Reimagining the Civic Commons

Tools for Your City: Interested in delivering the common good through the public realm in your community? View and share this resource that distills the Reimagining the Civic Commons model into an easy to read infographic. https://lnkd.in/e7afd44v Audrey Kranz Erin Halasz Freedom Together Foundation Knight Foundation The Kresge Foundation William Penn Foundation #publicspace #commongood #CivicCommonsUS

This week in Reimagining the Civic Commons: 🔦 Spotlight: Q&A with Daniel Aldrich about the importance of social infrastructure during times of crisis. https://lnkd.in/eFyu9Tc6 💬 Submit your story: Are the federal funding freezes or agency layoffs impacting your public space efforts on the ground? Percent for Place is collecting stories from across the country of how federal actions are negatively impacting local efforts in order to inform its advocacy.  Submit your story here: https://lnkd.in/e_djC2eN 🚊 ICYMI: "Thinking about streets not just as transportation corridors, but as places for people to connect right as part of the social life of a community -- I think that’s a huge win if you can bring that angle into the work." Hear Bridget Marquis chat with Jeff Wood on the Talking Headways podcast about connecting public assets. ➕ Sign up for more! Subscribe to our newsletter at https://civiccommons.us/

How parks, cafes, libraries, religious institutions and other spaces make robust social infrastructure that can save lives today — and tomorrow.  Sign up for our newsletter to read more and see highlights from Daniel Aldrich of Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs in conversation with Bridget Marquis, director of Reimagining the Civic Commons. Subscribe here: https://civiccommons.us/

Building robust social infrastructure leads to better outcomes - and better recovery from shocks, says Daniel Aldrich. "We know that when communities and households are better connected, people live healthier, longer lives, the elderly especially. But even for younger people, we’re typically healthier, we’re happier and we’re more engaged when we have a broader network of people that we interact with." Tap into his whole conversation with Bridget Marquis, director of Reimagining the Civic Commons, and read the article here: https://lnkd.in/eFyu9Tc6

Call to Action: Are the federal funding freezes or agency layoffs impacting your public space efforts on the ground? Percent for Place — a coalition that advocates for more federal funding for civic infrastructure, including parks, trails, libraries, community main streets and more — is collecting stories from across the country of how federal actions are negatively impacting local efforts in order to inform its advocacy. Submit your story here: https://lnkd.in/e_djC2eN KABOOM! Main Street America Center For Rural Strategies City Parks Alliance The Congress for the New Urbanism Sierra Club Trust for Public Land Rural Assembly The Skatepark Project Project for Public Spaces New City Parks America Walks Fairmount Park Conservancy Bridget Marquis National Recreation and Park Association

Robust social infrastructure can save lives. Here's how, according to Daniel Aldrich: "...If you think about the January 2025 Los Angeles fires or recent events like floods and hurricanes that have hit around the country, our research has shown that if you’re better connected and live in communities with more of these connecting spaces, your outcomes are better, so you as an individual do better. There are more survivors in those (connected) communities, and the recovery process is faster." Read the article and watch the conversation at Reimagining the Civic Commons: https://lnkd.in/eFyu9Tc6.

"Thinking about streets not just as transportation corridors, but as places for people to connect as part of the social life of a community -- I think that’s a huge win if you can bring that angle into the work." Hear Bridget Marquis chat with Jeff Wood on the Talking Headways podcast about connecting public assets: https://lnkd.in/e3ehN-2Y Jeff Wood and The Overhead Wire Streetsblog USA

Do you believe in the power of the commons? Are you a visionary and strategic leader who is eager to lead important public space work? Be part of a larger movement—three of our partner organizations are hiring chief executives. Take a look at these opportunities at: Gatton Park on the Town Branch | Lexington, Kentucky: https://lnkd.in/e4tQA8Ux Memphis River Parks Partnership | Memphis, Tennessee: https://lnkd.in/eRhv5pzg Fairmount Park Conservancy | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: https://lnkd.in/eBNHy8yd #publicspace #hiring #CivicCommonsUS #civicinfrastructure #leadership

"The good news is that in the remaining places where people mix and encounter those they don’t already know—whether that’s their neighborhood Main Street or downtown—the seeds of solutions already exist. At this hyperlocal level, individuals and institutions avoid ideological arguments, build trust, and do the on-the-ground work—often starting with public spaces—across the civic, nonprofit, private, and public sectors." The Brookings Institution piece zeroes in on local action and public space as a key part of the solution to our divided nation. Tracy Hadden Loh Tim Tompkins #publicspace #local #America https://lnkd.in/empp7EPC

The Infrastructure of Community: Physical spaces can either encourage or discourage relationships. But people also have to be willing to slow down and connect. Take a listen to this fantastic conversation with Eric Klinenberg and Kellie Carter Jackson with Julie Beck on this episode of The Atlantic's How to Talk to People podcast. 💡 "I generally argue that public spaces and social infrastructure—they’re a necessary condition for having some sense that we’re in it together, and we have some kind of common purpose. But they’re by no means sufficient." 💡 "Efficiency is the enemy of social life." https://lnkd.in/eqzZWHJy #socialinfrastructure #connection #publicspace #community