The Ville neighborhood is considered a cradle of African American culture in the City of St. Louis, having been an incubator for entrepreneurial, theatrical, literary, and musical talent for decades.  Less than one square mile in area, The Ville is located in North St. Louis and bounded by Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, and Sarah, Taylor, and St. Louis Avenues. 

For Don Koster, senior lecturer at Washington University, the Ville neighborhood represents an opportunity to engage students in the development of a sustainable community. With support from a Gephardt Faculty Innovation Grant last year, Koster taught “Seminar in Community Design: Urban Agriculture in The Ville.”  Seminar students conducted community-based research on the physical, social, economic, and ecological impact of urban agriculture. 

Findings from that research have now been incorporated in a development plan for The Ville Market Place, a multi-year collaborative effort between Washington University students and faculty, the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and The Ville neighborhood’s residents and leaders.  Eventually, it is hoped that The Ville can produce its own fruits and vegetables and stimulate new economic growth. 

By networking with other Gephardt faculty grantees, Professor Koster has also been able to form a research partnership expanding the original project.  He and his faculty partners have received Institute for Public Health funding to collaborate with the City of St. Louis Health Department and the Saint Louis Public Schools.  Together they will help advise the school district’s new Health and Wellness Policy.  The Ville project has thus become multi-disciplinary, merging public health researchers with physical therapists, nutritionists and designers of public space.

Professor Koster acknowledges that community-based teaching can be challenging to manage but loves to do the work because it can also be so rewarding.  His successful work in The Ville serves as an example that teaching and research can positively affect the health and well-being of local neighborhoods.

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