I completed my masters thesis in architecture on the loss of social space in American culture within late capitalism and the impact on our individual and collective identities and our democracy. I was interested in community space which includes and nourishes diverse identities being emergent from relationship between the people/their voices and people offering design.

I then received a grant to engage community members in rural Alabama in empathy and to create the book "outsidein: a community space for hale county." I listened to people’s views on community space: if it exists, what it’s significance is, and whether it is something they need. I saw the book as the first shared space for community in the county. The book is a box of 50 cards. Each card has a community member’s photo on one side and their words on the other.

Together, we began a community group. At our first meeting we ate in a circle. People shared that this was the first time black and white people had come together intentionally to socialize in the county and they wanted to talk about race. We met regularly to be together, discuss, share meals, and share skills like quilting and tadding. When the group wanted a community space we renovated a main street building to be the community space. We offered programming including a community visioning process, open mic night, game night, dinners, lectures, exercise classes for kids and adults, a locally made quilt gallery, etc.

”The Birmingham Racial Segregation Ordinances” laid out building code to mandate the violence of segregation, but the end of segregation did not offer guidance on healing and integration as a culture.

What does it look like for us to co-create physically protected and emotionally safe spaces for social equity and healing? What does space look like for acknowledging harm, integrating truth, expanding sustainable and protected access to resource, honoring unheard voices and stories, and hearing and responding to human needs? What does it mean to co-create safety, stability, responsiveness, welcome, connection, mutual thriving, belonging, and home together? This community process, book, shared space, and programming were a way to begin to explore this path together.

I have shared excerpts from the book here. You can find the description from the back of the book at the bottom of each piece. Click images to read empathy interviews.

forest chaffee