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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:
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Quality of life is measured at the neighborhood level. (IBM paper discussed in the episode can be found here.)
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Citizens often have a lot of ideas for things (big and small) that will improve quality of life in their neighborhood.
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Every citizen has time, talent or treasure they’d like to invest in their neighborhood/community.
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Small tactical or pop-up projects are more effective when connected to a bigger purpose.
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Code changes are needed for small developers to thrive.
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The challenges facing cities are too big for local agencies to address alone.
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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.
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Communities need a common language and a single metric to frame discussions, inform decisions and prioritize investments.
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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.) |