BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

was conducted, neither of these plans had.been implemented. However, a
number of projects on the local level existed, partly because of the
larger planning process and partly in spite of it. The reasons for this
contradictory situation lie in the conflicts between central decision-making
structures and projects striving for autonomy. Without a larger degree of
autonomy at the local level, the complex problems of co-ordination cannot
be solved. The central or top level administrator, however, tries to
retain his influence, in order to balance resources on a city-wide scale.
103. The South Arsenal Neighborhood . Development (SAND) project, one of
the tangible results of the Greater Hartford Process and community efforts,
provides a case in point: SAND's ability to help the neighbourhood to
plan for its own needs and aspirations, and to gain financial support from
various sources, precisely responded to the goals of the Greater Hartford
Process. For this reason, it gained wide-spread support. At the same
time, SAND's tendency to create a city within a city was perceived by
Hartford's central governmental agencies as a threat, because of its
potential for creating a new type of balkanised metropolitan area if
followed by other communities. For this reason it suffered delays in its
implementation. After nearly one decade, a balance now seems to have been
found between these two extremes which are typical for a locally initiated
and directed, yet centrally endorsed, project.
104. The SAND project, once the Everywhere School and its community
facilities have been built, will be an interesting testing ground for the
assumption that large problems and issues hold a neighbourhood together,
in fact produce a "community" where, beforehand, there existed only a
catchment area, populated by families without a common interest. Again,
this may depend on how much further support will be extended from the
central level and on what will happen to the local leaders who have been
continuously involved in the project over the last ten years.
105. As will be seen in Ann Arbor, a new central administration which is
geared to a different set of goals and objectives, may cause local leaders
to resign and local input to diminish once the school has been built. The
Ann Arbor city-wide educational planning process in the years 1971-73, had
no precedent. It became a prototype which achieved a lot and failed a lot,
within a fairly short period of time:
- five schools were planned and built as part'of an overall plan and
with considerable participation of the community;
- a comprehensive master plan was developed for the Board of
Education, the only metropolitan agency;
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