Block by Block: Reclaiming Neighborhoods by Design

Block by Block celebrates the achievements of three urban communities where residents, architects, planners, developers, and leaders of public and private institutions have joined forces to turn around once-threatened inner-city districts. The stories told by participants are inspiring. The insights they share about developing coalitions, creating a vision that builds on local heritage, tapping the skills of design professionals, and organizing for action can be adapted and adopted by viewers in many other communities.

Program Host & Producer

Block by Block is the third hour-long documentary produced by the American Architectural Foundation in its Accent on Architecture television series. As with the previous two programs — Back from the Brink and Becoming Good Neighbors — Block by Block is hosted by Charles Royer. A former mayor of Seattle, Royer is now senior lecturer at the University of Washington and national program director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Urban Health Initiative.

The film was created by Production Group, Inc., which also developed the Planet Neighborhood series and the PBS programs based on David Macaulay's books (Castle, Cathedral, Pyramid, Roman City, and Building Big). For more information on the Accent on Architecture series.

Program Highlights

Atlanta, Georgia: Sweet Auburn

Once the pre-eminent African-American residential and commercial district in Atlanta, "Sweet Auburn" began to lose its financial underpinnings with the general exodus of the city's businesses and middle class to the suburbs. The neighborhood was further decimated when an elevated highway was plowed through its middle. Even as public and private sectors contributed to the revitalization of downtown Atlanta only a short distance away, the area languished, with numerous vacant properties, many poor and elderly households, and businesses struggling to hang on along Auburn Avenue, its principal thoroughfare.

The tide began to change in the 1980s, when the National Park Service bought many buildings in the neighborhood to create the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. In 1994, the Historic District Development Corporation (HDDC) initiated its housing program with a firm commitment to upgrade the housing of current residents while attracting new families and businesses into the area. The film highlights the success of HDDC's block-by-block approach, which complements the rehabilitation of historic buildings with traditionally designed infill construction and innovative adaptive-use projects. Residents, local entrepreneurs, and community organizers proudly share their accomplishments with an energy and optimism that are infectious.

Hartford, Connecticut: Frog Hollow

In Hartford, as in many other cities, the demographic and economic changes brought about by suburbanization left major institutions in the "Frog Hollow" area near downtown surrounded by blocks of deteriorated buildings housing low-income families, the elderly, recent immigrants, and businesses they support. Elsewhere institutions have turned their backs on such neighbors — physically, financially, and socially.

In Hartford, however, Trinity College, the local public radio and TV station, the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, and Hartford Hospital have formed SINA, the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, to craft and implement a revitalization strategy for the area with residents.

A core part of that strategy is to provide a healthier environment for the neighborhood's children, including expanded learning opportunities. Block by Block chronicles the civic participation process that has led to the creation of the "Learning Corridor," a campus of four schools and a Boys and Girls Club. Designed to serve an array of community needs, the campus is both a symbol of renewal and a place where people from the supporting institutions can get to know their neighbors as partners. (In recognition of SINA's achievements, the American Planning Association presented the Alliance with its 2000 National Planning Award for a Special Community Initiative.)

Denver, Colorado: Lower Downtown (LoDo)

Once the site of Denver's original downtown, the area now known as LoDo developed into a warehouse district adjacent to the rail yards, that grew into a major transportation hub in the late 19th and early 20th century. During the 1980s, the building boom in the central business district spilled over into LoDo, causing many of the handsome, multi-story brick warehouses to be razed for high-rises and parking lots.

Fortunately, a few visionary developers, preservationists, and design professionals saw LoDo's potential as a mixed use neighborhood at downtown's edge. They convinced the city to designate the area as a local historic district and to restrict demolition. Through interviews with many of the principal players, the film helps viewers understand the array of public and private techniques — including zoning changes, infrastructure improvements, and small-business incentive loans — that have transformed LoDo into a flourishing live/work district.

Making Use of Block by Block

Planners and other advocates of neighborhood revitalization can make use of this excellent documentary in several ways:

• Partner with your local AIA omponent

Members of the American Institute of Architects are organized into 301 components or chapters. Most operate at the citywide or metropolitan level, but some serve architects at a statewide or regional level.

All AIA Components have received a VHS videocassette of Block by Block, together with a 40-page resource kit containing strategies for its local promotion and use. The kit includes suggestions for involving the community, tips on working with public TV stations, and even sample letters, press releases, and logo slicks. To encourage its members to collaborate with other allies interested in neighborhood revitalization, the AIA also includes a list of over 40 national organizations, with addresses and websites (including the American Planning Association).

To get contact information for the AIA Component closest to you, call the American Architectural Foundation at 202-626-7514.

• Get a copy of the video and user guide for your own use

If no AIA component is nearby, you can purchase the video of Block by Block by calling the AAF at 202-626-7514 or 800-365-2724. All copies of the tape come with the resource kit.

• Promote the broadcast of Block by Block on your local public television station.

Contact your local public television station to see if Block by Block in schedule for future airing. If not, encourage the station to schedule it and offer to help promote it. See the user guide for helpful tips, a timeline, and a sample letter.

The program has been distributed to all public stations in the U.S. by NETA (NOLA Code: BLOK 0K1). If the program has already aired once, encourage the station to show it again, preferably in concert with a televised follow-up forum on planning for local neighborhood revitalization. (Note: Because of distribution rights, Block by Block was barred from showings on public access cable channels until March 2002.)

• Show the video to public officials, civic leaders, and other interested citizens

There are no limitations to non-broadcast use of Block by Block, such as screening it for local officials, developers, civic clubs, and schools.

• Share your success stories!

Send information on your use of Block by Block.

For information on other relevant AAF programs that PBS stations have the right to air, see www.archfoundation.org/documentaries/.