Karam Forum 2022 continued our tradition of hearing from people doing the work of bringing life to the world in the cities where we meet. In Denver, we were grateful to our friends at the Denver Institute for Faith and Work for providing a rich exploration of how two graduates of their fellows program are working to redeem place and the use of space through architecture, transportation planning and more. Host Jeff Hoffmeyer of DIFW interviewed Denver professionals Tim Barr and Kelly Leadbetter.
Check out this fascinating conversation! Excerpts appear below.
Tim Barr: Spaces that Help People Feel Less Lonely
This is a is a matrix that we’ve been using um within some of the healthcare systems nationally, where we’re really looking at all of these design elements. Just different types of – like high ceilings. What is daylighting? Do colors contrast fresh air? All this fancy architectural stuff that people think about all the time, but really, what that is doing within the body. So what sort of neural chemicals are being released when you walk into a lobby of a hospital? Does it release serotonin? Does it release dopamine? What sort of spaces can we have, different releases of different neuro-feedback to help students learn or be more productive. And what do these spaces look like?
The next slide just goes right along with it, because then we start unpacking what the different pieces of that really look like we can actually design. Acoustics that lower stress. We can bring natural shapes and patterns in that help with relaxation and concentration. Fractals and things that you see reflected in nature that actually in you do some sort of response. All of these things really go hand in hand with human flourishing, and really helping people feel and feel comfortable, helping people feel less stressed.
We’re hearing tons and tons about all of the mental health issues that we deal with. We do a ton of mental health work throughout the state of Colorado and nationally, and we’re really getting to a place now where we have actual data that can show, if we design spaces this way, we can really help people that are feeling anxious and alone and isolated feel connected again.
Kelly Leadbetter: Planning Ahead for Better Human Connection
When I introduced my firm, I failed to mention that our tagline is that “we connect and enhance communities.” So if you ask someone from our company, that would be our mission, that we go about our work specifically to connect and enhance communities, specifically looking at their transportation. But being on the planning side, that often comes with the responsibility and the expectation that we are looking for ways not just to connect to the community through the physical, tangible infrastructure, but also for connecting and creating these places where the community can come together. Sometimes it’s a park, sometimes it’s a plaza, sometimes it’s, you know, the library, it’s a coffee shop, it’s the gym.
And getting to and from those places safely and efficiently – it’s not until we can’t access those places that I think the frustration starts to come in. And so I certainly think for me that word that I’ve been more attuned to recently is connected and connectedness….
I mean, we’ve seen in the last couple of years, when we aren’t connected to one another, how challenging that can be, how detrimental that can be to our communities and to our ability to relate to one another and care for one another.
So, really trying to think about, where are those places that people are coming together and connecting? And how do we ensure that at a project level that we’re connecting to another that we’re listening to one another? But that the project itself, as well, is connecting people to where they want to go.
