EngagingCities

Do you have empty spaces in your community? Do you have forgotten buildings and corridors in your city? Does your downtown have areas that are sorely underutilized, like alleys or similar spaces? Are there any former industrial areas in your community that are currently sitting vacant? Are there any other parts of your community that …

If you're a public space aficionado or transportation maven, one only needs to sign on to one of the various social media feeds to see the daily movement that…

By Jean-Noé Landry and Merlin Chatwin As more and more cities take steps to adopt open data programs we have …

Yes, it's possible to have a community meeting where resident voices are heard, while experts and professionals get their say as well. Here are several tips for how to do that.

And the case for nixing the NIMBY label altogether.

During my undergrad, one course that really struck me was, “Urban Transformations, Affective Cartography”. We studied how urban landscapes are more than just spatial. We looked at how public space, specifically, urban space, affect our physical, psychological, and emo...

Learning about designing for the engaged citizens who vote in participatory budgeting

Our Director of Places and Communities, Nat Defriend sets out four key challenges for everyone who is committed to challenging inequality and empowering communities. The challenges are framed through the lens of our founder, Michael Young’s central concept of how change happens in places, and the three key roles we have identified in the construction... → Read More

Groundbreaking research shows how the design and maintenance of public spaces can directly impact our civic health. This is a guest post by Suzanne Nienaber. Last week, the Center for Active Design (CfAD) published original research from the Assembly Civic Engagement Survey (ACES), a groundbreaking study to examine specific community design features that influence civic…

GrantCraft is a service of the Foundation Center that improves the practice of philanthropy by providing resources rooted in the practical wisdom of funders worldwide.

In sustainability’s triple bottom line of profits, planet and people, it’s people that tend to get the shaft. There’s an entire industry surrounding environmental advocacy and we can always coun

Public engagement can be risky business. There are lots of examples of what NOT to do. It isn’t often we

What is an innovation district? Understanding innovation districts and placemaking An emerging trend in urban areas, innovation districts are targeted areas that have potential for innovation and entre...

Civic engagement can mean a lot of different things – from the casual forwarding of a friend’s email to deep involvement on a board of directors. The most effective social change organizations understand how to wield their portfolio of engagement tactics in Zen-like fashion; knowing just what kind of touch is called for to influence the outcomes of a particular decision.

"Not just pretty pictures and visions."

Participatory Budgeting — or PB — is democracy in action, though many of us (cough — including myself one month ago — cough) didn’t know how it works. PB gives us the opportunity to prioritize issues…

Facing History's Tanya Huelett shares four guiding principles to help you navigate difficult conversations.

This guest reflection is by ELGL member and NRC Marketing Manager Angelica Wedell. “OPEN” is a four-letter-word, but one that local governments today need no longer avoid. Making the profession mor…

Five tips for young people and adults to practice positive civic dialogue in a digital landscape.

Newsletters are booming. It seems like just about every news organization has one -- or several -- and VCs are lining up to invest in businesses like The Skimm, Axios, and The Hustle. Email is not new. It was the first widespread mode of communication online.

It's evident that there's a growing desire among people, especially here in the U.S., to get involved in civic affairs. While online organizing can be an effective means of bringing about change, there's something powerful about showing up in person to talk with public officials and connect with others who are fighting for the same causes. We've pulled together a list of 12 ways to boost civic engagement.

Advance planning can help any program run smoothy. This is a review of some things to keep in mind when organizing your dialogues.

Participatory budgeting first came about almost three decades ago, when the Worker’s Party of Porto Alegre made an interesting political move: to look to the citizens who elected them in order to help determine their spending priorities.

Today, participatory budgeting amplified and supported ...

And how to learn from the experience and try again. In the 2015 election campaign, the Liberal party of Canada led