About the University of Wisconsin’s Design Wisconsin Team
The Design Wisconsin Team is an award-winning UW-Extension program based on the Minnesota Design Team-a model in which over 120 communities have been served since 1983. Our Princeton Design Team would not be possible without the support of the Princeton community and the University of Wisconsin Extension’s Community Vitality + Placemaking Team. Team members have donated their time for the sake of helping communities in Wisconsin discover their vision of the future.
The Design Wisconsin Team is an award-winning UW-Extension program based on the Minnesota Design Team-a model in which over 130 communities have been served since 1983. To date, the Design Wisconsin Team has served Grantsburg, Bailey’s Harbor, Kewanee, Ellsworth, Reedsburg and Princeton. Our Three Lakes Design Team would not be possible without the support of the Three Lakes community and the University of Wisconsin Extension’s Community Vitality + Placemaking Team. Team members donate their time for the sake of helping communities in Wisconsin discover their vision of the future.”
What is Placemaking?
It is a visioning and creating of quality public spaces where people want to live, work and play. Placemaking capitalizes on local community assets.
Placemaking promotes people’s health, happiness and well-being.
Placemaking is a means to an end.
What is Community Vitality?
Community vitality includes the coming together of people in pursuit of a shared vision for their community.
It is a community’s collective capacity to respond to change with greater participation with aspirations for a healthy and productive community.
Link needed to oregonexplorer.info and their article “What is Community Vitality?”
Design Wisconsin: Your Community’s Design Team
The University of Wisconsin-Extension provides communities with a variety of resources to help them make meaningful decisions about their future. The Design Wisconsin program is an opportunity to bring a team of planning and design professionals into your community to help you discover the short-, medium-, and long-range visions of your future.
Unlike a traditional strategic planning process, the Design Wisconsin approach concentrates public participation into a community design charrette or “visit”. The visit consists of a flurry of interactive activities that encourage the exchange of ideas while generating the energy needed for implementation. Like a traditional strategic planning process, the visit involves months of preparation and deliberation involving key stakeholders. For the average community participant, the process is often observed as being quick, fun, and simple. This illusion is critical as it creates the energy and momentum necessary for implementing the ideas generated by the visit.
Click here to learn a little about the theory behind the process.
Application
To apply for a visit, please contact your local UW-Extension Educator/Agent. They will guide you through the application process, build community capacity for the visit, and assist with implementation. The Minnesota Design Team has partnered with the University of Wisconsin Extension to develop a workbook to be used for the community design visit.
Design Wisconsin Team Workbook
Please work with your local UW-Extension educator to complete and submit application packet in the Workbook to:
Todd W. Johnson, Land Use + Community Development Specialist
University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UW-Extension)
315 Agriculture Science
410 S. 3rd Street
River Falls, WI 54022
(715) 425-3941 office
Costs
There is a fee for the Design Wisconsin program. The fee varies depending on the scale of the visit (see 9.2 Scale). The money is used for travel expenses and materials. Communities are encouraged to raise the funds from a variety of sources to help build a broad base of support. In addition to the fee, communities are expected to promote the visit, provide working and presentation spaces, and arrange for local transportation, food, and housing for the volunteers. The Community Vitality + Placemaking Team partners with local leaders and UW-Extension educators to coordinate all pre-visit activities to assure a successful program.
