Sustainable Communities of the Future

Instructors:

David Sellers: Architect, town planner and developer. Resident of Warren. Host of "Sprawl Talk".

Russ Bennett: Design-builder, planner, artist, resident of Waitsfield.

Course Description:
This one week course will be an intensive analysis of the essential aspects of sustainable communities including location, energy sources, transportation and social implications. The course will develop three community designs at once; students will self-select a focus for the last two days and present solutions for review. The three sites are Waitsfield village, an existing small community close by with difficult focus and identity issues; a new small village in Warren, the site of a historic town; and BIKE-TOWN, a fantasy village on the Amtrak rail lines between Montpelier and Barre designed for no cars, 200 units of housing and appropriate additional structures. This course includes lectures and discussion, site visits, interviews with residents and village leaders, and hard work. Intermediate to Professional. 35 AIA Learning Units Available.

Planning Commission members from Warren and Waitsfield are invited to all class sessions.

Suggested Readings:

Jane Jacobs: The Life and Death of the American City

Louis Mumford: The City in History

Peter Calthorpe: Sustainable Communities

Doug Kelbaugh, Common Space

David Sellers, Antiques of the Future (article in Friends of Kebyar)

David Sellers, Creative Spirit, GAHouses 12

Pedestrian Pocket, Princeton Press, Calthorpe, Kelbaugh, Sellers

Sym Van der Ryn, Toilet Papers, Turd Edition.

(Summary of waste treatment systems around the world)

GUEST LIST: Interested parties, experts and...

Dick Brothers, developer of Mad River Green Partnership

Jim Sanford, Warren Planning Commission.

Bill Parker, Waitsfield Planning Commission.

Susan Roy, Director, Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Bob Burley, Architect, FAIA, long term resident and planner.

Len Wilson, Past Lt. Governor, initiator of Act 250

Jonathan Brownell, Lawyer, theoretical planner

Darby Bradley, Director of Vermont Land Trust.

Beth Humstone, Orton Foundation.

DRAFT Schedule:

Classes will start promptly at 9:00 at Yestermorrow and continue to 6:00 officially. It is expected that students will work late in the evening at Yestermorrow to joyously supplement the day's efforts and team discussions. Each day will have "brown bag lunch discussions" at Yestermorrow with invited guests. This will go from 12:00-1:30.

EVENING LECTURE: Sellers will offer a required slide lecture on the evening of the first day.

DAY ONE: 9:00 am. The class will start with a morning tour of both the East Warren historic site and the Irasville growth Center.

12:00-1:30 Brown bag lunch at Yestermorrow discussion of the future of development in the Valley and Vermont and history of each of the centers (maps will be provided)

1:30-5:30. Self-selected teams of equal size will work on each one of the sites. The teams will work on a single plan that evolves from discussion, individual variations will be encouraged. The task is to project coherent configurations on the site that deal with the critical variables, needs, and possibilities in a growth plan.

INDIVIDUAL DISCUSSION, CRITICISM AND GUIDANCE ON A DAILY BASIS FROM THE TEACHERS WILLLEAD TO COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING VISIONS. GROUP REVIEW WILL TAKE PLACE EACH DAY AT 5:00.

DAY TWO -THREE After two days on one of the sites, students will start fresh on the alternate site. WEDNESDAY. A review of plans will take place Wed. evening from 7:00-11:00. (Including Pizza).

DAY FOUR On site discussions and review of Wed. night plans. Students select a plan to complete by Final review.

FINAL REVIEW The last evening will be a public review of both plans. There will be reviewers from the community in addition to the faculty. The final drafts of each scheme will be offered to the town of Waitsfield and the town of Warren for their potential use.

EAST WARREN is an abandoned historic town center on the Commons Road in Warren. There are two cemeteries, a one-room schoolhouse owned by the town and current site of the community radio station and three houses. This has been selected as a new town site for agriculture based residences and businesses. Affordable housing and a new pedestrian village center. 50 acres available with prime ag. Soils available.

IRASVILLE: is an existing shopping center in Waitsfield that has emerged over the past 40 years on the old Kenyon Farm. Hardware, grocery and other stores historically located and functioning in Historic Waitsfield were moved to the new center in the early 70's. There is little planning, no new housing and scattered commercial life. The Post Office, Skatium and Movie Theater are all located in the new center. The town has designated IRASVILLE as a growth center for the valley.