Design Can’s Post

My quote, "Creating scenes and opportunities where people can get involved and be able to share the same passion" emphasizes the importance of fostering environments and situations that encourage active participation and a sense of shared enthusiasm among individuals.To "create scenes" means to set up situations, events, or platforms that allow people to come together and engage in activities related to their common interests. These scenes can be physical spaces, virtual communities, or even social gatherings where individuals with similar passions can interact and connect.Moreover, "creating opportunities" involves designing occasions or activities that enable people to contribute, collaborate, and express their passion freely. These opportunities can range from volunteer projects, workshops, or discussions centered around the shared interest, allowing individuals to explore and grow in their areas of passion.The ultimate goal is to cultivate a sense of belonging and unity among individuals who share the same passion. When people come together and share their enthusiasm, it creates a powerful and supportive community. This fosters a positive environment where members can inspire and motivate each other, leading to personal growth and collective achievements.In essence, my quote advocates for proactively building spaces and occasions that facilitate the expression and exchange of passion, ultimately enhancing the overall well-being and fulfillment of individuals within the community. It highlights the significance of connecting with like-minded people, as it not only brings joy and fulfillment to individuals but also lays the foundation for collective progress and positive impact.

"Several times when I’ve asked a planning professional, 'What are the goals for your community engagement activity?' and the answer was basically (and sometimes literally) 'We want lots of engagement.' I had no idea what to do with that." Check out this great blog post by Betsy Loring on defining community engagement goals!

TIPS NEEDED IN BUILDING A MEANINGFUL AND PURPOSEFUL COMMUNITY 1. Define your objective: Before creating a community, you are expected to define objective and aims of the community you are creating. This objective should serve as the purpose of the creation of the community. While defining your objective, an important question that should be addressed is the reason behind the creation of the community. 2. Conduct Research: Research is a creative and systematic work undertaken to increase one’s stock of knowledge. Once you’ve defined your objective, it is time to research social media or other online platforms to get facts that will be useful for your community’s growth. 3. Provide Value: After creating the community, an effective means of maintaining a healthy community is through the provision of value. Members of a community tend to participate actively in a community’s events or discussions if proper values are being provided. Ways of providing value include creating engaging content, AMA, etc. 4. Be active: As a leader of a community, your community expects much from you. It is important to be active in your own community. Communities without an active leader fade faster. This does not mean you should be online 24/7, but you should always make an effort to participate in the community’s discussion and promote interaction. 5. Transparency: This is an important part of community building. Members of a community should see the community administrators as someone they can trust. This can be done through the administrator’s openness and honesty. A community becomes separated the moment its members lose trust in its administrators. It should be a safe and welcoming place for everyone involved.

Building a community is more than just setting up connections. It's about the shared experiences, mutual aspirations, and collective growth. As someone who's spent years nurturing ecosystems of collaborative prosperity, I can attest to the power of communal actions. So, how do we go about building a community that's impactful? Here are a few insights I've gathered: • Identify common goals: An effective community embraces diverse strengths but is unified by common goals. It could be anything from advancing a particular industry, championing sustainability, or elevating professional expertise. • Foster a sense of belonging: A strong community is where everyone feels heard, respected, and valued. It's about creating spaces for meaningful conversations, sharing knowledge, and expressing ideas without fear of criticism. • Lead with empathy: Always remember every member of your community is unique. Understand their needs, their trials, and their aspirations. When we lead with empathy, we foster stronger bonds and encourage mutual support. • Encourage collaboration: Harness the collective wisdom of your community. Facilitate mind-meets-mind situations, value every contribution, and celebrate collaborative outcomes. Building a strong, active community isn't a solitary journey. It's about extending your hand, being authentic, embracing diversity, and reveling in shared progress. It's about drawing strength from individual capabilities while appreciating the beauty of collective action. Through the highs and the lows, a community stands strong, celebrates wins, learns from failures, and continuously strives for better. Remember, every member is instrumental in shaping the community's culture and evolution. If you're keen on building a community, here's something to ponder upon: How can you make every member feel involved, valued, and recognized? How can you foster an environment that promotes shared learning and communal growth? As we thrive on the power of community, let's build bridges, not walls. Let's recognize the need for unity while acknowledging individuality's magic. Let's fuel each other's growth and celebrate collective wins. After all, the essence of community is all about growing together. In the journey of community building, let's not forget – it's always we before me. With this thought, I invite comments, views, and suggestions. Let's build more than just connections, let's build communities.

The third and FINAL instalment of our community engagement activities on Hannen Road in London was a workshop called: "Show Us Your Area." In our effort to understand the essence of Hannen Road and discover the characteristics that out community appreciates the most, we undertook a photographic exercise to obtain a taxonomy of street features. We invited residents and street users to contribute to this workshop by sharing snapshots of Hannen Road and its surroundings. The themes were clear: architecture, activities, and nature. Armed with their mobile phones, people captured the aspects of Hannen Road that resonated with them. To add immediacy to the experience, we set up a Polaroid printer. With each click, a photo would instantly materialize, allowing participants to hold the captured image and place it on the table with some thoughts written out in post-it notes. Everything was very hands-on, immediate and catalysed some interesting conversations on the workshop table. This workshop was led by the wonderful @Alan Gillingwater from The University of Greenwich. As we gathered these images and displayed them collectively, a vivid tapestry of our neighborhood's character began to take shape. We saw the architectural features, the vibrant activities, and the natural beauty that define Hannen Road through the eyes of those who call it home. It was both powerful and enlightening- we had 60 contributions in total. At A Small Studio, we are not just architects; we are advocates for community-driven design. We believe that the people who inhabit a space are the ones best suited to shape its future. The insights we've gained from this project have been invaluable, and we are immensely grateful to everyone who contributed. As we wrap up this incredible project, we want to emphasize that our doors are always open for future collaborations and appointments similar to this. We really enjoy projects that try to capture the collective wisdom of the community to create spaces that resonate with their needs and aspirations. If you have a vision for your neighborhood or a project that could benefit from a community-centric approach, don't hesitate to reach out. Together, we can continue to transform spaces and create environments that enrich lives. #CommunityEngagement #ACommunityOfDesign #suds Link : https://lnkd.in/e-_ki3_k

Launching something new in your community? Feeling that twinge of fear? It's normal, but don't let it stop you. Here’s a quick, effective way to test the waters: Soft Launch: Start with a select group. Their feedback is gold. This builds trust and momentum. Create Pioneers: Invite members personally. Make them feel like they're part of something special. 5-Day Plan: Announce, invite, engage, interact, and launch. Each step gathers more insights and hypes your project. Remember, your community's input is invaluable. It's not about guessing; it's about collaborating. When you hit that 'go' button, it'll be with confidence and support. Your community is waiting for you to take the lead. This is why I'll always push you to build with, not for. ------------ I write a short email every Friday on how to build communities that thrive. You can sign up here: https://lnkd.in/g7HUjPJt If you enjoyed this, share the post with your network and follow me Patrick McCrann for my daily community thoughts.

👷🏽♀️Community engagement and planning! 🏘️Thank you to the Oxford Savills team and the Royal Town Planning Institute for hosting such a fantastic and comprehensive conference today on community engagement across the built environment. Also referred to as co-design, it’s all about bringing people along in the decision-making journey for shaping their local area. Here are my top two brain dumps: - 🧩The term ‘hard to reach groups’ is often used to refer to people who are underrepresented in the engagement process. If you’ve never provided input into a local project, plan or development that might be you! Pro of this term: helps trigger active and intentional efforts to encourage minority groups to take part. Con of this term: these groups aren’t homogenous or even usually ‘hard to reach’, rather may have been historically excluded or have barriers like lack of time/understanding/trust in the system/limited English/specific cultural norms/no digital access/ that make it harder for them to engage. - 💷Community engagement isn’t the ‘cherry on the cake’, it needs to be baked in! There needs to be dedicated budget, resource and generational local partnerships to get people involved from early stages right through delivery and ongoing monitoring. Parachuting into a community for data when it suites or over-consulting can easily foster distrust and fatigue. Managing expectations, being transparent and having a clear, updated information source is a must once people are invested! 💭Would you consider yourself ‘hard to reach’, and if so what would it take to get you more involved in the planning process? 📣Shout out to Meeting Place Ruth Skidmore Joseph Baum, Commonplace Charlotte Dove Bowen, SP Broadway David McFarlane MBE, Psephos Consulting Alex Wilson, Chess Engage Gareth Epps, the Oxford Civic Society Chris Church and Ian Green, as well as James Mills for taking part with thought-provoking insights - with exceptional hosting from Nev Surtees!

"Ellul's" List of 76 Reasonable Questions to Ask of Any Technology begins with fourteen that fall under the heading "Social." Without further ado or comment, here are the first seven of these: 1) Does it serve community? 2) Does it empower community members? 3) How does it affect our perception of our needs? 4) Is it consistent with the creation of a communal, human economy? 5) What are its effects on relationships? 6) Does it undermine conviviality? 7) Does it undermine traditional forms of community?

There is an increased demand for spaces where communities can celebrate their values. There is a need for gathering spaces of meaning, but what how can we know what is meaningful to our communities? The field of social design empowers leaders to strengthen their communities using empathy, creativity, and action to create spaces of shared meaning. Read our thoughts on this matter here. For more social design resources, visit poweredbyverity.org.

"The paradox is that for outside actors to be useful, they must first accept the solution to this civic dilemma: to stop attempting to add value to and for communities and instead make space for communities to co-create what they value. Put another way, participation in the public square and the regrowth of associational life – so key to enabling the response of the many – cannot be shaped like a potter shapes clay. Instead, it requires a process similar in ethos and practice to rewilding." — Source: Nurture and Development This snippet talks to me because it ties into two things that I’ve experienced: value and co-creation. ⭐️ Co-creation: I adopted the term co-create very early on in my community building efforts. I’ve used it in my our company tag lines and generally have had it at the core of my thinking in everything we do. When we start thinking about the things we do, the main question in our mind is “how can we do this with our people?” ⭐️ Value creation: it feels like such a common phrase these days, and perhaps this is partly due to the tech bubble that I’m in, but we seem to obsess over creating value. But the truth is, if we focus on the co-creation that puts people at the heart of everything, then in theory we would only end up creating something of value. This doesn’t mean our outputs are great and wonderful and as valuable as gold. Often they are not. Or often we don’t even succeed. Whether or not we succeed, at least the whole process of co-creation has been of value to us as humans and towards understanding of what we truly need.