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Density by design

As gas nears $4 a gallon and as the world grapples with global warming, more people are choosing to live close to where they work (or at least close to a bus or rail line that can get them to their jobs without a car). And many people who are done working, or close to it - namely the empty nesters of the Baby Boom generation - also are eager to live where they can forget about yard work and walk to restaurants, parks, and cultural events. A new wave of urban housing is catering to people who seek this lifestyle.

But the word "density" has a bad rap among many Americans. Say it, and people conjure images of ugly housing projects and boring tract homes. That's why Julie Campoli and Alex S. MacLean wrote and photographed a book called Visualizing Density - to show that density doesn't need to mean bad design. They are traveling the country to explain this message, and I caught up with them Wednesday at a program sponsored by the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho.

Asked to define density, people use negative terms including "cookie cutter," "boring," "isolated," "barren," "over-paved," "car-oriented," and "transient." But people also use more positive descriptions like "green," "varied," "connected," "timeless," and "pedestrian friendly." The latter terms come up when developers build environments that are high-quality (even for affordable housing), convenient, and have aesthetic appeal.

Density is definitely ecologically "green", but people won't move to a more dense neighborhood just because it's "the right thing to do," Campoli said. Instead, developments need to literally be green. "Satisfying people's need for green is essential," she added, noting that it can be done many ways, from courtyards and pocket parks to community gardens and even using green roofs and landscaped catch-basins instead of storm sewers for rainwater runoff.

Campoli pulled up a website for a Phoenix, Arizona, organization called South Laveen Against High Density. Its mission statement reads: "We will be reasonable but firm with misguided attempts to zone for high density cookie cutter housing." So what the group really opposes, she noted, is bad design - not high density. She recommended the Design Advisor website as a good source for planners and builders who want to create affordable yet well-designed housing. She also urged planners to encourage infill housing in existing urban areas rather than "new town" developments that often leap-frog over open space and demand long commutes.

Everyday Democracy has tools for communities that would like to address growth and sprawl, first by bringing a wide array of people together to discuss the issue, then to take action together on it. Click here to read stories of large and small communities that have taken these steps, and here to download a free copy of our discussion guide "Smart Talk for Growing Communities: Meeting the Challenges of Growth and Development."

Earth Day, from sea to sea

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and we have examples of communities working to save the environment from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, hundreds of people turned out Saturday for the city's first Sustainability Fair, an idea that grew out of the Portsmouth Listens program, which for years has used study circles (large-scale, action-oriented dialogues) to address important local issues. The fair featured hands-on activities like pond cleanups, a sustainability scavenger hunt, and vendors selling everything from organic food to worms for composting. From the Portsmouth Herald:

Bert Cohen, a UNH professor on sustainability and co-founder of Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative, started the fair with opening remarks on the importance of a "systems approach" to sustainability, where it is infused in everything that the community does.

The phrase "change happens one person at time" might be true, he said, but to address an imminent threat such as global warming will require more than one person at a time.

"That's probably not the way it's going to happen," he said. "It's going to be a network of people who bring everyone together to create change. That's what we're doing this morning."

Read more about the Portsmouth fair here, and see a profile of Bert Cohen here.

Meanwhile, in Port Townsend, Washington, study circles on climate change led to a climate action lab where participants decided to focus on cutting greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, since every gallon of gas adds more than a pound of air pollution to our skies. From the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader:

The question asked at the first action lab meeting was, "How do we get people out of their vehicles?" recalled Anne Bishop, one of the participants.

"We were bouncing ideas off of each other," she said. "It was a fun evening." They discussed creating street theater, encouraging people to ride the bus, proposing stories to the paper, and even changing parking requirements in the city and county building codes.

Anne's husband, Dan, said that increasing ridership on the buses is "probably the easiest important thing that can be done in the short term."

Read more here, and check out the Seattle-based group 2People.org, which helped Port Townsend organize its dialogues. (Seattle also is home to one of the best transit blogs anywhere, the Seattle Bus Chick. For a transit blog near you, click here.) Watch for more Earth Day news tomorrow, and have a look at Everyday Democracy's resources for holding action-oriented community conversations about growth and sprawl.

Tourism and economic development

In recent years, Everyday Democracy - formerly the Study Circle Resource Center - has been working with the Northwest Area Foundation on a project called Horizons, which aims to help communities move from poverty to prosperity. For many of these communities arrayed across the Great Plains and Northwest, tourism can be at least a piece of the puzzle of creating a more vibrant economy.

On her blog Smart Communities, Suzanne Morse of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change is writing this week about how tourism is helping many towns, while warning that it can't be the whole solution,  especially in a time when volatile gas prices and rising recession are keeping many people at home.

For another perspective, check out this article in the March issue of Ode magazine that mentions (toward the bottom) the growth in agritourism, which is building off a burgeoning interest in locally produced food. People may not be able to travel far from home this year, but we may be able to book a weekend at a nearby farm B&B or drive a few towns over to a thriving farmers' market or a creative new restaurant.

As an occasional travel writer who used to make a living at it, I know that my favorite places to go are ones that have - and celebrate - character all their own. Take an inventory of the scenic, cultural, culinary, and other offbeat assets that your area can offer tourists. But when you do, remember to focus on amenities - present or planned - that boost the quality of life for residents as well as enriching the visitor experience for travelers. Making Places - another link from Suzanne - offers many ideas in its sections on parks, public squares, markets, waterfronts, and more.

Does your town have 'heart & soul'?

The Orton Family Foundation is inviting communities of fewer than 50,000 people in four New England states (New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts,
and Vermont) and four Rocky Mountain states (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) to apply for grants of up to $100,000 to help fund planning initiatives that reflect the town's "heart and soul." Two communities from each region will be chosen.

From the Orton website:

The Orton Family Foundation helps citizens and leaders of small cities and towns identify and express their community’s heart and soul—those attributes citizens hold dear and that connect individuals to one another and to the community as a whole. When they are fully understood, these heart and soul attributes can be used to shape and drive decisions that protect and enhance local character and values even as change occurs.

According to a FAQ that accompanies the foundation's request for proposals, planning projects will include "an open, in-depth listening and visioning process characterized by broad, direct citizen engagement." Find out if your community fits the profile by reading the RFP here and the FAQ here. The application deadline is March 3, 2008.

Attention (last-minute) shoppers!

Are you still finishing your holiday shopping? Or maybe you are looking for a new resolution for 2008. In either case, check out this great video from Movement Vision Lab film fellow Amy Wolf. Remember: It's "buy local" or "bye-bye local."

Building a sense of place

The Study Circles Resource Center frequently works with communities on issues of growth, sprawl, and sustainability. This week, two of our staff members are attending important events for people who are passionate about creating and sustaining creative, diverse, functional, forward-looking communities.

Carrie Boron, SCRC's Deputy Communications Director and Operations Manager, is on the scene at CommunityMatters07, starting today in Burlington, Vermont, and organized by the Orton Family Foundation and PlaceMatters. Workshops and panel discussions at this event include "Virtual Neighborhood: Building Local Community Online" (with the co-founder of the Burlington-based Front Porch Forum); "Listening to Old & Young: Communities for All Ages," focusing on livable "lifespan communities" where people of all ages can thrive together; "New Directions in Planning: Tools and Techniques for a Holistic Approach"; and "Art and Soul: How Storytelling and Arts Create a Sense of Place." On Thursday, participants will spend the day in Open Space work-sessions "to model the kinds of innovative approaches to civic engagement and deliberation we seek to foster in the communities where we work."

Meanwhile, Gloria Mengual, SCRC program director, is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, attending the Helping Small Towns Succeed institute presented by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Today, attendees are talking about leadership development and "Clues to Community Survival." On Wednesday, participants will learn about the Appreciative Inquiry method of examining past successes to move a community forward and discuss how to welcome and promote increased rural and small-town racial and cultural diversity. Thursday's sessions will include asset mapping and building social capital.

Click here to learn more about how communities like yours are working with SCRC to get a handle on growth, sprawl, and sustainability. And if you attended either of this week's conferences, we invite your comments on what most inspired, unnerved, and/or intrigued you, and what you hope to do with what you learned.

Welcome to the water cooler

Update: A threaded, more easily read version of this discussion is available here.

Welcome to the water cooler, DemocracySpace’s monthly series of virtual roundtables with interesting people who are doing citizen engagement work. I’m Julie Fanselow, online organizer for the Study Circles Resource Center and your moderator for today’s session.

It’s an off-year for national elections, but many local communities are electing leadership this fall. Our topic today is how citizen engagement can change the electoral process by defusing hot-button issues, setting a more inclusive public agenda, and inviting more citizen participation in elections.

Our special guest this month is Jim Noucas, co-chair of Portsmouth Listens, which has been building citizen engagement efforts in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for many years. Portsmouth Listens has helped a wide range of residents have their say on issues ranging from the city’s master plan to environmental sustainability to whether to renovate or rebuild the local middle school.

Here’s how our water cooler will work: I will ask Jim the first question, which you will see in the comments at 1 p.m. Eastern. He will answer in the comments, too.

If you have a question for Jim, you can ask it in the comments as well. Or if you, too, would like to share a story of how study circles or other citizen engagement methods have affected the local political landscape in your community, please feel free to share that in the comments.

To make a comment or ask a question, click on the word “comments” below. A window will open where you can post your name (real names, please); email address (it will not be visible online); and, if you like, the URL of your organization or program’s website. Write your question or comment, then click “post.”

Please note: You will need to refresh your browser periodically to see the latest comments that have been posted and answered.

Thank you for stopping by for the DemocracySpace water cooler. Enjoy the discussion!

In the news: NH and IL

Check out these new stories posted on the Study Circles Resource Center website:

Citizens in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, have used study circles to address a wide variety of issues, including the city's master plan. Now, residents are getting set to start a new round of circles on sustainable living.

Quincy, Illinois, held its first Quincy Cultural Festival this past weekend to showcase the contributions made by Quincy blacks at the local, state and national level. The festival grew out of Quincy's study circles, which one participant called "a life-changing event."