Face the Challenge, Steer the Change: City Club of Eugene honors Kaarin Knudson.
The small, cast iron turtle can sit comfortably in the palm of a hand--its legs planted in a firm stance, its head held high. Beginning in 1991, each year the City Club of Eugene has honored two or three civic leaders with The Turtle Award for “sticking their necks out” for the good of the community. Honorees are people who foster creative problem solving, stimulate constructive action, forge cooperative relationships, and value diverse perspectives.
This year, one of the honorees is AIA member Kaarin Knudson. An architect and instructor at University of Oregon, Knudson is also the founder and project lead for Better Housing Together, an organization working to address the housing crisis in Eugene. Currently, Oregon faces a shortage of 150,000-300,000 housing units statewide and Eugene faces a shortage of 65,000 units. Nearly half of Eugene residents, Knudson lays out, are in poverty or struggling to meet their basic needs--a situation intricately tied to the high price of housing in the area. Young people are unable to break into the housing market, working families stretch themselves thin trying to make ends meet, and seniors have few options to downsize.
In response, Better Housing Together has built a network of over 50 partners dedicated to working collaboratively to increase the affordability, diversity, and supply of housing in Lane County. They advocate for “sustainable, walkable neighborhoods [and] well-designed infill redevelopment that reduces our impact on the climate and keeps our community welcoming and economically thriving.” A strong theme voiced by Better Housing Together is choice--the ability to choose from a range of high-quality housing options that fit each individual’s or family’s lifestyle. Such choice gives community members the agency and security needed to invest in their future.
The next step, Knudson asserted in her speech to City Club, is moving from planning and thinking to doing. That’s a bold step, she said, and when faced with any problem that seems too large to tackle, finding the path forward requires resiliency. Such resilience, as Knudson has learned it, involves three major steps: First, a willingness to look the challenge in the face. Second, the need for a larger purpose than just oneself. And, third, a willingness to improvise and find new solutions. “It may take us a generation to get there,” Knudson acknowledged. “All the more reason to start now.”
Kaarin Knudson is Principal and Partner at LARCO / KNUDSON and an Instructor and Assistant Professor at University of Oregon’s College of Design, Departments of Architecture and Planning. She lives in Eugene with her husband and their two daughters. More information on Better Housing Together can be found at https://www.betterhousingtogether.org/.
Watch the entire 2020 City Club awards ceremony here