Public Proposal: an urban forest

Juan William Chávez presents at the 2013 Creative Capital Artist Retreat from Creative Capital on Vimeo.

The Pruitt-Igoe Bee Sanctuary is a proposal for the City of Saint Louis to transform the urban forest where the Pruitt-Igoe housing development once stood into a public space that preserves the remaining 33 acres of green space and cultivates community through beekeeping and urban agriculture. Drawing parallels to the depleting population of bees (colony collapse disorder) and the challenges of activating vacant space in post industrial “shrinking cities”, the project intends to redirect the conversation surrounding Pruitt-Igoe by developing creative strategies that both memorialize the past and provide economic opportunity for the future. By working together, Pruitt-Igoe can end on a positive note by transforming one of the worst failures of public housing into a leading example of revitalization.

Juan William Chávez (2013 Emerging Fields grantee) presented on his Creative Capital-supported project, The Pruitt-Igoe Bee Sanctuary, at the 2013 Artist Retreat. Read more about his project here: creative-capital.org/projects/view/745.