Some ideas presented at the last SkyDog Supper Club by architect and Pratt Institute adjunct associate professor Meta Brunzema provide an interesting framework within which to think about the possibilities for the Narrowsburg school property. Referring to a current Dutch school of thought called “transition theory & management,” Brunzema discussed ways in which we can facilitate some of the major transitions that society must make during the current century, from adaptation to climate change, to the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy, to the still incomplete—or anyway not universally successful—transition from an industrial to an information-based economy.

There were two specific things Brunzema said that are particularly apposite to the opportunities in our own area, including the Narrowsburg school. Speaking about the goals of developing any individual property, she said that one should think not just in terms of finding some use for that particular property, but as creating something that will engage and transform the larger systems that affect the community. Such systems could include not only the economy but, for instance, cultural and social systems, or systems for delivering energy, or for growing and distributing food. Speaking more broadly about such systemic transitions, Brunzema noted that small, individual “niche experiments,” geared in this way toward reorganizing the systems in which they are embedded, can often be used more successfully to accelerate broad changes than efforts to impose solutions unilaterally from above—as in attempts to legislate change nationally.

Along these lines, to think of what to do with the Narrowsburg school property simply in terms of, say, filling a lack (like the need for tourist lodging), or augmenting something that already exists (such as tax revenues) is to think too small—though certainly lacks will be filled and tax dollars generated. But more, what can be created in this space at the heart of the hamlet is a dynamic generator that can throw out sparks into many different aspects of the community, and to an extended geographical region. And if we can do that here, it can provide a prototype for similar generators all around the region.

Perhaps that’s one reason why using at least some of the school’s space as an agricultural center has resonated so much with many of the people who have attended the series of meetings about the property, or responded to The Solution Project survey. An agricultural center could provide classes (educational system) that would enable farmers to learn how to operate profitable businesses (economic and food supply systems)—but also sustainable ones (ecological system), taking marketing advantage of the current local food trend (with its implications for transportation and energy systems). The same center could have facilities to help farmers create value-added products and sell them at that location (more impact on the local economy and sales taxes) as well as in nearby metropolitan areas.

But the agricultural angle does not exhaust the possibilities. Suppose, instead of drawing up a list of uses the space could host, we start first thinking in terms of a general purpose: bringing as many people as possible together. What uses would tend to attract the most people to come to and move through the building on a regular basis? They could include the hosting of classes open to the public, retail outlets, theatrical or other performances in the gym, use of the gym for community recreation or artists’ studios open to the public. Think EagleFest, but year round, and with the whole building to play with. And because they would bring people to the building, such uses would bring people to the hamlet as well and extend the amount of time they stayed there, elevating the level of activity and the exchange of everything from ideas to money throughout the town and, eventually, the region.

The Solution Project, the non-profit community group seeking to purchase the school building, understands that the Sullivan West school board has limited flexibility in terms of how they dispose of it; they have a fiduciary duty to the taxpayers, and must make a decision based on the highest bid, not the best ideas. But regardless of what happens to this particular property, the ideas presented by Brunzema present an intriguing challenge to investors and policymakers in the Upper Delaware River valley, where the school is only one of many unused or underutilized resources. Let’s take an inventory of those resources and see where else we may be able to carry out niche experiments that may—if those Dutch theoreticians have it right—literally have the power to change the world.

[Anne Willard, assistant editor at The River Reporter, is also a member of the board of The Solution Project.]