This public toilet in Winnipeg, MB, is a case study in why city governments need to pay attention to the power of small bets.
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This nonprofit is transforming pockets of St. Louis, MO, into delightful and welcoming parks—and at a low cost!
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Parking reform can be a hard sell when it’s done all at once. Here are some small steps you can take instead to start helping your community use less land on parking.
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The problems with "community input" are many and obvious. One misguided response is to favor more top-down policy making, simply overriding the objections of local "NIMBYs." But there is a third way.
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These pop-up shops in Berwyn, IL, are a great example of how communities can provide low-cost, low-risk spaces for local business owners to get their foot in the door.
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What do fractals have to do with building strong towns? A lot more than you might assume.
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If you’ve got a parking shortage in your downtown, consider this unique, cost-effective solution: a valet service.
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Small investments in poor neighborhoods are the best way for a community to build wealth. They are also the best way to lift people out of poverty without displacing them from their neighborhood.
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Hacer inversiones pequeñas en barrios pobres es el mejor modo de aumentar la riqueza. También, son el mejor modo de ayudar a la gente a salir de la pobreza sin desplazarse del barrio.
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The story of a neighborhood-led effort to address blight on Detroit’s East Side.
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Here’s what happened when a passionate community advocate in Detroit listened to what residents actually wanted, rather than imposing his will from the outside.
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Most of the actions we take in our cities aren’t “home runs.” They are usually singles, with some doubles thrown in. But they add up. Small ball gets results.
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It’s a shame it took a global pandemic for towns and cities to discover the benefits of low-cost, low-risk experiments.
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What can go wrong when you pin all your economic hopes on a big, shiny new project? Milwaukee, the planned site for this summer’s Democratic Convention, may soon find out.
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Communities are coming together right now in ways most of us have never seen before. And we’re realizing we really need each other. How can local leaders harness this energy to build stronger local communities and economies once the crisis recedes?
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Building stronger towns isn’t just about planning, engineering and development. We need to address questions about cultivating rich and abundant lives in our neighborhoods. How do we live out our values when so much of the built environment seems to be working against us?
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This place is a work horse. It grows small businesses from scratch without recourse to bank loans or government subsidies. It provides products and experiences that are genuinely needed in the community. And it costs almost nothing to create.
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Micro-neighborliness (n.): the small, patient, and practical ways that we pivot toward our localities and the people that we share them with. While we do not always hear these stories, the tangible effect that these small acts can have on our places is reason enough to celebrate them.
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Here are four ways that walking your dog—or a loaner pup from your local rescue group—can give you a unique insight into how your place can get a little more resilient.
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Do we need to fail in order to succeed? When our experiments go awry—in science or otherwise—should we be dismayed, or treat it as just as vital information as if our hypotheses had been confirmed? Check out the latest episode of our new podcast Upzoned to hear Kea Wilson and Chuck Marohn wax philosophical about failure.
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