WE RESEARCH WICKED PROBLEMS & [RE]IMAGINE COMMUNITIES.

The Community Design Research Center at the University of Virginia is dedicated to pushing the boundaries & applications of design and planning—using transdisciplinary research to address the wicked problems facing the 21st century.

Our research focuses on one central theme: the [re]imagining of communities to be healthy, resilient, and generative. The Center supports this theme at multiple scales, in various contexts.

The Community Design Research Center at the University of Virginia is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of design and planning—applying transdisciplinary research to address the wicked problems facing the 21st century. Its mission targets one central theme: the [re]imagining of communities to be healthy, resilient, and generative.

The CDRC is pioneering on-the-ground research methodologies that advance innovative & collaborative thinking; cultivate synergies; and craft systems for transferability and scalability, using proven prototypes, practices, and processes. Said simply, CDRC works toward the prevention and solution of systemic challenges through place, product, & people.

ABOUT CDRC

Campbell HallPO Box 400122

Charlottesville, VA 22903

in 2014, The UVA CDRC, partnered with the Cameron Foundation, a regional community-development organization, to engage citizens, research strategies, & design tactics for neighborhood revitalization in the city of Petersburg.

Classes dedicated to the project, including: Economic Development & Neighborhood Planning Studios,. Community Design Lab, focused on an active design research methodology.

HOW WE WORKThese courses have enabled students to participate in on-the-ground research with site visits, community engagement meetings, & partnerships with city officials & business stakeholders. Resulting products include new neighborhood designs, new narratives for historic preservation & culture, & opprtunities to rethink manufacturing in 21st century terms.

image by Jeana Ripple

cdrc@virginia.edu434.924. 6459

3RD MILLENNIUM SPATIAL MORPHOLOGIESThe 2nd millennium was defined by dichotomies—urban vs. rural, 1st world vs. 3rd world, industrialized vs. non-industrialized, shrinking vs. expanding, North vs. South. The 3rd millennium will be characterized by morphologies. Shifts in climate, population, natural resources, infrastructures, territories, and economies are yielding new patterns of settlement.

This research focuses on the design and planning of adaptable (flexile) regions, cities, communities, and neighborhoods to accommodate the inevitable changes of the next century.

NEW INDUSTRIAL WORKSCAPESThe changing global workforce and workspace necessitates a better understanding of the behavior and condition of an existing system (material microstructure, base industry, worker skill-set), to discover latent potential and the complementary relationships.

This research takes advantage of expertise within and outside the university to explore a new role for designers, planners, and historians in preserving and advancing the manufacturing economy to take advantage of place - working from multiple vantage points to fortify the national and international imperative to make dormant cities work.

RECOMBINANT ECOLOGIESThe global community, be it a mega-city or rural byway, is the product of the milieu of economic, political, social, and environmental forces that define boundaries, access, and sustenance.

Through the lenses of people, product, & place this research theme focuses on the design investments, technologies, & landscapes needed to create newly productive urbanity.

RESEARCH THEMES & INTERVENTIONS