Back in August, Charlotte Agenda brought the news that a “neighborhood living room” would be popping up in SouthEnd, thanks to a $5000 grant from the Knight Foundation.
In June, at the first-ever K880 Emerging City Champions cohort in Toronto, Varian Shrum was named a 2015 K880 Emerging City Champion. The K880 Emerging City Champions program equips young civic innovators with the tools, networks, and resources to transform their cities into places that are happier, healthier, and more liveable for all. Shrum’s winning idea was for that of a “neighborhood living room” – a comfortable place where people could gather and connect.
Shrum told Charlotte Agenda that she was “inspired by things like Food Truck Friday and PARKing Day, which use simple activations to temporarily turn underutilized spaces into special places where people want to congregate.”
The pop-up space will open in SouthEnd’s Food Truck Friday lot on Thursday, October 15 and end on Sunday, October 18 with a tailgate/watch party for the Panthers/Seattle game.
If all goes as hoped, this pop-up living room will be used as a case study to take the idea to the City of Charlotte. This, in turn, will hopefully lead to more permanent neighborhood living rooms and gathering spaces around the city.
So will you be part of the neighborhood living room movement?
Image: CharlotteAgenda.com
