Santa Barbara Independent newspaper

Issue: May 29th, 2010; Written by: Cat Neushul

Article title: UCSB Invading Isla Vista: Effort to bring more art and culture to the college town

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/may/29/ucsb-invading-isla-vista/

The Bottomline newspaper

Issue: May 13-24, 2010- Issue 11; Written by: Alyctra Matsushita

Article title: UCSB Urban Planners mull ideas for Isla Vista layout

http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/FINALFINALFINAL-ISSUE-11-web.pdf

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WORD magazine

Issue: Spring 2010- Issue 8; Written by: Ryan Miller; Photographed by: G. Matthew Saad; Designed by: Adam Herzog

Article title: Becoming SOMEWHERE

After a year in IV, I’ve completely cast off the idea of walking on a sidewalk. I no longer flinch at the sound of my neighbors having sex, and raucous beer pong on a Wednesday night seems oddly comforting.

As in all successful communities, the overall vibe in Isla Vista is recycled from one person to the next in an endless chorus of social capital. With so many hearty partiers packed into such a small space, we create a surplus of these networks without even trying.

But how might social capital be related to the physical urban landscape of Isla Vista? In fact, the town’s landscape- dictated by its zoning and sub-divisions- has had a huge impact on the way we live. For starters, consider the way the city is zoned as a bedroom community; block after block of densely populated 1950s suburbia has shaped a student ghetto out of IV, creating a unique template for college life. The high population density breaks down social barriers and intensifies the parties but also makes privacy a luxury item. It’s no wonder I’ve grown accustomed to everything my neighbors do at all hours of the night- we are practically stacked on top of each other. And why do we all walk in the street? It’s not a choice; we simply have no sidewalks!

I was fortunate enough to meet Seetha Raghupathy recently to discuss how IV’s history of unregulated growth has contributed to its current social landscape. As an architect and urban designer, she is most interested in how the development of the physical landscape can dictate the sociological, economic, and political climate.

A self proclaimed Utopian, Raghupathy has been brought into IV to conduct research by colleague and UCSB Spatial Studies professor, Kim Yasuda. Since June of 2009, Raghupathy has been working with Yasuda and the local community to map the social and physical factors that define IV, including mattes of student life, economic and cultural sustainability, housing, and environmental impact.

While Raghupathy brings urban planning expertise- she has spent the past couple of years planning and researching communities in the US, India and South Africa- Yasuda is committed to the arts. As the co-director of the UC Institute for Research in the Arts, she has created engaging partnerships between academia and local and regional communities. Recently, Yasuda has been involved in projects where her interdisciplinary classes go out into the community to create. Some of Yasuda’s best- known projects in IV include the posh Pardall lamppost banners completed last year and the renovation of Fresh Start in 2008. “This is really what we want to start seeing- students getting out there and going to work in their own community”, said Yasuda excitedly, at a community update meeting in January.

Produced by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center and many dedicated students, IV Arts hosts free and low cost events and programs in IV, including Magic Lantern Theater, Improvability, and the magazine that you are reading right now. Members of the IV and UCSB communities agree that programming like this enriches the dialog between the campus and the community, while providing great entertainment for students. “Through programming”, Seetha tells me, “our project will engage community members in IV’s public spaces.”

At the project’s current stage, Raghupathy has finished most of her research, and the crew is getting ready to implement their ideas as pilot programs. Ideas range from interactive art projects and installations, to musical and cultural programs in IV streets and parks, to having street vendors scatter along DP to sell food on the weekends. The pilot programs will test the potential for urban planning and the arts to shape a sustainable change in the IV community.

What kind of change? That’s up to the community members, the true stakeholders in the project. Raghupathy and Yasuda see it as an opportunity for Isla Vistans to work together. That’s why they hold open community meetings and workshops. The goal is to open up the planning process to involve anyone who wants to partake.

While community change can be spurred from the top down, Raghupathy warned that this often promotes too much regulation and control. By using a collaborative community process where all stakeholders are equally valued, Raghupathy and Yasuda’s plan will work from the ground up. Their team is dedicated to a more organic approach to place-making.

“The planning process is a loop, and the process is designed to empower members. That’s the dialogue a community needs, and that’s what we are trying to initiate,” says Raghupathy.

Since the project champions an interdisciplinary and inclusive approach to sustainable change, the team is collaborating with UCSB’s Geography Department to map the results of the pilot programs. They will employ cell phones and GPS receivers to map flows of people and get feedback to track the progress of the pilots.

Some skeptical Isla Vistans question the aim of the project saying that UCSB is trying to infiltrate IV to show the partying. After all, the same people behind the controversial Master Plan support this project too.

When I asked Raghupathy about the project’s intention with regard to the alcohol- dominant social scene, she was sure to remind me that she is contracted as a non-partisan facilitator. In other words, her reports are intended to provide an unbiased analysis of IV that’s free of an agenda. Though, she is far from the enemy of party-hungry Isla Vistans. She’s here to deliver an outside perspective to our beloved town, to try and make sense of it all- I’m sure she stays very busy.

Place-making favors optimism over skepticism. It looks forward constructively to a positive and safe Isla Vista that values community above all. However, the project is still in its beginning stages. It will succeed only as long as the community stays involved and interested.

So what’s wrong with a little Utopia in IV? To be honest, I couldn’t think of anything better.

Isla Vista map

A key initiative of the Public Research, Participatory Planning towards Placemaking project was the creation of this map of Isla Vista. A map that represents the vibrant and exciting culture and landscape of Isla Vista was envisioned as a public resource. As the project embarks on its next phase, efforts are on to widely distribute this map which we believe will be a useful navigation tool for locals and visitors alike.

(Click twice on image to view larger; print on 17″ x 11″ for full size)

Visualization one:

Visualization two:

In collaboration with the UCSB Geog. Department…

Curricular infusion through the Public Research, Participatory Planning towards Placemaking initiative included involving UCSB Geography Professor Martin Raubal’s advanced GIS project based class. Nearly seventy-five students took up Isla Vista as their area of study and catalogued its unqiue and vibrant character. Through the use of GIS and related software, they mapped multiple facets of IV including its crime statistics, noise conditions, social life, arts and culture hotspots and housing conditions.  This rich information source could inform new and continuing students in their orientation to the physical and social navigation of IV.

(Click on each image to view larger)

Trash, runoff and water quality in Isla Vista

Suitability mapping in Isla Vista

Determining earthquake risk in Isla Vista using HAZUS-MH

Crime distribution in Isla Vista

Spatial distribution of UCSB students in Isla Vista

Emergency planning on the UCSB campus

User generated map under development at…

http://ivstreets.com/

CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Month: January February March April May June July August September October November December Year: 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042
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Category Key General Talks and Presentations

PROJECT PHASING 2009-2010

ART STUDENT INITIATIVES (2009-2010)

Red Carpet project:

[View with PicLens]

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Balloon project:

[View with PicLens]

PUBLIC ART INITIATIVES (2007-2009)

Repurposing a used shipping container:

[View with PicLens]

Facade improvement (Downtown IV):

[View with PicLens]

Banner project (Downtown IV):

[View with PicLens]

OTHER RELEVANT LINKS AND INFORMATION SOURCES

Related groups, resources and readings:

1. Policy focus report- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: Town gown collaboration in land use and development

2. A wingspread statement 2004- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee report: On University Community Partnerships

3. Bridging ‘Town & Gown’ Through Innovative University-Community Partnerships-University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida USA: Bridging ‘Town and Gown’

4. Campus architecture- The Chronicle of Higher Education: Campus architecture

History of IV:

1. http://www.participatoryplanningiv.com/wp-content/strand.pdf

IV Redevelopment Agency:

2. http://www.participatoryplanningiv.com/wp-content/ivrda5yrplan2007_2011.pdf

Multi-Cultural Center event in IV

The hip-hop artist band The Coup along with lead artist Boots Riley entertained the public for nearly two hours performing on the Manzanita open-air grounds (adjacent to 6500 DP) at UCSB. The dedication of the Multi-cultural Center paid rich dividends as there were nearly 300 people and the surveys handed out reflect very positive sentiments on this event. Students and the larger community alike are eager to have more such safe, late-night, alternative programming in and around IV.

Location: Manzanita Grounds, UCSB (abutting Del Playa)

Date: May 20th, 2010

Team: Zaveeni Khan-Marcus, Viviana Marsano, Seetha Raghupathy, Kim Yasuda

Support: UCSB Housing and Residential Services, IV Foot Patrol, Del Playa residents

[View with PicLens]

Late-night food truck in IV

The food truck  we mobilized on the parking lot of 6613 DP as an option for late- night food options on Del Playa Drive was viewed with curiosity and interest. Feedback from various stakeholders indicated that this was a step in the right direction towards enlivening the street scape while providing valuable business opportunities for local establishments. However, practical issues such as time of day, day of the week, lack of a credit/ debit card paying option etc were impediments to making it profitable in this first iteration. We are positive that upon ironing out minor glitches, the food trucks will become a vibrant social, cultural and economic addition to IV.

Here are some comments from students and passers-by:

Location: 6613 Del Playa, Isla Vista

Date: May 20th, 2010

Team: Nancy Weiss, Shoham Yaniv, Macario Piyan, Seetha Raghupathy, Kim Yasuda

Support: Lou Ventura, Ventura Enterprises

[View with PicLens]

HomeshowIV

Art student works (from Prof. Kim Yasuda’s class) were be exhibited in and about the domestic and public spaces of IV. This included a food event in the IV Redevelopment Agency parking lot (behind Cantina at 966 Embarcadero Del Mar), installations at clothing boutique Misbehavin’, community collective DIT/DIY printmaking, mural displays on apartment balconies and the IV medical clinic facade. As a second iteration to the food truck idea (see above), a bakesale was organized in the parking lot of 6613 DP to gauge interest and response to food options on Friday late night (as opposed to the Thursday early evening previous iteration).

TEDxSB talk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_CqC9OaOWI

Forum: TedxSB

Date: April 17th, 2010

Presenters: Kim Yasuda and Seetha Raghupathy

Related links:

Youtube - Space in a Shrinking World: Public Research, Participatory Planning towards Placemaking

Forum    - http://www.tedxsb.com/

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center talk

Forum: Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB

Date: April 14th, 2010

Presenter: Seetha Raghupathy

Related links:

http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/place-making/

Community project update meeting

Forum: Multi-stakeholder town-hall type meeting

Date: January 29th, 2010

Presenter: Seetha Raghupathy and Kim Yasuda

Related links:

Entire presentation available for download at-

http://www.participatoryplanningiv.com/wp-content/VTS_01_1.VOB