Towards A Community Vision
Speaking with Cassim last week got my mind thinking in a few interesting directions. Here I’ve taken a first stab at my thoughts on the new model of interaction I’m developing: one in which resident participation shapes the future of a community.
Participation Leads to Success
Change in a neighborhood happens through community meetings. This process is centralized and the methods used make it hard for many people to get involved. My project attempts to change the processes used in hopes that this will lead to greater participation within communities.
I define participation as the marriage of professional experience and local knowledge. When city officials, developers, and residents come together they can arrive at better solutions.
Participation in any form happens too late in today’s process. And sourcing that local knowledge is difficult, but can yield positive results for both the community and the developer. So how do we fix this?
A Neighborhood Charter
I think one way to achieve higher levels of resident buy-in is by having them create & share their ideas of what their community could be. In doing so, citizens can merge their deep local knowledge with that of professionals. This sort of forward thinking is not unlike the charters enacted by cities. Let’s build charters for neighborhoods.
This chartering process could be an ongoing and evolving activity in which residents take part. This process should be interactive. At a high level, it should:
- show residents that they can expect things from their community, and that things will be expected of them
- teach residents the realities of building
- help manage expectations among all parties
- show developers that their customers are well-informed
More than anything else, it should encourage the kind of participation which makes the most of the change inherent in any community.
