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.
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Public and private interests have emerged to revitalize the Queens neighborhood, an inter-modal hub ten miles east of Midtown Manhattan.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
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San Diego Votes to Rein in “Towering” ADUs
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Texas Legislature’s Surprising Pro-Housing Swing
Smaller homes on smaller lots, office to apartment conversions, and 40% less say for NIMBYs, vote state lawmakers.
Even Edmonton Wants Single Staircase Buildings
Canada's second most affordable major city joins those angling to nix the requirement for two staircases in multi-family buildings.
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.
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Municipality of Princeton (NJ)