When working a charrette in Jamaica, architect Steve Mouzon inadvertently inspired local children to set a recommendation for urban farming to song.
Steve was working in Rose Town, Jamaica, and he noticed that the town's walls were painted with parables. After talking with local elders to get the words right, he got someone on the charrette committee to paint their recommendation up on a fence: "Plant your yard with things you can eat, for why should your yard lay fallow while you spend more of your money at the grocery store?"
Steve writes, "I was standing to the side, listening to pieces of several conversations when a local architect stepped up to me in an animated fashion and said "Steve, you must come now! You must hear this!"
"Hear what?" I asked. "What is happening?" As we stepped through the door into the night air, I could hear them... the voices of children singing. This group of little children were taking these simple words on a wall that were never meant to have rhythm or rhyme, and they were turning them into a song!"
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In participatory planning, there is no planning without several events known as charrettes, which you probably already knew. Less likely to be common knowledge, however, is how charrettes can live up to their promise in the planning process.
Jamaica, Queens: More Than Just a Stop on the Way to the Airport
Public and private interests have emerged to revitalize the Queens neighborhood, an inter-modal hub ten miles east of Midtown Manhattan.
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service