USI Center for Communal Studies to present Pocket Neighborhoods by Ross Chapin

The University of Southern Indiana Center for Communal Studies will host Ross Chapin, an architect, community planner and author from Seattle, Washington, virtually at noon on Wednesday, April 10. Chapin will present on Pocket Neighborhoods, sharing their origins, key design principles and examples across many locales.  

Pocket Neighborhoods grew out of the work of Chapin and his colleagues, but the idea is beyond any one person or style. It is a pattern of housing that fosters a strong sense of community among nearby neighbors, while preserving their need for privacy. Examples can be found across the spectrum, from small towns to suburbs to urban areas.  

A viewing room will be set up in Liberal Arts Center 2023 for those wishing to join in person in addition to those who prefer to tune in via Zoom. This event is open to the public at no charge. Registration is required. 

For more information about this event or USI’s Center for Communal Studies, contact Dr. Silvia Rode, Director of the Center for Communal Studies and Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, at sarode@usi.edu.  

The Center for Communal Studies promotes the study of contemporary and historic communal groups, intentional communities and utopias. Established in 1976 at USI (then Indiana State University-Evansville or ISUE), the Center encourages and facilitates meetings, classes, scholarship, networking, and public interest in communal groups past and present, here and abroad.