Description

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Building Commons and Community documents 45 years of the late Karl Linn's legacy creating neighborhood spaces for communities and by communities. In this richly-ilustrated landscape-format hardcover book, Linn presents his philosophies and practical wisdom.

Linn created some of America's first community design centers, and his work inspired Eunice Shriver to initiate Americorps. In this richly-illustrated book, Linn presents his philosophies and practical wisdom to help people use the resources they find in their own surroundings to create welcoming shared spaces.

In addition to an extensive addendum of resources for creating community commons, this work contains colorful photo-essay case studies of projects that cross boundaries between professional design and neighborhood activism provide inspiration and guidance for citizens and professionals who wish to collaborate to strengthen communities. Projects include community gardens, playgrounds, parks and other gathering places built on derelict or unused property by the people who use them.

Landscape architect and child psychologist Karl Linn (1923-2005) was a beloved, down-to-earth, visionary leader of grassroots community building, who brought life to economically disenfranchised neighborhoods in cities from Boston to Berkeley. His book documents the creativity and ingenuity of working-class citizens, students and volunteer professionals who transformed derelict vacant lots and drab institutional settings into colorful and lively community commons in Boston, New York, Newark, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Louisville KY, Pittsburgh, Columbus OH, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and Berkeley.

About the Author

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Karl Linn (1923-2005) was a beloved visionary leader in grassroots community building. He brought life to economically disenfranchised communities in nine American cities through innovative community design-and-build centers, playgrounds, gardens and community gathering places. Earlier careers include tenured professor, landscape architect, and psychoanalyst (co-founding a school for emotionally disturbed children).

Praise For…

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This is a must-read for those who are involved with community planning or design, but is also simply an enjoyable read for anyone interested in some remarkable stories of community building. There is a lot in this book that is inspirational and it seems that we are fortunate that Linn’s legacy will be felt not only through this book but in the many spaces he helped create and the people whose lives he touched along the way.

One thing is quite clear; the world needs more people like Karl Linn.

- Leszek Apouchtine, re:place Magazine

Karl Linn's compassion, humanity and insight into what makes good community designand what, in fact, makes community itselfis exactly what much of the world needs to develop if we are to evolve beyond our current frightful state of affairs. He saw the need for space and safety, beauty and joy in people's livesespecially the lives of poor childrenand he filled it by the truckload. His was a quietly heroic life, lived close to the root of what really matters: an understanding that the happiness and peace we create for others is, delightfully, our own.

- Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple