08 – Nine lessons for building stronger communities

We thought this would be a quick chat. It wasn't that quick, but we do think it's a good start to a deeper discussion on ways cities can better serve and engage citizens – and build a more sustainable community in the process. In this episode we walk through Kevin's most recent post on the blog. Here's a rundown of the nine lessons Kevin spells out in his post and this discussion: Quality of life is measured at the neighborhood level. (IBM paper discussed in the episode can be found here.) Citizens often have a lot of ideas for things (big and small) that will improve quality of life in their neighborhood. Every citizen has time, talent or treasure they’d like to invest in their neighborhood/community. Small tactical or pop-up projects are more effective when connected to a bigger purpose. Code changes are needed for small developers to thrive. The challenges facing cities are too big for local agencies to address alone. The average citizen does not understand the financial gap many cities are facing or the relationship between development patterns, revenues and service costs, and property tax rates. Communities need a common language and a single metric to frame discussions, inform decisions and prioritize investments. The community engagement process should be an ongoing effort and not limited to public hearings on a project-by-project basis. The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of VERDUNITY. Learn more at verdunity.com. Find our other episodes and blog posts at GoCultivate.org. (The music in this episode is from Custodian of Records.)