The City Repair Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

. Its focus is education and activism for community building. The organizational motto is "The City Repair Project is group of citizen activists creating public gathering places and helping others to creatively transform the places where they live."

Structure

City Repair is an organization primarily run by volunteers. A board of directors oversees the project's long-term vision, and a council maintains its daily operations. Both the board of directors and council meet monthly. City Repair's work focuses on localization and

placemaking Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that improve urban ...

. The City Repair Project maintains an office in Portland.

History

The City Repair Project was founded in 1996 by a small group of neighbors interested in

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

and neighborhood activism. The first City Repair action was an intersection repair at Share-It Square at SE 9th Ave and SE Sherrett Street. An intersection repair is a place where two streets crossed that is painted by the members of that neighborhood. The street is closed down during the painting. The first intersection repair that happened was at Share-it Square. Other intersection repairs include Sunnyside Piazza.

Annual events

City Repair hosts two events annually, Portland's Earth Day celebration and the Village Building Convergence. Past projects include the T-Horse, a small pick-up truck converted into a mobile tea house. The T-Horse was driven to neighborhood sites and events around Portland and served free chai and pie. The organization has inspired groups around the United States to start their own City Repair Projects. Unaffiliated City Repairs exist in California, Washington, Minnesota, and other places. The Village Building Convergence (VBC) is an annual 10-day event held every May in

, United States. The event is coordinated by the City Repair Project and consists of a series of workshops incorporating

natural building A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renew ...

and

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

design at multiple sites around the city. Many of the workshops center on "intersection repairs" which aim to transform street intersections into public gathering spaces.

Background

In 1996, neighbors in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland at the intersection of 8th and Sherrett created a tea stand, children's playhouse and community library on the corner and renamed it "Share-It Square". Community organizers founded the City Repair Project that same year, seeking to share their vision with the community. In January 2000, the Portland City Council passed ordinance #172207, an "Intersection Repair" ordinance, allowing neighborhoods to develop public gathering places in certain street intersections.

Sites

The first Village Building Convergence took place in May 2002, then called the Natural Building Convergence. During its history, the VBC has coordinated the creation of over 72 natural building and permaculture sites in Portland, including information kiosks, painted intersections, cob benches, and a strawbale house at Dignity Village. The sites are primarily located in the southeast quadrant of Portland. Natural builders from around the world have coordinated the activities at many of the construction sites at the Village Building Convergence. Most of the labor taking place at the sites is done by volunteers.

Workshops

The VBC hosts a series of workshops, many of which are free to the public. Topics of the workshops are usually related to

and

. Past workshops have included

aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in a ...

lessons, outdoor mushroom cultivation,

bioswale Bioswales are channels designed to concentrate and convey stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution. Bioswales can also be beneficial in recharging groundwater. Bioswales are typically vegetated, mulched, or xeriscaped. They consi ...

creation, and nonviolent communication.

Speakers

The VBC also hosts speakers and entertainment during the evenings of its convergences. Presentations for the 2007 convergence were made at

Disjecta Oregon Center for Contemporary Art (also known as Oregon Contemporary, formerly Disjecta) is an art center in Portland, Oregon. It is home to the Portland Biennial since 2010, continuing in the tradition of the Portland Art Museum's ended Oregon Bie ...

Starhawk Starhawk (born Miriam Simos on June 17, 1951) is an American feminist and author. She is known as a theorist of feminist Neopaganism and ecofeminism. In 2013, she was listed in Watkins' ''Mind Body Spirit'' magazine as one of the 100 Most S ...

Michael Lerner Michael or Mike Lerner may refer to: * Michael Lerner (actor) (1941–2023), American actor *Michael Lerner (angler) (1890–1978), American angler and businessman * Michael Lerner (rabbi) (born 1943), social activist *Michael Benjamin Lerner (born ...

, and

Paul Stamets Paul Edward Stamets (born July 17, 1955) is an American mycologist and entrepreneur who sells various mushroom products through his company. He is an author and advocate of medicinal fungi and mycoremediation. Early life Stamets was born in ...

.Ideology, action converge and prosper, Rebecca Ragain
,

Portland Tribune The ''Portland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Pamplin Media Group, which publishes a number of community newspapers in the Portland metropolitan area. Launched ...

Prior years' presentations have been given by

Malik Rahim Malik Rahim (born Donald Guyton in 1948) is an American housing and prison activist based since the late 1990s in the New Orleans area of Louisiana, where he grew up. In 2005 Rahim gained national publicity as a community organizer in New Or ...

Toby Hemenway Toby Hemenway (April 23, 1952 – December 20, 2016) was an American author and educator who wrote extensively on permaculture and ecological issues. He was the author of ''Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture'' and ''The Permacult ...

, and Judy Bluehorse.

References

External links

City Repair website
{{Authority control Organizations based in Portland, Oregon Non-profit organizations based in Oregon Civic organizations in Oregon 1996 establishments in Oregon Organizations established in 1996 501(c)(3) organizations