MET Professor Enrique Silva Oversees the Mirebalais Planning Initiative in Haiti
Metropolitan College Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and City Planning Enrique Silva is lead principal investigator on the Mirebalais Planning Initiative (MPI), a project resulting from a partnership between Boston University, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the University of the West Indies. The $150,000 project is partially funded by a $75,000 grant from the Kellogg Foundation.
Intended to expand community leadership in Mirebalais, Haiti, in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the goal of the MPI is to galvanize local community associations, residents, and municipal authorities around planning, economic and human development projects. Projects focusing on concrete priorities such as solid waste management and the impact of the Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante Mirebalais Teaching Hospital will demonstrate the possibility of municipal-led planning and innovation in Haiti—and provide the groundwork for continued municipal leadership in the development of the infrastructure and resources of post-quake Haiti.
Silva will be coordinating the partner institutions, and overseeing a series of community workshops intended to expand local institutional capacity and encourage the engagement of citizens in planning and community decision-making. The first workshop will focus on solid waste management and water. The MPI and its workshops will benefit from the participation of BU faculty who can contribute valuable subject matter expertise.
Silva was the first faculty member to receive a fellowship from MET’s Patricia W. Chadwick (MET’75) Fund for Professional Development, for his proposal “Connecting the Dots: Haiti and the Multiple Sites of Planning Research and Pedagogy.” Silva used the award to pursue the financial resources necessary for longer-term engagement in Haiti, securing the funding from the Kellogg Foundation for the MPI collaboration.