Monday, May 9, 2011

Project idea: What kzoo do with abandoned buildings?


One of my favorite organizations in the world is GOOD Inc., an "integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good." Run out of Los Angeles, GOOD's mission is to provide experiences and utilities to serve this community, which is does through a website, videos, live events, and a magazine.

A regular feature of the sight are "projects" which range from "Take a picture of happy stuff on the street" to "Nominate someone awesome for something awesome." In the latest project, GOOD invited followers to submit "plans" on how to repurpose abandoned schools.

Here is the winner... a school repurposed as an urban food center. (Make sure you click on the infographic to enlarge the graphic!) I think it's one idea for vacant buildings that people in the Kalamazoo community would really get behind. What do you think?

PS. Kalamazoo doesn't have any vacant schools yet, does it?

9 comments:

  1. Hey Toni, I am actually doing a personal project like this for CES, and I definitely can relate to what you are saying.

    It would be great for everyone, including low income families, to access to this building. :)

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  2. Not only would it be great for the community, but like Toni said, would be a great hit here in Kalamazoo. There is already a momentous local food movement, forwarded by EatLocalKalamazoo, which has done an amazing job of generating awareness. I believe there are already a few organizations and existing structures that would provide partnerships and make implementation/realization of this very feasible.

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  3. Coming from Pakistan I was unaware of the hype in America about "organic" and "locally grown food". So I finally decided to take a look into organic food at Meijers. However to my disappointment it was extremely expensive and unaffordable for me. Coming back to the idea of the Urban Food Center, it seems really cool as long as we can implement the idea and keep the food affordable for the lower income groups. Just like "organic food", the Urban Food Center shouldn't be an elitist place.

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  4. This is so cool!

    Unfortunately I just feel like good ideas like this are so rarely realized. While coming up with the ideas itself is obviously a huge part of the process, I think there needs to be equal focus on the actual implementation.

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  5. I agree with Komal. Organic food and healthy lifestyles in general seem to be more available to the well off. If we can ensure that these places are low cost, they would become great places to enrich the whole community.

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  6. Not to be a downer here, but I am having a hard time thinking of anything better to do with a school building than teach school- what could we possibly need more?

    That said, this is a really neat idea once we're at the point of having an abandoned school. Especially since schools tend to be located reasonably centrally, this is a great way to provide the community with a resource for healthier food.

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  7. I agree with Alex, when I see a school building, I think of using it for school purposes. But if this building is abandoned and at this point, I really enjoy this idea, using our resources to do something great for the community. Loved this, thanks for sharing Toni

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  8. Thanks for posting the link to GOOD! What an awesome organization.

    Personally, I agree with Alex that a school is probably the best purpose for a school building, but if it's been abandoned for efficiency issues then the idea of restructuring it as a food center is really creative and interesting.

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  9. Again. this is cool. This could go into abandoned offices/warehouses in the central city

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