#community planning

[the-lateshow-returnth]

[sunshine-tattoo]

i have a plan for making densely urban areas more solarpunk.

first we build up instead of out. That's been an environmentally friendly staple for years.

The basement of buildings houses subways, which travel underground from station to station.

The next floors can shopping areas and/ or hospitals.

Apartments are separate buildings to ensure noise control.

Each building is connected to it's immediate neighbors by a walkway a few stories up. This is for pedestrians and people in mobility vehicles like wheelchairs.

The area outside the building is forested and left relatively wild. Local plant and animal species may make their home there.

Concrete paths run on the ground from building to building so that bicyclists, joggers, and people in mobility vehicles may travel from place to place outdoors if they wish.

People may arrive from outside the city by train, plane, or automobile.

Trains connect major cities, with the rest of the land left to local flora and fauna.

Airports are the only exception to the "trees everywhere" rule because they require so much takeoff room.

Automobiles may arrive from highways connecting cities but they are expected to be parked and not used in the city itself.

In instances of needing large vehicles to move big/ many objects, vertical street cars may be rented.

These are located at the top of buildings and travel on electric tracks between them.

Small objects that need to move around the city, such as groceries or electronic products, are done by drone.

This is already a staple in Korea where citizens can order things off their phone from stores or warehouses and a drone carries it right to their door.

Apartment complexes will have community gardens on the roof and/or indoors depending on local climate. Families can rent plots to grow veggies for themselves if desired.

The sides of buildings will feature vertical gardens as well. Which can be food or simply local flowers to encourage bee populations.

Bird houses and bat houses can also be put on the sides of buildings.

Sports can be played in indoor arenas, whether small for children or full sized for adult athletics.

The glass used in windows can collect solar energy. All other energy needed will come from the most effective sources for the local climate.

This city was inspired by the images of Chernobyl and its rapid recovery over the last 35 years.

Having nature between buildings is a great use of space. And while Chernobyl itself is not fit for a human population, the imagery can be used in other places.

The city was also was inspired by the in-air walkways connecting buildings found commonly in East Asia and parts of Canada.

If anyone has any additional input or questions, feel free to comment.

[solarpunks]

Cool Block: Our Neighbourhood, Our Planet

The Cool Block Program

The journey is taken right where you live.

Each Cool Block begins with a block leader - a volunteer who is ready to make change right on their block.

The block leader requests a new Cool Block be created, and receives registration and other information to get started.

Using Cool Block leadership resources, the block leader goes door to door to invite all the households on the block to an information meeting. By the end of the meeting, a Cool Block team has begun to form.

The Cool Block leader then holds a team-building meeting, where a vision for the journey takes shape. Members sign up to lead or host one or more Cool Block topic meetings. Together, the team will explore eight topics over about six months - building community, preparing for disasters and protecting the planet.

Each topic includes a menu of action recipes to choose from. Whether living in an apartment, a condo, a house or a dorm, team members find and select several actions in each topic which they most want or need to take and are practical to do in their household. Local resources may be available which support team members in taking action.

At the start of the program, households are working to change habits within their home. By the end of the program, the team is working together on actions that will impact their block, neighborhood, city and planet. Achievements add up within their city to be celebrated!

To learn more about the Cool Block experience, watch How the Program Works and take the Cool Block Topics - Video Tour!

USA based Solarpunks might find this interesting. But I’m sure much of the program’s process elements will translate elsewhere. 

[voidscreamingformillenials]

I love that this is an ecovillage within a massive city. This video talks about a lot, including about community building and methods of preventing the displacement of lower income people while creating their ecovillage neighborhood.

[anniekoh]

In our community planning studio, my students discussed reasons and strategies for youth engagement. I had assigned a few short excerpts from Placemaking with Children and Youth but for the next iteration of the class, I may have them do a more comprehensive review of youth engagement in urban planning.

Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities by Victoria Derr, Louise Chawla and Mara Mintzer (2018) (Intro as PDF) 

From a history of children’s rights to case studies discussing international initiatives that aim to create child-friendly cities, Placemaking with Children and Youth offers comprehensive guidance in how to engage children and youth in the planning and design of local environments. It explains the importance of children’s active participation in their societies and presents ways to bring all generations together to plan cities with a high quality of life for people of all ages. Not only does it delineate best practices in establishing programs and partnerships, it also provides principles for working ethically with children, youth, and families, paying particular attention to the inclusion of marginalized populations.

Drawing on case studies from around the world—in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States—Placemaking with Children and Youth showcases children’s global participation in community design and illustrates how a variety of methods can be combined in initiatives to achieve meaningful change. The book features more than 200 visuals and detailed, thoughtful guidelines for facilitating a multiplicity of participatory processes that include drawing, photography, interviews, surveys, discussion groups, role playing, mapping, murals, model making, city tours, and much more.

Youth Participation in Community Planning PAS Report 486 by Ramona Mullahey, Yve Susskind, Barry Checkoway (1999)

Today's youth, raised in an era of tremendous change, have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of their communities. As they realize their potential to make a difference, more and more young people are making positive contributions to their neighborhoods. This report explores how communities have involved children in planning. Several case studies demonstrate how various communities have encouraged young people to solve problems, voice their opinions, and make a difference. The authors explain how to create effective youth-based initiatives that train young people to identify social, community, or policy concerns, devise solutions, and hone the skills they need to effect change. Get the essential elements of developing a youth involvement project — organizational structure, required resources, suggested activities, and hoped-for accomplishments — as well as some of the potential stumbling blocks. This report is a great resource for developing planning programs that benefit communities and engage a new generation.

[collamusica]

I know some people find silence power, and for a long time it helped me. Except then I start being silent on things it was important to speak on.

Next summer, I'm starting back at school.

My goal is to transfer my credits from the various places I went to school by December 2019. (Aka when I intend to have my debts paid

Yes, I'm having a damn party!)

When I transfer again hopefully to Pitt, I will be working on a Psychology bachelor/master's program. I'm decently sure I'll also need to do business and community planning.

I have a lot of things I am blessed to have the vision to work towards again.

While I'm prepping to back to school, any of my friends who have books related to music/art/dance therapy, community planning, as well as LGBTQA+positive psych books I'd love to get started, or if you could point me onto books pertaining to adolescent psychology as well as psychology focused on the elderly. I would like to do reading on these various subjects to decide how I wish to move forward. In a few years, I should be able to share the full scale vision as well as plans. I hope to have some of your help for what I intend to do, but I mostly need to do more research.

I also was wondering if any of you have resources I could look at regarding building programs to assist those who have been abused, helping them relocate, find housing/jobs.

I think that's all I need for now. Its a lot, but I've not been doing well with getting my research on since moving.

@dynastylnoire @psych2go @anxietyproblem @depressioncomix @shencomix and others that could possibly spread this and help me get some research/books to help me in my mission.

[goingtiny]

Zoning tiny houses just became a little easier with help of new planning tool

Tiny houses have gained popularity over the past few years, with help from shows like “Tiny House Nation.”

Their small size and potential portability has led local leaders to wonder how to regulate them.

In response, the Lancaster County Planning Commission created a planning tool designed to help municipalities address their concerns.

“What we've decided to do was to bring together some of the information and provide guidance for the municipalities,” said Dean Severson, director of community planning. But “it's not a model ordinance.”

The tool, a packet available on the planning commission's website at bit.ly/2tEObF1, provides a list of questions and topics for local zoning officials to consider when talking about tiny homes.