BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

participation of the users seems to be less important than the
group which initiates or organises the programming process. Where
the initial seed money went to subsidise an architectural and urban
planning study (Pontiac), the product still seems to excell in terms
of architecture and urban design; where the money went to support a
three day charette involving mainly the various agencies (Arlington),
it produced the closest inter-agency co-operation; where it was
used to pay for a two-week charette involving 500 citizens from the
area (Baltimore), the center has become an outstanding example of
community involvement and power.
22. Any innovative endeavour of the magnitude found here, which goes
against decades of tradition, isolating education from other sectors and
functions, should be given at least one decade before any conclusions are
drawn about its validity. As major social innovations, however, these
centers need a far greater amount of research and support than they receive
at present to fulfill their roles as testing grounds for new co-operative
patterns.
23. In contrast to the processes which led to the building of large
purpose-built centers, the section on New Uses for Empty Schools, describes
shorter and more economical solutions for integrating social and educational
services by re-using existing school space. In some urban areas a result
of declining student enrolments, in others caused by the exodus of the
white middle class to suburbs, or the closing of major factories or business
establishments, the "empty school phenomenon" is a multi-faceted issue.
More varied than its causes are its effects upon local schools. While
some are being bulldozed and others stand empty (costing about $3 000 per
year for minimum maintenance), the overwhelming majority seem to find new
uses. In many school districts teachers, administrators, parents and
citizens have recognised that a facility for which they paid with their
taxes needs to.be returned to the community instead of being sold to
private entrepreneurs (usually for a minimal sum). The economic crisis,
less affluence and mobility, and widespread unemployment have increased
rather than decreased the demand for social services and have led to a new
awareness in regard to local conditions and the quality of the immediate
environment. Federal and state regulations, requiring new educational
opportunities for the handicapped and programs for the elderly, today meet
with the need to fill empty school spaces. Recreational uses, youth and
elderly clubrooms, special and adult education classes are among the most
common uses. The use of local resources and temporary programs, however,
create an indefinite variety, which defies a general statement in respect
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