Students stand in front of community members in the John and Joyce Caddell Building Flex Space for their final presentations for the Flourishing Communities Collaborative.

Flourishing Communities Collaborative

Flourishing Communities Collaborative

Flourishing Communities Collaborative (FC2) is an academic lab, committed to community engagement and social outreach. We engage in educating, leading, and serving by working with the community in a range of different settings. We are a multi-disciplinary laboratory whose vision is to leverage the resources at Georgia Tech for the city by building upon the strengths of its neighborhoods.

About FC2

We are guided by the question: How can people be key operators in inspiring and creating new ecological, equitable, and flourishing urban environments and spaces? Our mission is to educate the leaders for tomorrow’s local and global landscape. We endeavor to:

  • Actively lead and serve in a collaborative effort to affect positive physical and social change in our urban landscapes
  • Educate and provide leaders for current and future urban revitalization

You can find more about the program in our publications on Issuu: Flourishing Communities Collaborative and Open Doors: Reimagining the Future

Director, Julie Ju-Youn Kim AIA NCARB, julie.kim@design.gatech.edu

Managing Director, W. Ennis Parker AIA, ennis.parker@design.gatech.edu

Students present their work to community members in the Hinman Hammock in the Hinman Research Building

Leadership and Service

FC2 seeks to lead and serve by:

  1. providing opportunities for community outreach and engagement
  2. fostering interdisciplinary work in design, construction, and engineering
  3. supporting student interaction with the professional community
  4. educating leaders for current and future local and global urban landscapes

We are committed to provide an excellent and unique educational experience grounded in design, technology, and professional practice. FC2 seeks to enhance leadership capacity while producing sustainable and creative projects.

We see the Flourishing Communities Collaborative as an innovative 21st century educational model blending the academy and practice.

A students points to their project pinned up in the Hinman Research Building during a review with local professionals.

Program Structure

FC2 is fundamentally rooted in community engagement, social outreach, and education. We offer a platform for students to learn alongside faculty and professionals, much like a teaching hospital. Our students learn the valuable skill of creative listening which leads to creative thinking and making. By bringing the resources we have at Tech to underserved and under resourced communities, we support neighborhoods by providing design services and bringing realizable ideas to them. We engage in educating, leading, and serving by doing urban community projects.

Our outreach efforts are offered via design studios and workshop seminars so our students can earn course credit while gaining invaluable experience working with a larger community. We look forward to establishing internships for students to earn AXP credit while building critical skills in practice.

Julie Kim and Ennis Parker speaking in the John and Joyce Caddell Building Flex space to share advice with students and community members regarding the impact of the Flourishing Communities Collaborative.

Participants and Community Involvement

Participants include:

  • Undergraduate and graduate students
  • Georgia Tech faculty
  • Professionals
  • Community

The specific role of the non-faculty practitioners is to manage, design, and mentor as a consulting professional partner. Paramount to the objectives of our proposal, practitioners help students develop and hone their abilities in clear communication and effective collaboration. These valuable skills build our students’ capacities to be leaders in the profession.

Community involvement is critical. FC2 is committed to working with those communities who would otherwise not have access to professional design services. Past community groups include Better Living Together, and, most recently, the First United Methodist Church in College Park.

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