Urban planner Doug Bisson on designing the Winnebago Reservation’s new village and how it’s a model for America

“Why isn’t everyone doing it?” wonders Doug Bisson, the urban planner behind the design and development of a pedestrian-friendly, New Urbanist-style village on the Winnebago Reservation. “That’s the question we ask.”

Active Living (AL): What’s unique about the design of Ho-Chunk village?

Doug Bisson (DB): You see there are reservations and you can tell millions of dollars have been spent, but to what end? It’s like, great, here’s six homes out in the middle of nowhere here, and here’s the health clinic over here, and here’s the Bureau of Indian Affairs over here, and none of it makes any sense. The pieces are never going to be greater than the sum of them, so this was a chance I think for the Winnebago Tribe to really lay down that framework first, and as grant funding comes in every piece has its own place.

AL: How did the design needs affect the overall cost of the project?

DB: I think the cost of the project was kept fairly low just because of that. You don’t have long extensive cul-de-sacs, you’re not extending the infrastructure lines any great length, everything’s been kept fairly compact.

And in creating a grid-type network you’re able to do so in phases, so there’s no huge capital expenses outlaid immediately and they can kind of build it as they go. And they’re saving money on limited runs of water, wastewater and streets.

AL: Is this a sustainable solution over time, and do you think it’s a model that should be used elsewhere?

DB: We definitely think so. In talking with the residents and in talking with the client, everyone’s really, really excited, saying, ‘This is the way that Indian country should look more often.’ There are huge opportunities here. Instead of putting a business here and a house there, let’s look at this in a framework that has the positive health benefits, especially in Indian country, with alcoholism, diabetes, and so forth, getting the residents out walking and starting to lead healthy lifestyles and utilizing a framework where there’s a rhyme and reason to where structures are placed.

AL: And outside of Indian Country, is this a model for America at large?

DB: Well that’s just a given. Why isn’t everyone doing it? That’s the question we ask.

AL: Are we moving toward it?

DB: I definitely think so…I think definitely people are seeing the benefits, both from creating lively communities to also creating healthy communities, and I think that trend is just going to continue.

AL: Any reaction to this project?

DB: It’s been amazing how much interest we’ve received just from that article [in the New York Times]…when it went national like that phones started ringing off the hook, people were very, very curious about it…It’s that type of publicity that lets people know that, wow, these things actually are happening. And if they can happen in the middle of Nebraska they can happen almost anywhere.

Omaha-based architectural firm HDR created Ho-Chunk Village, among other pedestrian-oriented communities. Learn more about the design of Ho-Chunk Village, and others, on HDR’s Web site.

A visionary tribe member on why he’s building a walkable village on the Winnebago Reservation
Read the Full Interview
Additional Links
Fact Sheet on Native American Health
Behind the Scenes