Utica, NY
The Rust to Green (R2G) Capstone Studio in Landscape Architecture was held for 6 consecutive years (2011-2016) at Cornell. It was taught by Paula Horrigan who designed it to support the R2G Action Research Project she was also spearheading and which has been unfolding in Utica, NY, as R2G Utica, since 2010. Because it was designed to support R2G, the Capstone was intentionally developed as a service-learning course modeled on democratic civic engagement, teaching community design and placemaking, and bringing together university and community collaborators to work on actionable placemaking and community development projects in Utica. The studio echoed the relational nature of the larger R2G initiative in which it was embedded and helped foster greater university-community reciprocity, mutual trust, and community capacity. Engaged Cornell is now supporting a 2-year R2G Collaborative Evaluation Project studying R2G’s impact on students–professionally, academically and personally– as well as on the Utica community.