Urban Barnraising: Collective Rituals to Promote Communitas

Alison B. ABSTRACT This paper introduces the concept of "Neighborhood Commons" developed by landscape architect Karl Linn (1923­2005) beginning in 1960 in declining areas of North Philadelphia and then subsequently in Washington DC, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and other U.S. cities. After introducing Linn and situating his "Neighborhood Commons" in the socio- political context of American cities at this time, the paper presents the process of developing these commons as a collective ritual that parallels, according to Linn, rural "barnraising." The use of ritual action for community development will be contextualized within cultural anthropologist Victor Turner's contemporaneous theories on the ritual process as a means of achieving communitas (see Turner, The Ritual Process, 1969). Finally, the paper proposes what implications such a method of working may have on designing shared spaces in the city today. KEYWORDS Karl Linn, landscape architecture, community development, participatory design, ritual, Victor Turner, Philadelphia ISSN 0277-2426 © 2015 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System INTRODUCTION Karl Linn (1923­2005) is not a widely-known landscape architect, most likely because he was predominantly focused on community development and participatory design and left little in the way of iconic physical designs or a signature material inheritance. He introduced "Neighborhood Commons" in declining areas of North Philadelphia in 1960 and then subsequently in similar districts of Washington D.C., New York, Baltimore, Chicago, and other U.S. cities, yet most of these places (if not all) have long since disappeared. This paper begins by introducing Linn and situating his concept for "Neighborhood Commons" in the socio- political circumstances of American cities at this time, then frames the participatory process of developing these commons as a collective ritual that...