Blueprint South Carolina

What is Blueprint SC?

In 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) celebrated their 150th anniversary nationwide. In honor of this historic event, AIA created the Blueprint for America: A Gift to the Nation. This initiative was designed to engage elected officials and fellow citizens to outline and illustrate a path for creating a healthy, livable, and sustainable future through a series of community service projects.

In South Carolina, AIA components joined forces with the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership (a joint program of the SC Arts Commission and Clemson University) to conduct a statewide Blueprint for America program.

Together with representatives from their allied design professions (planning, landscape architecture, and historic preservation) AIA teams worked closely with more than 400 South Carolinians to create collaborative visions for the future through a series of design charrettes engaging six local communities. In each community, volunteers experienced the diverse array of challenges and opportunities facing people and places throughout the state.

Based on the valuable lessons and insights gained from working one-on-one with these real cities and towns, BlueprintSC was formed. By offering strategic objectives and real community models, BlueprintSC represents an important step towards achieving quality design, planning, and community development in South Carolina for the 21st century.

Blueprint SC is not only a vision for communities, it also includes strategic objectives for the entire state. On April 24-25, 2007, two hundred and twenty-three South Carolinians convened at the inaugural South Carolina Community Design Summit. The Summit was a multi-disciplinary statewide forum for designers, elected officials, and citizens to come together to learn about and discuss the critical role design can play in shaping South Carolina’s future.

During small group sessions, participants identified and recommended strategies for addressing the most critical design issues facing South Carolina. On the second day, the entire convention body voted on the “TOP 5”. The result was a preliminary action plan to begin tackling some of these important issues.

AIA South Carolina and the South Carolina Design Arts Partnership are committed to working with organizations and individuals to share Blueprint SC’s message throughout the state. This website is one of many tools to make that happen.  We hope you will explore this site and learn more! If you would like to host a Blueprint SC program in your community, please contact the SC Design Arts Partnership at (803) 734-8898.