Under Teal Thibaud’s leadership at Glass House Collective, the organization temporarily turned a neglected part of Chattanooga into a thriving commercial corridor to showcase its potential to become a vibrant urban neighborhood. Following a nationally recognized model of public re-visioning, GHC facilitated a Build a Better Block event in 2013.

Over the course of four months, teams of residents, artists, architects, and supporters of the Glass Street community partnered with one another to build planters and plant trees, paint storefronts and build out pop-up shops, design and paint crosswalks and murals, schedule a series of event activities for all ages, and install community banners to showcase the new Glass Street brand.

More than 1,200 people filled the street to share food, browse pop-up shops, dance to music, and create together. They watched as artist Charlie Brouwer attached the last of the 452 ladders to the Rise Up sculpture and checked out the 19 temporary murals. Attendees browsed the 8 pop-up shops and commercial venues and screen printed over 200 t-shirts displaying the Glass Street brand.

The sense of pride and accomplishment among those who made the event possible was truly contagious. Thibaud and her team adopted the theory that creative, physical, and community-driven investment produces real and lasting results, and Better Block was proof that life can return to vacant urban spaces.