Picture This! Is available at a great new price. Underwriting this resource is Ellerbe-Becket/Kansas City, an international firm specializing in architecture, engineering, and construction.

Picture This! is a template for involving youth in the planning process—it provides hands-on, community-based activities that come alive with hundreds of visuals.

Every educator, every design professional, every organization concerned about community needs a copy of Picture This!, a visualization process for community design. CUBE (Center for Understanding the Built Environment) recently published this accessible resource book that introduces, in five modules, the defining qualities of neighborhood and community. It uses the visual environment to spark a dialogue about needs in the community. It provides participants with the tools to express those needs to community leaders and planners. For educators, it provides the curriculum connection for bringing youth into the planning process, but can be easily adapted for adult participation.

The book took root in the experience that CUBE has had with its three nationally recognized curriculum: Walk around the Block, Box City, and Community Connections. Ginny Graves, founder of CUBE, an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects and preservation honor award recipient, recognized that citizenship responsibility (always the ultimate goal in CUBE programs) and the middle school student make a natural fit. Integrated into the resource are brain-based learning activities as interpreted by Laurie Bottiger, education specialist and middle school instructor.

Picture This! asks five questions which serve as discussion starters for exploring the cities and neighborhoods in which we live.

•What is community?
•What makes your community special?
•Who makes the rules?
•Can youth be involved in the planning processes?
•How can you take responsible action?

The module called Cars R Us provides a template for any classroom to undertake an in-depth study of a problem in the community, while at the same time studying a problem common in all communities, transportation and sprawl. Most importantly, Picture This! provides the tools for taking the results of such a community study to the policy and lawmakers who are most liable to bring about change.

Filled with concrete examples of successful local youth programs, the book provides essential reading and activities for bringing youth into the planning process. Picture This! is driven by the philosophy that taking responsible community action is the responsibility of each individual person and that healing our fractured communities can begin with one person.

Picture This! promotes active responsible citizenship. I’ll do it again.” Jennifer Roe, 8th grade, Center District, Kansas City, Missouri.

“Picture This! is just the curriculum we need for middle school government classes. Kids don’t just read about civic responsibility, they experience it in a meaningful way,” comments Michael Gray of the Child Friendly organization in Alberta, Canada.

“I like the flexibility of Picture This! I can add or customize to fit my particular situation.”Amy Hillman, Fifth Grade, Augusta, GA.

Picture This! offers activities – including instructions, templates for worksheets, and other resources – any person or group can use to involve community members in the building of a better community. Picture This! a visualization process for community design, is now available with an easy-to-use video. $45 plus shipping. Order from the archiStore at the web site: www.cubekc.org.

Curriculum: 125 black-and-white pages
8-1/2 x 11 spiral bound
Video and Discussion Booklet
ISBN 0-9632033-4-7

CUBE, 5328 W. 67th Street, Prairie Village, KS, 66208; Tel: 520-822-8486.

If you are using the above information for public relations reasons, you may want to include the following of architectural relevance:

CUBE is especially grateful to the design/engineering firm of Ellerbe-Becket/Kansas City and to the local architects and design professionals who participated in the development of Picture This! Serving on the Advisory Committee were John Eyler, Vincent Gauthier, Dean W. Graves, FAIA, Kevin Klinkenberg, Joe Perry, Jim Scott, and Richard Wetzel.

CUBE thanks The Dunn Foundation, Rhode Island; the American Institute of Architects; the College of Fellows and AIA/Kansas City for funding. In addition, local support was received from The Francis Families Foundation, Kirk and Joan Gastinger, the Kansas Arts Commission and the William T. Kemper Trust. In-kind services were provided by Western Blueprint, Custom Color Corporation, Polaroid Education Program and Health Midwest.

Each module in Picture This! begins with visual images which are a “discussion starter” for exploring the idea of design in the community. Design professionals will find this a useful tool for classroom presentations.