Public Sentiment

Excited to share ideas & insights from our team of Brownsville, Brooklyn community leaders and social scientists demonstrating how local governments can work with residents to build more equitable programs using inclusive community data #buildbackbetter #codesign 🌟PS - And sharing a few other ideas for government leaders from the notebooks of our community organizers: https://shorturl.at/jovEG

We hear a lot these days that community engagement is really about “trust-building.” But what is trust, exactly? And why do we give and receive it? We set out to answer this question, and see what each of us can do to help others recognize our own trustworthiness. Read on >> https://lnkd.in/d_2fci8m

Community Engagement x Conflict Resolution: https://lnkd.in/evhGNSyh

Fitting to hear of this great project on Leap Day - this is how we advance the field of Community Engagement! Values-based data, compelling storytelling, and beautiful visualizations. Congrats to Gehl - Making Cities for People and Hume AI on this collaboration! >> https://lnkd.in/e8tnPDdm

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. While we recognize his noble presidency - and credit him with our name - we know more context and reflection about his world view is helpful to our ongoing national healing. We invite you to join us for a brief Look Into Our Name, weaving together perspectives from a few other noble minds about our history and our 16th President 🤍: https://lnkd.in/eq63vnKd

What's the best way to elicit urban design ideas from a community? This 2020 piece (Post-It Note City) by Shannon Mattern hits on so many of the big challenges with what are still common practices in co-design today (charrettes, post-its, smart-city data). A must-read for urbanists and policymakers alike. While snazzy and feel-goody, most of these types of activities don't provide much design insight or inspiration. The task before us engagement practitioners and designers is to build tools that translates community values into design insight. After all, urban planning isn't just about space configuration. It's about the way we live and what we value. #communityengagement #urbandesign #socialpsychology >> https://lnkd.in/dqja42uZ

Wishing all a happy and healthy new year, and hope you enjoy a moment of reflection with us in our Annual Year in Verse ✨ - This Year 2023 -   Twelve months passes by so fast these days, We have the tools to be productive Yet instead of clarity, it's haze.   At times we aim to be deductive, Explain life through connections and fact  But big headlines are too reductive.   Instead, we need time to think then act, Collaborate on what’s affecting  And recognize nuance with real tact.   This year we have seen redirecting, Social conflicts raised to higher ground Bias, fear, and darkness rejecting.   Around the world and in NYC we found,  People caring for community Shared memory and space, both profound.   These are things that bring us unity,   Chances to understand and relate Not beyond guilt, nor immunity.   We owe it to ourselves to equate, Our judgements and vagaries cease* More open minds for a better fate.   May wonder, trust, and light so increase To greet the new year with joy and peace. (* Curious how vagaries and “Ambiguity” can breed divisions within a community? Check out Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, PhD’s work at the Greater Good Science Center explaining how in “unclear social situations, we often default to stereotypes and preconceptions to fill in the gaps, making ‘ambiguity a breeding ground for prejudice.’” >> https://shorturl.at/lpJ78)

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” ― Jane Jacobs   We agree, Jane! Co-creation also means development won’t take things away from communities, which is a big challenge facing cities & residents today. Integrating continuous engagement throughout the design and development process - with meaningful data getting at community values and aspirations - means communities are better served, governments are more effective, and planners are more confident in how to meet the two. Photo credit: @Growhousenyc, @Liminalsp, Weeksville Heritage Center Urban Design Forum, Ifeoma E., @PPD

To all the typography aficionados out there, the inspiration for choosing Bureau Grotesk Condensed, Cushing Standard & Monument Grotesk in our new brand was simple: We wanted something “Strong but Approachable,” like good community leaders around the world. Hope you enjoy!

A rare agenda lineup that needs more airtime like this! Making strides to formalize the #communityeconomy: all the critical, oftentimes unpaid work people do in their communities to improve quality of life, natural &built environments, and government services. More formalized = better outcomes. Thanks @UrbanDesignForum and Snøhetta for creating the space for these kinds of conversations!