CCDC was formed by a group of enthusiastic, civic-minded designers and activists in July/August of 2004. Through start-up funds provided by the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) and the dedication of CCDC volunteers, co-founder & executive director, Katie Swenson, has been able to leverage her relationships in the community to create a dynamic non-profit organization with an entrepreneurial spirit. CCDC provides innovative technical assistance, design facilitation, and education programs fueled by public discussion in order to connect good design with community values, especially in underserved areas.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY DESIGN?
As the Association for Community Design states, community design is a movement focused on the creation and management of environments for people. Practitioners of community design identify and solve social, economic, and political problems, as they relate to the built environment. This process promotes change to the built environment from the neighborhood to regional scale, and aims to meet community needs through participatory decision-making at all levels. Community design helps to establish active partnerships with community residents and institutions, to advocate for improving quality of life. A commitment to diversity and listening to the different voices in a community are core values of community design.

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER?
Community design centers are professional planning and design studios serving low- and moderate-income communities. They provide architecture and design services, public education and advocacy on behalf of communities to impact the outcome of projects that affect neighborhoods and the built environment. There are over 40 community design centers in the U.S. and additional affiliates all over the world. Community design centers include university-based centers, full service planning and design practices, and non-profit organizations.

WHY IS DESIGN IMPORTANT IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT?
Design, as a process, is an effective way for advancing the cause of social justice. It facilitates a wider range of community concerns and fosters a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving. Better decisions are achieved by combining a community’s experiential knowledge with academic and professional knowledge. Design solutions are, therefore, more contextual, inclusive and appropriate resulting in better use of resources. The resultant community-driven plans are flexible and open-ended rather than fixed, and anticipate and aid incremental development and a continuous process of improvement.