Local Innovation, Local Solutions

It might seem logical that solutions a community develops for its own use would work well locally. But small, innovative groups sometimes have difficulty accessing funding to support their work.

The Obama administration’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation funds locally generated programs and ideas. Although the organizations it supports are established groups, not new ones, other groups are looking at smaller-scale solutions.

Parsons the New School for Design has started a project called Amplifying Creative Communities. Their focus is New York City, particularly the Lower East Side. They’re studying and encouraging the growth of urban gardens and other community resource-sharing projects. An article by Cameron Tonkinwise puts this project in an international context.

Road trips

It’s a new year, there’s snow on the ground… and I’m living in Boston. If I develop any bad driving habits now, I have an excuse. I moved here last month, in a very rapid time frame, and am starting to explore the city. So this is a good time to blog about walking.

Back in the 20th century, I lived 10 miles from my high school and had to get there by horse-drawn carriage. Oh, sorry… that’s the wrong story line. Actually, I lived about 13 blocks from my school – which was half a mile from my martial arts class – and walked two to four miles a day.

I have a goal of walking more again, now that I’m in a larger city. Boston has at least one organization devoted to walking. Meetup.com lists 67 walking groups in this area. The Museum of Science offers a self-guided walking tour of green buildings.

A few months ago, a friend pointed me to Urban Ranger, a site that encourages people to explore – wherever they live – by walking. Prevention.com is one source for local walking routes. Google has also started including walking directions (although they’re still in beta).

Overall, the United States isn’t the most friendly place for walking. If you are living near a freeway, and that road is the main way you get to work, you probably aren’t going to walk along the margin of the road to get there – even if you only work a mile away from home.

One thing I’ve learned from marketing workshops is that people like their lives to be easy and convenient. We all use shortcuts when we make decisions. If walking becomes an easier choice to make than the alternatives – for example, the default choice for a Google Map – more people will choose it.

Although driving can be fun, walking can reduce stress and improve one’s health. Sitting in traffic can have the opposite effect. So, while I love my car, it’s staying in its parking spot now. The direct experience of walking – or biking – is much more interesting than viewing a new city from behind a windshield.

Design for whom?

About a month ago, I read about an innovative architectural education program called Rural Studio that has been featured on public radio and has also become the subject of a book. Students working at Rural Studio are building houses in a very low-income part of western Alabama. These houses were designed to be affordable, with a $20,000 mortgage, for people living on incomes of close to $637 a month. (No, there is not a zero missing in that first number.) The houses look distinctive – these are not cookie-cutter buildings – but they are basic, functional homes built with low-cost materials. Rural Studio has also been expanding its scope to create other community buildings, including an animal shelter and a bird-watching tower.

I don’t know how much it would cost to construct these $20,000 houses on a larger scale, but there might be a significant untapped market for houses in that price range in the United States (and probably in other countries too).