Design and Planning Assistance Center (DPAC)

Mission

The mission of the Design and Planning Assistance Center (DPAC) is to partner with communities throughout New Mexico and the Southwest to create a more just, vibrant, and resilient built environment.

History

DPAC was founded at the UNM School of Architecture & Planning (SA+P) in 1969, as part of a national community design movement that linked university design programs and design practitioners with communities in need. Today, DPAC is the second oldest, continuously operating community design center based in a public university. Throughout its history, DPAC has served hundreds of communities—large and small—in every county of New Mexico.

How We Work

DPAC is committed to community empowerment. We practice a regenerative approach to community-engaged research and design, which uplifts each community’s ability to envision its own future and build enduring capacity for self-determination. To do this, DPAC partners with community members, non-profit organizations, and government agencies across local, state, federal, and tribal scales. We honor the expertise of our partners and augment their abilities with our skills as professors and students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and planning.

The format and outcomes of this work vary widely to best suit our partners' needs. We produce research studies (such as site maps, asset inventories, oral histories, and community archives) to enhance community awareness and amplify local knowledge. We organize participatory initiatives (through interactive displays, games, block parties, and walking tours) to build consensus and capacity for grassroots governance. We create speculative research (from design toolkits to policy white papers) to inspire and inform future action. And we design buildings, landscapes, and neighborhoods (from programming analysis and site planning to schematic design and design-build construction). We draw, build, publish, exhibit, and convene—all to help communities imagine what’s possible, advocate for change, raise funds, build capacity, and shape the places they care about and depend on.

As a category two center at UNM, DPAC connects research and pedagogy across Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Community and Regional Planning Departments, as well as certificate programs in Historic Preservation and Regionalism, Urban Innovation, Indigenous Planning, and Interdisciplinary Design. We involve faculty and students from these programs in our work with community partners, in arrangements that include coursework (in design studios and seminars), consulting, and long-term partnerships. This structure allows DPAC to draw from the extraordinary interdisciplinary knowledge and lived experience of our colleagues and students. We are proud of UNM’s role as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and Minority-Serving Institution and welcome opportunities for students to support communities they belong to and empathize with communities they are new to. Thanks to DPAC partnerships, our students can ready themselves for a broad range of practices. They learn hands-on how to manage projects, collaborate with diverse partners, address real-world constraints with rigor and creativity, and shape professional practice to support social movements. Together, these collaborations can activate the power of design to cultivate places that are joyful, regenerative, and just.

Recent Projects

Santa Fe Midtown Community Engagement (2020–22) + Tool Kit for Community Control (spring 2021)
Resilient Recovery from Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon Wildfires (spring 2023)
Want to learn more? Please see our Digital Repository of selected projects and watch DPAC's 45th Anniversary Video (2014).

Who We Are

DPAC is collaboratively governed by a team of faculty, staff, and students.

Current Staff:

Janette Komoda Kim, Director and Associate Professor in Architecture
Caden McWilliams, Assistant Director and M. Arch candidate
Jenn Toledo, Project Manager and M. Arch candidate
Mary Jane Lueras, Program Manager SA+P.

Current Faculty Affiliates:

Tamarah Begay, Lecturer
Moises Gonzales Professor and Director of the Resource Center for Raza Planning
Robert Gonzalez, Dean
Catherine Harris, Associate Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture
Taylor Holloway, Adjunct Professor
Amber Nelson, Lecturer
Michaele Pride, Associate Chair
Francisco Uviña-Contreras, Assistant Professor
Kristina Yu, Professor

Former Faculty Affiliates:

Susannah Abbey
Tom Vliet
Jessica Cassyle Carr

Former Directors:

Michaele Pride (2019–26)
Catherine Harris (2021-2024)
Mark Childs (1995-2019)
Edward B Norris (1978-1998)
Edith Cherry (1973-1977)
Richard Nordhaus (1973-1977)
Robert Garcia (1971-1972)
John Borrego (1969-1971)

DPAC Founders:

Van Dorn Hooker
Don Schlegel
Steve Marcus
Robert Torres
John Varsa
Jess Holmes
Hildreth Barker
George Pearl

Former Vista Volunteers: Diane Souder. Former Student Staff: Holly Hearn, Daniela Carillo Escalante, Sarah Goldberg, Annabelle Fleming, Christian Miller, and Matthew Solano. Note: This list only scratches the surface of DPAC’s six-decade history. Please contact us with additions and corrections.

Contact Us

Interested in partnering with us? We welcome opportunities to partner with community groups and governmental agencies on projects at any stage of development. We prioritize partnerships that resonate with our core mission and have potential for community impact and participation. We also welcome interdisciplinary partnerships with other faculty, researchers, and centers at UNM and beyond. Please reach out to us by email.

Interested in working at DPAC? Please consult UNM Jobs for any current opportunities or email us to inquire about upcoming opportunities. We welcome applications from graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled in any program at UNM SA+P.

Want to support DPAC? We welcome thought partners and opportunities to expand our insights, networks, and capacities. We also welcome donations and can work with you to establish funds with an enduring impact: read more at the unmfund website or email us.

Please email us at unmdpac@unm.edu and follow our work on Instagram.

Endorsements

“It’s about taking the time to listen and understand people’s perspectives and their stories. With the DPAC studio, we have to understand the people first.” Alicia Varoz, Master of Architecture student

“Students have an infectious way of generating enthusiasm and hope for the future that you simply do not get out in the marketplace.” Frank Martinez, President, Citizen’s Information Committee of Martineztown UNM ‘72

“When a community is trying to get started in how to think big and then make that real.... a lot of communities think, ‘We could never do that. We don’t have enough money. We’re not big enough.’ DPAC can help a community figure out how to... make that a real project.” Hayley Klein, Artesia Chamber of Commerce

“We were a poor, disadvantaged community. We did not have the resource base to go hire consultants to help us come up with what our wishes would be. We did not have the political clout with the elected officials. We were being condemned. We were going to be wiped off the map. Everything that you see—the housing stock, the infrastructure, the park, the senior citizens’ center, the school, the landscaping, the commemoratives. All of that is part and parcel to DPAC and the effort that DPAC undertook with the resident and the community. It was truly a very unique experience to be able to rebuild, to start from scratch, and rebuild your community the way you’d like your community to be. That’s what DPAC gave the residents. The ability to build their own community.” Frank Martinez, President, Citizen’s Information Committee of Martineztown and UNM ‘72

“Sometimes the students just come up with things you would never have imagined. Onto themselves, they’re beautiful projects, but when you actually think about the context of where they go and where they can be and how they add to the city.... [it’s] wonderful work.” William Powell, former DPAC Associate and UNM ‘11

“Community is what persists. Helping build up community connections and places helps build resilience, to weather the storms. Where do you turn? To your neighbor, to your community, and what we can do together.” Michaele Pride, former DPAC Director