Creating residential and mixed-used living that supports and sustains community culture and memory

The Challenge

Libraries, small museums and community-based archives are rich knowledge resources and anchors within communities across the country, yet they often lack long-term economic resources for sustainability.

Our Approach

Many of these organizations own land or buildings that have the potential for mixed-use, community-focused, and co-designed development. This type of community development could bring much more economic power to organizations in need of continued revenue and resources, while meeting community needs of housing, culture and commerce. Both commercial and philanthropic investment in these institutions provides the opportunity for these organizations to set the development priorities for their community and retain ownership, profit and presence in fast-gentrifying areas.

Cities like Chicago, San Francisco, New York, London, and Copenhagen have already paved the way for mixed-use library development in large cities. We believe this sector has considerable potential to scale, and that mid-size cities have been overlooked to date.

Our Values

A key part of building resilient communities is managing resources – energy, water, green space – in a responsible, sustainable way that reduces our carbon footprint. Shift Collective is committed to incorporating green building practices, responsive to our changing climate, as a core value of our community housing initiatives.

We’re currently seeking partnerships to develop up to three new sites in the US. Contact us to learn more.

See some inspirations for this work below: