Mark Lakeman, ecological designer and community visionary, will tell the story of the City Repair Project and its larger implications for social, ecological and community restoration during a free presentation at 7 p.m. March 19 at IslandWood, 4450 Blakely Ave.

Portland City Repair is a grass-roots organization that educates and encourages neighbors to build community through the collaborative process of designing and creating their own informal public gathering places.

From brightly painted intersections to community-built benches, and neighborhood kiosks to community gardens, these places provide a setting for people to gather informally.

“This is in the same spirit of how we got the community engaged in building community gardens last season,” said Debbi Lester. “That was an amazing effort that blossomed into gardens everywhere: Island Terrace Apartments, Rock Garden, Manzanita Kid-Friendly Garden and Johnson Farm Pea Patch.”

City Repair was started in Portland and uses the concept of place-making to: plant the seeds for greater neighborhood communication and empowering of communities to work together; inspire individuals to be an actively engaged in their community; show people how they can creatively transform the places where they live in small and sustainable ways, that can result in a more vibrant and involved community.

For more information, email Cyndi Shick at cynshi@gmail.com

or visit www.cityrepair.org.