Welcome to the Handbook
Designing Creative Communities: Your Town Is Your Canvas. Learn How to Make Your Mark
Description:We all want to be a part of a thriving community. But few of us know how to meaningfully contribute to the places where we live, work, learn and play. Whether you dream of launching a community innovation center, want to enhance your town with colorful murals, or are simply looking to strengthen relationships with your neighbors, Designing Creative Communities is the guide for you.
Author:Spud Marshall
Publication Year:2021
The Regeneration of Urban Blue Spaces: A Public Health Intervention? Reviewing the Evidence
Description:Research in recent years has demonstrated that urban surface waters (“urban blue spaces”) can provide beneficial effects on human health and wellbeing. Despite blue spaces prevailing on urban development agendas across the world, little investigation has been done whether and how the regeneration of such spaces is used as a (community-based) public health intervention. Therefore, a review was conducted to analyze urban blue space regeneration projects in terms of their significance for public health. Results show that the regeneration of urban blue spaces displays a diversity of intervention types and follows certain development trends seen in general urban regeneration: Similarities mainly arise in relation to objectives (multi-dimensional goals with increasing focus on environmental sustainability and economic interests), stakeholders (shift to multi-actor governance with a rise of partnerships and community participation), and funding (prevalence of mixed financial schemes and increasing reliance on external funding sources). Although threefold public health effects have been noted across the projects (i. behavioral changes toward healthier lifestyles, ii. healthier urban environments, iii. health policy changes), results of this review indicate that the potential to use urban blue regeneration as a community-based health intervention has yet to be realized.
Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life
Description:Imagine waking up to the gentle noises of the city, and moving through your day with complete confidence that you will get where you need to go quickly and efficiently. Soft City is about ease and comfort, where density has a human dimension, adapting to our ever-changing needs, nurturing relationships, and accommodating the pleasures of everyday life. How do we move from the current reality in most cites—separated uses and lengthy commutes in single-occupancy vehicles that drain human, environmental, and community resources—to support a soft city approach? In Soft City David Sim, partner and creative director at Gehl, shows how this is possible, presenting ideas and graphic examples from around the globe. He draws from his vast design experience to make a case for a dense and diverse built environment at a human scale, which he presents through a series of observations of older and newer places, and a range of simple built phenomena, some traditional and some totally new inventions.
Description:Eric Foner is a prominent American historian focusing on the history of the United States, particularly the Civil War, Reconstruction, and slavery. His works explore themes of social justice, equality, and civil rights. Foner's contributions to public understanding of history have been significant through his numerous publications and lectures.
Description:Known for the the rise of the creative class. Argued that cities thrive when they attract creative professionals, leading to cultural and economic revitalization.
Description:Doris Kearns Goodwin is a well-known American biographer, historian, and political commentator. She has written extensively on U.S. presidents and their administrations, including Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Goodwin has also contributed to public understanding of history through her books and appearances in the media.
Description:Ethnographic mapping involves the detailed documentation of cultural practices, social dynamics, and spatial relationships within a community to inform placemaking interventions.
Description:Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value.
Description:Ensures pedestrian-friendly streets, pathways, and bike lanes, while also enhancing access to public transportation.