In 1785, the Continental Congress passed the National Land Ordinance, which laid a Roman colonial grid over all lands west of the Ohio River. This included all future cities and towns.

Public spaces and piazzas occur naturally at the intersection of pathways when communities are allowed to grow organically. The National Land Ordinance both pre-empted the natural development of such places and neglected to provide for them within the mandated grid.

In cities based on the grid plan, it is much easier for people to feel isolated and not know their own neighbors. The neighborhood places for communication and gathering that develop naturally in non-grid cities must be specifically planned for in grid cities.

The City Repair Project was established to return these important places of communication and participation to our neighborhoods. At City Repair, we see that sustainable communities are built when people work together for mutual benefit. We create and facilitate prototype gathering spaces that can inspire any community to create their own places of gathering.

Our projects are all aimed at building a more community-oriented and ecologically sustainable society – but we can’t do it in your neighborhood if you don’t get involved! If you’d like more information about our work, please contact us, or just check out our current schedule and come to one of our potlucks or community events!

The City Repair Project is an organized group action that educates and inspires communities and individuals to creatively transform the places where they live.

We facilitate artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world.

• Placemaking and architecture
• Urban planning and design
• Ecological and Social Sustainability
• Community resource localization
• Nonhierarchical decision-making: Resources include:

Seeds for Change, Making Decisions Co-operatively, Starhawk's Activism Page

• Equality, diversity and peace
• Cultural identity and Bioregionalism
• Paradigm reconstruction