"what contributes to the development of the personality of a city?"

"culture vs economy - what is a better driver for city?"

"supply chain efficiencies root of all problems?"

"geographical isolation - a person is part of a neighborhood, a neighborhood part of a city, a city is part of a region, a country"

twitter/likemind_min

Good likmind_min, will update this soon

The likemind_min discussion started with what structural improvements the group felt would improve a city, if building or rebuilding a city from scratch. Right off the bat was the desire to 'divorce ourselves from cars', add bike lanes and more build communal areas for residents to gather, shop, relax. A small debate started with whether you needed a master blue print to build the city from or if you could just let a city develop on its on. While this debate was small and most of the group agreed that some form of blue print would be needed I think this debate started to frame a foundation for the rest of the mornings' discussion. The discussion moved towards not just what we would build to make a better city but also what stimulates a city to become a good city.

What you build is what you get

More neighborhoods and neighborhood type places were high on everyone's list to build back into a city. The group felt that people want to feel like they belong to a neighborhood and that there is safety in neighborhoods. A point was made that people felt safer walking around NYC because there are some many people, different kinds of people, everywhere that if you need help you can always get it. Compared to Minneapolis where if you are walking down the block and see just one other person you get an uneasy feeling because you never know what might happen (over the last year muggings have pretty much tripled in Minneapolis - or at least seem that way). So building parks, markets, walk ways, places for people to get out and participate in their city was important.

Other thoughts - build walls and boundaries and you get people of your city feeling isolated. Don't build resources for people to live from, ex grocery stores, than no one will live in that neighborhood. Build chain restaurants and chain Disney like actions you will only attract people to visit but not live in you city.

Culture vs economy - what is a better driver for city?

A balance of recruit is needed to diversity a city not just demographic diversity but cultural diversity as well. If building from scratch and all you build will be giant football stadiums you will only attract one slice of cultural life, and one that not necessarily makes a city culturally grow. Some quoted (and I missed it) that a study was done that if you put more resources into cultural events like supporting artists, museums, music, etc. that people of the arts tend to stick around in a city and improve the neighborhoods where football stadiums bring in a crowd for that day...and than that crowd drives away after the game is over.

Funding green = funding local

Green is the new sputnik. Green trends are on everyone’s minds but what green can do for a city has some interesting impact. A NYT article was brought up, The Green-Collar Solution, that most green jobs are local jobs. By supporting green you are more than likely to be supporting your own city. But while the group felt that going green is important to our future that it was going to take government regulations to kick start the green for a city. An idea of having a mandate similar to cars, that all cities must be 20-30% green efficient by year 20XX. Other green issues were supply and pollution efficiencies for the city. That while we all love a good banana, they have very large carbon foot prints and we need to start understanding what it means to by/eat locally.

For the people

A city needs to be built for the social human beings that we are, coming together. In rebuilding a city a focus on people, not economics, best highways, etc but letting people be people together. While easier said that done several of the groups’ idea focused on the people and the personality of a city. Towards the end of the conversation many of us realized that we only say hello to our neighbors maybe once, twice a year. That we, for some reason in Minneapolis, run home and lock our doors as soon as we can after work (yes, little over dramatic but it makes the point). That if we would take the time to be part of the neighborhood, the community that community would be stronger. Points of the discussion were about what stimulates a good city...well, its us, the people who live there.