Changing the Future of Rural Communities with Restoration and Economic Revitalization

Student designers build prototypes with recycled materials.

A single semester’s work in the eastern Washington town of Ritzville has blossomed into a full-scale, ongoing project. The Rural Communities Design Initiative, founded and run by Washington State University Spokane associate professor of interior design Janetta McCoy, has tested a model of design intervention with five additional rural communities in Washington State to confirm that repurposing and renovating community buildings can lead to revitalization in the community’s economy.