Who do you trust? [Part 1]

What happens when the public doesn't trust planners? What does that even mean? And how can we work to build trusting, responsive, two-way relationships between community members and the folks in local government?

On today’s episode, we’re returning to two common themes from this show: "change" and "trust.” Changes to the failed status quo of city building and trust between the people who live in a city and the ones pulling the levers of power.

So much of the business as usual in cities is leaving them bankrupt, making them more fragile socially, environmentally, and economically—and because of this, our discussions have centered on some of the ways to establish a more resilient approach to land use, development, and community building. But change is always hard, it’s often scary, and it usually generates pushback from someone. And much of this stems from a lack of trust, maybe even more so than a lack of having the “facts."

This is a discussion about why there is so often a breakdown of trust in cities, and how city leaders—and we’re especially thinking about this from a planning and development standpoint—can build trust with the community they serve.

Who you're hearing in this episode: Jordan Clark (your host), Daniel Herriges of Strong Towns, and Verdunity's Felix Landry.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

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[Jordan’s note: Yes, I used “who” and not “whom” in the title. Most people don’t use whom anymore in cases like this. Language evolves.]

(Music in this episode is from NO MONEY & Custodian of Records.)