The community has been busy preparing, as has the design team as we do our second charrette of this year. As we gear up for the charrette next week, I just wanted to share a bit of the community’s application, as I think it shares what’s so great about design:SD and the process.

“The partnership sees the design:SD charrette as a crucial step in an important community-wide process already underway to understand and appreciate the role that aesthetics and practical design have on the development of a community. Our rural town of 800—through the participation of the community, several non-profit organizations, and the city government—has been involved in a series of civic / social improvement and visioning programs, with a goal of bringing the community together for future, conscious development. The design:SD charrette will come after more than a year of exploring poverty reduction, assessing assets and weaknesses, implementing productive programming, and conducting surveys of residents and visitors. Including the element of design allows people to focus on solutions, such as exploring various aspects of community spaces (greenways, throughways, priorities in allocating space). As a necessary part of a stepped, comprehensive visioning, the design:SD charrette will engage community stakeholders in a joint venture to create a shared vision for the businesses, streamline the design process, and validate design guidelines.”

We’ll try to keep you updated during and after the charrette! Thanks so much to Hill City for inviting us, and to our wonderful volunteers who continue to make design:SD possible!

some d:SD love

The Reimagine Rural blog is shining some love on design:South Dakota. Check it out here.

design:SD in Sisseton

The second Design:SD event wrapped up in Sisseton late Friday evening with a public presentation that represented two days of hard work. The team gathered on Wednesday evening for a reception with local families, and we spent Thursday learning from and with the community. A few pictures of Thursday below!

Thursday morning, various groups and organizations in Sisseton were represented and gave brief presentations to the team–community members also participated in round tables held on late Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon, the team jumped on a school bus to tour the community.

We were up late Thursday evening as we launched into design studio… a chronicle of Friday, as well as the final boards will be posted soon!