A few things to know this week: September 25, 2020
Happy Friday, friends! Every week we collect some of the best things that members of our Verdunity team read, watched, or listened to over the course of the week—plus anything new from us.
This week on the Go Cultivate! podcast:
Are We Doing This Right? – Sidewalks Edition
In this installment of the 'Are We Doing This Right?' series, AJ and Jordan take on the humble sidewalk. Tune in to hear what we think North American cities are getting right and wrong when it comes to sidewalks!
This week on the blog:
Local government simplicity in four steps – AJ Fawver
Now is a great time to reorient and recalibrate as we find ourselves in adaptation mode, writes AJ Fawver in her latest post.
This week’s things to know:
Are You Planning to Stay? (Next City)
This piece by Dr. Mindy Fullilove succinctly makes a critical point which can single-handedly undermine any type of community planning or programming. So often, practitioners grow frustrated with the lack of engagement from residents; and, likewise, residents grow frustrated with the lack of understanding from practitioners. We begin these efforts with an assumption that everyone involved, regardless of the outcome, will continue to live in the community.
That's where we get it wrong. What if we started every exercise with the declaration, "we're planning to stay"? When that is articulated aloud, we begin to understand the various shades of "staying": as a neighbor, as a citizen, as a business owner, as a leader. Furthermore, let's embrace not only the "strong ties" of family or religion, but also the "weak ties" that are casual connections, equally important. Another critical piece is "naming the tensions" that exist in those neighborhoods and communities. She suggests using them to identify the lens through which those efforts should be approached. She ends with a lovely tale of an afternoon spent exploring a Main Street and the various dimensions of the experience—the physical, the commercial, and the social. It's a piece that made a profound impact on me today, and I suspect it will on you, too. – AJ
Measuring Inclusion in America's Cities (Urban Institute)
"Inclusive Recovery in U.S. Cities", a collection of data on 274 of the largest U.S. cities compiled by Urban Institute and released earlier this month, shows useful and fascinating data including a racial inclusion index (looking at racial segregation [white/person of color dissimilarity index], homeownership gap, educational attainment gap, poverty rate gap, and share of people of color) and an economic inclusion index (looking at income segregation [rank-order information theory index], rent burden, share of 16- to 19-year-olds who are not in school and have not graduated, and working poor). This link takes you to a great interactive tool to show the change in inclusivity within these U.S. cities from 1980 to 2016, and eight things cities can do to become more inclusive. Newsflash: number one is one you've heard us talk a lot about in our work - adopting a shared vision. If you're a data geek like I am, scroll to the bottom of the page to download the full 117 page report and enjoy many examples of lessons learned and best practices you can apply in the city you call home. – AJ
Absent aid, few US cities will be able to avoid austerity (City Monitor)
The economic risks of slashing local government jobs (City Monitor)
This week’s pair of articles by Jake Blumgart spotlight the disastrous impact of austerity at the state and local level. The first of these discusses the economic impacts of cities reducing their budgets, and the second looks at the fallout of Wisconsin’s past decade of public sector cuts. Here’s a money quote that Blumgart included in the first article: “‘In other countries, there’s always politics around bailouts from region to region, but they get on with them because they realize if you allow a number of regions to stagnate and suffer economically, that’s not good for the country overall,’ says Mark Blyth, a professor of international political economy at Brown University. ‘In America you have a political party that believes in the defenestration and dismantling of the administrative state. Every time this happens, it’s good news [from their perspective]. You’re destroying governments at that level. It’s a feature, not a bug.’” – Jordan
Podcast: Foot Notes (Lily Linke)
Shout out to Jeff Wood for previewing this new show on his own podcast, Talking Headways. I’ve listened to the first episode and am looking forward to the next ones in the series. The show examines the intersection of walkability and race. Making a neighborhood “walkable” does not necessarily make it a universally safe place to walk around. Infrastructure, building orientation, slow speeds, and street furniture do not address the persistent reality of racism. This podcast should make excellent companion listening to our most recent episode of the Go Cultivate! podcast, where we talked about sidewalks. – Jordan
Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Physical Activity in the Black Community (NACDD)
On that note, I also wanted to share another great resource that complements our most recent podcast episode. A week ago, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors put on a two-hour virtual town hall that did just what the title suggests, featuring a fantastic lineup of panelists. It isn’t that we haven’t had people talking about this for decades—it’s just that power structures within planning and design fields (among others) have systematically shut them out. – Jordan
Do you enjoy these weekly roundups? (Why wouldn’t you?) You can get them sent straight to your email inbox every Friday, if you’re into that.
The pandemics effects throughout the summer lead to many people resorting to the great outdoors as their one refuge and relief from being cooped up at the house all day. Many cities ushered in temporary activity blocks ("slow street"), but now Seattle looks to keep those streets a thing. Seattle's Mayor announced the permanent option for the release of "Stay Healthy Blocks" to encourage community and activity citing the betterment of mental health as a direct result of the experiment that was a reaction to the surplus of individuals headed outside and the need to maintain social distancing. I think this is a great move and I look forward to seeing where it goes throughout the Seattle area. Would you be interested in something like this in your community? – Ryan
Dallas' Challenge: Creating Walkable Neighborhoods Without Leaving Communities Behind (D Magazine)
Something that came up recently in a conversation I had with a couple of architects was the 15-minute neighborhood. The idea is you live in an area that has all that you might need within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The stark reality is that with our current development patterns and zoning regulations this type of area is hard to come by. There are mastered planned communities that turn out to be interesting suburban islands, but rarely make the case for too much attention when it comes to this conversation. Dallas' challenge, similar to many cities across the U.S., parallels this. While there are some good examples of places we can aspire to create and design in the shadow of, are there any areas in your neighborhood or town that deserve this kind of attention and development that can be unique to its context and culture? – Ryan
How our housing choices make adult friendships more difficult (Vox)
I've lamented in past posts about how the suburban environment my family lives in today is different from the places we lived when I grew up, and how the fenced-in backyards, wide streets, and other neighborhood design elements limit our kids' ability to, well, be kids. But the neighborhood environment also impacts us as adults. This article will make you pause and think about what quality of life really means and if your neighborhood is helping or hindering your ability to fulfill basic human needs. – Kevin
Thanks for the memories, Jordan!
Long-time Verdooner Jordan Clark is leaving our crew next week to pursue a new path focused on more ecological design. You may recognize Jordan as the editor of this newsletter, heard him as a cohost of our Go Cultivate! podcast, interacted with him in our Community Cultivators online network, or viewed and shared any number of the awesome illustrations he's created for us over the years.
Jordan's been with us for over half of Verdunity's journey as a firm, and has helped me and our team through many peaks and valleys over the years. I'm grateful for the work he's done to establish Verdunity's brand and position as a disruptor and innovator in the community planning and design space, and even more thankful to call him a friend. He's an extremely talented guy, and it sucks to lose him, but at the end of the day, I've always encouraged those I work with or mentor to follow their passions and do what they feel is best for them. Jordan's headed to a great organization with people I know will continue to mentor and push him, and he'll continue to nudge people and communities toward a better future, which is ultimately what it's all about.
And we'll be fine too. It won't be easy to replace our "swiss army knife" of communications, but I'm confident our team will step up and keep us on our course.
J — Thanks for the memories, my friend. We're gonna miss you, but we'll still meet up for beer and tacos! Now go take a walk, plant a tree, and cultivate something good in your neighborhood! ;) – Kevin
Here's the standard disclaimer: We always encourage our team members to freely share their thoughts and opinions, both in these newsletters and elsewhere. Given that, opinions expressed by any one member do not necessarily represent the views of the company as a whole.
Don’t miss out on our upcoming (virtual) events!
TML Annual Conference (October 14–16)
Kevin, AJ, and Monte Anderson will be presenting on "Cultivating Vibrant Communities and Local Economies with the Resources You Have."
APA Virtual Cross-Chapter Collaborative (October 5–9)
Kevin presenting with Tom Yantis (Asst. City Manager & Director of Development Services at City of Taylor, TX) on "The Economics of Land Use."
AJ will cohost a discussion titled “Taking Action to Minimize Unconscious Bias” and will be a panelist on the “Brainstorming Public Engagement – Diversity & Inclusion” interactive session.
Texas Downtown Association Conference (November 9–12)
Kevin will be presenting on "Bridging the Resource Gap: Cultivating Strong Communities with the Resources You Have."
Want to learn more about how fiscal analysis can help you make your city stronger financially?
We created a new sister website showcasing how we use math, maps, and money to help cities communicate your resource gap and explore ways to increase tax revenue and improve service efficiency without necessarily raising taxes.
Hey, friends in local government:
Hey, friends who love cities! If you're looking for a place to discuss these topics (and more) with like-minded peers who want to help create a more resilient community, check out our Community Cultivators Network. It's free to join, and we are currently working to build new features for our 2021 relaunch, so stay tuned! We'll arm you with the content, ideas, and support to take small impactful steps to cultivate change.
