Fractal Pop-Up: Shelters and Regenerative Communities for the Unhoused and Displaced

In the spring of 2021, I collaborated with a multi-disciplinary team of 5 peers that came together through the Buckminster Fuller Institute, with a desire to address regenerative urban development using a living systems approach. What would qualify regenerative development, in the truest sense? If it served everyone - especially marginalized communities of the unhoused and displaced. So we started there, and chose to address houselessness in the city of Los Angeles.

The challenge: How might we empower displaced people to meet their essential needs and create communities of transformation over time, and offer a viable alternative to the current model?

Houselessness is a complex systemic problem that continues to perpetuate, as systemic solutions are not adequately addressed to meet the needs of the displaced people they’re aiming to serve. Temporary shelter projects in LA County are often costly and require excessive materials and labor, they’re aesthetically unpleasing, and don’t create conditions that empower people to meet their needs individually and collectively. They lack the opportunity to live with dignity and a sense of belonging. In interviews directly with displaced persons, shelter was the first need cited specifically before other immediate needs.

LA County currently has a proposal for a new temporary housing project for displaced people. Our aim is to offer a thoughtful, systemic, and viable alternative to the current model. This led us to ask ourselves: How might we empower displaced people to meet their essential needs and create communities of transformation over time?

The process: In our aim to emulate nature’s genius, we looked to nature for inspiration in addressing the challenge question and creating the conditions conducive to life. We looked to (1) the forest, and emulated the process of ecological succession, how transformation occurs in a community over time. (2) Mycelial networks informed strategies of efficiently distributing resources and forming symbiotic relationships. (3) Fractal patterns informed our design for interconnectivity, structural integrity and beauty.

While the project wasn’t awarded,