Box City is 25!
In 1994 CUBE marked twenty five years of making cities out of boxes!
What have we learned? What has changed? What has remained the same?
A Curriculum Overview
by Caryn S. Canfield, preservation activist in Albany, New York
Box City is an innovative educational program designed to teach children
of all ages (and adults) about the styles and structure of architecture,
the concepts of community planning, and most importantly, the value of being
a responsible citizen. The Box City activity was developed in 1969 by Ginny
Graves, an infectiously impassioned Kansas City art educator, and her equally
dedicated and enthusiastic husband, architect Dean Graves. Both are involved
in preservation efforts as well. The programs are continually evaluated,
revised and refined through cooperation and assistance of educators, architects,
planners, preservationists, historians and other community leaders.
What does Box City do?
Box City provides a hands-on experiential approach to community planning
and design principles; it instills understanding of the development of communities
and their present problems and successes. The curriculum allows students
to make their own buildings (from cardboard boxes) and then to create their
own communities by placing the boxes on a base plan, at the same time learning
how geography, economics, ecology, history and cultures have affected the
development of the community.
The kids create a community the way real communities get built, through
a mix of collaboration, regulation, necessity and entrepreneurship. When
the community is built, the kids evaluate it and compare its good and bad
features with the community where they live.
The program aids students in better comprehending the built environment
—why it is important to them personally and how they can influence
and help to shape it. One technique is conducting a mock town meeting, with
students assuming the roles of developers, government officials, neighborhood
board activists, environmentalists and others with a stake in decisions.
Box City progresses through a community planning process, teaching vocabulary
and the complexities of planning decisions. A main objective of the exercise
is to raise the awareness of people who feel helpless about what’s
happening around them and to show them how them how they can be a part of
the process. The culmination is a commitment to rebuild a sense of community,
and to build communities that are designed to meet the needs of people.
Box City allows participants to think about their own city, to dream
about what it could be, and teaches them to take responsibility for their
actions and decisions.
Information about ordering the entire Box
City curriculum.
This article appeared in the September, 1995 archiNews. For the entire
issue and subscription information contact CUBE.
