The City of Oakland is a conundrum.  In the heart of the technology center of California, yet the DotCom boom passed it by in favor of almost every other city around it. 

How was this possible.  Its rent rates are lower then San Francisco's and so is the home of a significant number of artists, yet it lacks even an urban art locale.  What is it

in the currents of Oakland's citizens, city leaders and investors which throttles this city's vibrancy? 

Urban conditions do re-enforce and prevent behaviour but it also can be a means of accelerating social change.  Physical space and all non-verbal communication affect a

client's self-image, public perception and ultimately, the public's willingness to interact.  Success hinges on a strategy.

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 ZONING - Is it the requirement itself or our attitude to constraints? 

There is a tendency to look to Europe for solutions to American cities.  But it is a mistake to assume solutions are transferrable without exception. First there is the obvious

- we have land.  Land is a physicality which is bound to the american dream; and the right to use as we wish was the enduring struggle between federalists and the confederates. 

This dispute to the personal right to self-determination is unequivocable tied to LAND.

It is with easy access to financing that many individuals are building their own home.  Yet, despite this new individual freedom, single family houses are exhibiting the same

level of uninventive building practices as typical real estate developments. 

Is it possible that the boredom of single family houses and real estate designs in the US is as a result of the method of prescription?  Rather than setback requirements,

what happens if incentives to preserve open communal spaces is proposed instead?  And in return for a smaller footprint, greater incentives for great access to natural sunlight?

In taking away 'land', we have to understand the psychological associations which are very strong in this culture.  The right to one's domain is core to the U.S. experience

- the right to protect and use property as one sees fit as defined by the property line.  This notion must be returned.  Most Multi-unit designs do not address 'mental privacy'. 

Thicker wall addresses only physical sound.  But more can be achieved by understanding the many varieties of family units, movement, means of separation to

re-introduce that sense of 'domain'.

The option of 'choice' over prescription could lead to variety. 

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 VACANT LOT - A strategy for a return communical ownership to the ignored 

Richmond is a city geographically close to Oakland with some similar charactertistics - a disjointedl vague city.  In 2004, BLINK! was comissioned to undertake a study

and propose strategies for the City of Richmond's over 500 vacant lots.  Our client was an African-American developer who had partnered with one of the largest

Church congregations in that city.  The church was becoming more politically active and realized that in order to enact change in its high-crime districts, it had to be more

creative.  What this team of developer and church lacked was an ability to grasp that simply filling lots typically 'styled' single-familty houses would not change the

econo-cultural context of these neighborhoods.  While their end-goal was a better neighborhood, the client believed the answer was 'plugging the hole'. 

BLINK!Lab understood change required aresearched approach to discover the forces at play in the home, the street and the city.

Study revealed that the majority of lots were contiguous.  This was key to our proposal, for it allowed the creation of group housing.  Initially seen as a question of

density, we expanded study to question, 'what else could be introduced to create the desired outcome? Was it possible to implement specific strategies which would

radically shift the landscape?' What if zoning and financial institutions were married?   When paired with family investment, what impact can we expect?  

Multi-lot family zoning would allow ready care-giving by removing the need for distance travel, thereby increasing savings which can be used towards investment in

self.  Multi-unit family zoning would introduce a neighborhood matriach/elder.  This is a very crucial concept, as it directly addresses the continued existence of

matriarchical family structures in the African-American community.  That voice typically extends the sense of ownership and authority beyond the walls of the house 

to include street-life.  However, this fact did not negate the need for individual privacy.

Status - revisited 2006, continued independent research