The City Repair Project is group of citizen activists creating public gathering places and helping others to creatively transform the places where they live.

With a mostly volunteer staff and the help of hundreds of volunteer citizen activists, our many projects:

• educate people about why most American neighborhoods are socially isolating and culturally inactive, and how we can transform them from the grassroots,

• inspire people to both understand themselves as part of a larger community and fulfill their own creative potential, and

• activate people to be part of the communities around them, as well as part of the decision-making that shapes the future of their communities.

History:

The City Repair Project was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1996 by citizen activists who wanted a more community-oriented and ecologically sustainable society. Born out of a successful grassroots neighborhood initiative that converted a residential street intersection into a neighborhood public square, City Repair began its work with the idea that localization (of culture, of economy, of decision-making) is a necessary foundation of sustainability. By reclaiming urban spaces to create community-oriented places, we plant the seeds for greater neighborhood communication, empower our communities and nurture our local culture.

We are an almost entirely volunteer-run social-profit (non-profit) organization. Our projects include:

• temporary and permanent placemaking installations,
• community events,
• educational presentations,
• consultation and technical assistance,
• community placemaking facilitation, and
• the development of our own egalitarian community of activists and volunteers.

Our fields of work: - placemaking and architecture

• urban planning and design
• ecological and social sustainability
• community resource localization
• non hierarchical decision-making
• equality, diversity and peace
• cultural identity and bioregionalism
• paradigm reconstruction

All of our projects are almost completely all-volunteer efforts, made possible by the contributions of hundreds of volunteer coordinators and generous supporters. Please contact us if you'd like to help out with your time or a donation!

Ongoing Projects:

Intersection Repair

• What defines your neighborhood? Do you know the people who live in it with you? Intersection Repair helps neighbors convert street intersections into public gathering places -- the most essential part of your neighborhood for community building.

Village Building Convergence (VBC)

• The VBC is a convergence of citizens, natural builders and activists to help neighborhoods design and build their own community amenities. Working together, we can turn our neighborhoods into Villages - one work party at a time!

Earth Day Celebration of Localization

• This celebration of local culture, local business and local initiative year's attracts over 3,000 participants annually - and it's all organized by community volunteers! Join in the morning of neighborhood service projects and then come to the Celebration for live bands, alternative vehicles, green vendors, activists, workshops, and the T-Palas.

Division Street workshop - Placemaking Facilitation

• From the Albina Triangle Project in North Portland to the Bay City (Oregon) Vision Plan community design initiative, our Placemaking Facilitation projects aim to empower citizens to creatively transform the places where they live.

T-Horse

• The T-Horse is a mobile tea house, public square and potluck activator that reminds us what we're missing without local public gathering places, and demonstrates how a space can be transformed into a place. Always free hot tea and homemade chai!

Last Monday Community Potluck

• On the last Monday of every month, we hold a big community potluck, open to all. It's a way for us to socially connect with old and new friends -- and to share some great food and desserts! Visit our News Page for the next day and location.

T-Palas

• Our T-Palas ephemeral tea house is now a permanent project at Oregon Country Fair, the famous three-day temporary eco-village and sustainability celebration that attracts over 30,000 people a year.

Collaborations:

SHIFT

• SHIFT is a bicycle activism group working to express Portland's creative bike culture and highlight bicycling's positive contributions to the community. Activities include social rides, educational bike tours, actions to raise awareness about cyclist injuries or deaths, information-sharing events, art-bike parades and more. City Repair is providing fiscal sponsorship and technical assistance to this project.

• North Portland BikeWorks*
• A non-profit neighborhood bike shop and learning center, North Portland BikeWorks is collectively run and provides information, resources and skill sharing programs advocating the use of environmentally sustainable, self-reliant transportation in one of Portland's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. City Repair provided fiscal sponsorship and technical assistance for this project, which is now its own 501(c)3.

Babyhenge

• A public gathering place and time sculpture now installed in Couch Park, Babyhenge was developed and built by students at Portland's Metropolitan Learning Center in a class on Cultural Sustainability. City Repair assisted with design and some project facilitation.

Dignity Village

• Dignity Village is an intentional community of Portland homeless people creating their own alternative to the shelter system. City Repair has provided assistance on design and permitting.

communitecture

• communitecture is an architectural design firm that provides the architectural and technical expertise for many of our projects. Our collaborative work explores culturally-focused and participation-based creative processes.