Rethinking a City: WSU Integrated Design Research Studios
Sunday, November 1, 2015
On one side of a knot of overpasses and railroads is Spokane’s thriving University District. On the other is the East Central neighborhood, where 63 percent of residents live at or below the poverty line and fewer than one in three own their homes.
Using smart design and technology, approximately 40 graduate and undergraduate students from architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design worked with the nonprofit University District Development Association and the Spokane Smart City Technology Accelerator Group to incorporate smart city ideas such as interactive environments and data-driven decision making.
Their ideas—emerging from fall 2015’s Integrated Design Research Studios collaboration to develop research and creative outcomes—could help East Central residents take advantage of education and health opportunities next door, said Steve Austin, a landscape architecture faculty member in the SDC.
“Right now, they might feel like it is miles away, but it is just half a mile away,” he said. “If we can improve those connections, residents benefit.”
Connecting the Ben Burr Trail to the district; introducing shared, driverless electric cars; decentralizing power grids; and identifying technologies to grow jobs are some of the ideas that were presented at open houses and final reviews held in Spokane. Read more.
