The design and building of new schools is increasingly seen as an opportunity to encourage integrated planning and smart growth thinking.
It's time to blur the lines between school development and community development. Getting community residents into school buildings is a pivotal step toward building social capital. A focal point in the conversation about schools-as-centers is school facility planning. Given the major investment in school rehab and construction across the country, the Coalition for Community Schools with the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the BEST Collaborative, on these issues, promoting the intentional integration of community school components into new buildings. "The push for increased community support and the creation of community/school partnerships has led, in turn, to new ideas about the planning and design of new school facilities. In the past decade, school districts have been hard pressed to meet the enormous enrollment demands of the "baby-boom echo." Even now in 2003 with enrollment leveling off at 53 million children, school districts will spend almost $29 billion to build approximately 1,580 new facilities."
Thanks to Chris Steins
FULL STORY: Schools As Centers Of Communities: KnowledgeWorks Foundation Concept Paper
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
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Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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City of Fort Worth
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