2. Urban Community

External Environment

Businesses work to maximize profit by targeting upper income groups, government, and other businesses resulting in extreme economic stratification. Manufacturing moves offshore and value of commercial property plumits as economy is based on financial paper and information.

Work is scarce for 40% of the eligible population. The government gives credit for volunteering in community service organizations, which UICA qualifies for.

Downtown becomes deserted as financial power centers move to Ada, Cascade, and Holland. Regional and local planning bodies are controlled largely by corporate politics.

New Technology has grown in the control of big commercial media companies. However, access is expensive putting it out of the reach of 70 % of the population. Microsoft Network is the ultimate because it is seamless, organized, and composed.

People seek cultural experiences through which one gains a sense of place in community through material interaction with form. Meaning is made by focused engagement with material. There is a reverence for hand-made objects: crafts, weaving, pottery, and gardening are popular. People value family keepsakes. People associate within groups of similar social, religious and political beliefs. Radical political groups of thrive.

Structuring

The building serves to house groups of people who are involved in art. The organization of the space is matter-of-fact. The idea of the place is like a neighborhood, a hall, or a plaza.
There is really no clear delineation between space that is open to the public, and space that is privately used by the organization. The dominant priority in the design is the accommodation of a diversity of groups.

Sustaining

UICA exists on the upper rung of the lower bracket independent of the market through support coming down.

The NEA was defunded after a protracted public debate over contentious projects (Òsexual content and questionable public performancesÓ). UICA was politically active in this fight.

Funding is not as critical an issue as projected. Overhead costs are low because property and energy are not valued resources in this economy. The capital campaign succeeded in funding to gain public occupancy for the building and then stalled. The government funds programs that provide activities for people.

Foundations, Corporations, and Individual donors give regularly to UICA as well as other Social Service and Cultural Organizations. While they give, people from the higher income brackets seldom come to UICA.

Corporate support is based on a social obligation on the part of businesses to share wealth with those not as well off, and to give people something to do with their time.

Revenues from leasing parts of the building are minimal because commercial property values have fallen. Bartered arrangements for use of space include storage, parking, and temporary offices.

Experiencing

UICA is a net.

Programs are produced by groups who form around common social concerns and histories. The number of groups changes within the range of 3-9.

Programs happen irregularly depending on activity of the groups currently producing events. Events are not always publicized well, but there is always somebody doing something if you stop by there.

Staff is valued for their tireless time on task and ability to manage volunteers and hold organization together as a community.

Volunteer and committee participation is plentiful. Many skilled people do not have full time jobs and can't afford to be involved in their interests independently. The government gives credits to people who volunteer at non-profit organizations.

Movements

The vitality of the institutional structure depends on the organization's ability to respond to and serve external social needs.

A major signpost to watch out for is the overstratification and separation of socially based groups. The existence of the organization is invested in community of the whole. Indicators are 1. spin-off groups who leave to gain focus. 2. commitment to ideology of diversity and community at the expence of technique and clarity of cultural forming.

Within the terrain of the 4 scenarios, movement away from this scenario to any of the others requires kicking people out.

The form of the building embodies commitment to shelter and adaptability. The implicit challenge is in manageing form as it relates to people and meaning, without precluding action. The form nullifies possibilities for meaning through isolated and refined individual experience.

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