Image credit: Janette Kim / Urban Works Agency

Property in Crisis: Greenville

Curriculum: Advanced Architecture Studio, California College of the Arts, Architecture Division
Date: Fall 2022  
Professor: Janette Kim
Students: Brandon Adan, Mason Chen, Suvin Choi, Arturo Luis Gomez-Escobedo, Bennett Grisley, Arjay Jimenez, Rizwana Lubis, Jesus Guillermo Macias Franco, Jaissen Gavinn Mendoza, Marcelo Miranda, Gauri Mirashi, Vicky Sindac, and Yipeng Zhang.
Studio Partner: Dixie Fire Collaborative
Related Programming: Reclaiming Land Panel Discussion

As Greenville recovers from the Dixie Fire, how can it build a more regenerative, sustainable, and inclusive economy? “Property in Crisis” learned from residents of Greenville how the economic life of the area—from timber and hydroelectric generation to tourism and biodynamic farming—has shaped the livelihoods and culture of Greenville’s many communities. We worked collaboratively with Greenville partners to create research studies and design proposals that can help lay the groundwork for truly regenerative economies in Greenville.

What is a regenerative economy? While an extractive economy depletes natural resources and labor for distant profiteers, a regenerative economy sustains the well-being of land and people while giving locals decision-making control, responsibility, and profit. Depending on feedback from Greenville residents, students in this studio might design, for example, a locally-owned sawmill for small-diameter timber processing, a Maidu land trust that activates cultural burning practices, or scorched earth repurposed as a camping wonderland. Our work will be legal and financial as well as spatial, to explore how to make these ideas possible. Students will create large research drawings of economic industries past and present, proposals for altering common property arrangements such as conservation easements, business improvement districts, or worker-owned cooperatives, and schematic designs for buildings and landscapes on sites chosen with Greenville partners.

To watch short videos of each project, please click here.