Michelle Mulder - Home Sweet Neighborhood: Transforming Cities One Block at a Time

Welcome to the town square in Olomouc, Czech Republic...a community gathering place with something for everyone! Askoldsb/dreamstime.com

W hee! I love the acknowledgments section! My first thanks go to my neighbors, who gave me space and encouragement to think about garden boxes and a book exchange for our building parking lot. Thanks to Chris Adams and Mark Weston for introducing me to the concept of placemaking and to the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network for the inspiration and practical help!

As I researched, many people were generous with time, information and photos. Im especially grateful to Maureen Parker, Suusa Geuer, Gastn Castao, Jen Cameron, Jenn Playford, Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Amy Tompkins, Alan McInnes, Jim Diers, Seth Solomonow, Grace Gerry, Sally Reay, Myrna Canin at Canin Associates, Mike Lanza, Paola Idini at TaMaLaC Srl, Shani Graham, Vanessa Trowell at Archikidz and Chris Mead at Creature Tales. Thanks also to all the people who were willing to appear in photos in this book.

Several books for adults helped me better understand my subject. Among my favorites were Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times, by Paul Born; The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Placemaking, by Jay Walljasper; Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, by Charles Montgomery; and Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change, by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia. Thanks for the inspiration.

And, of course, this book wouldnt have been possible without the fantastic team at Orca Book Publishers. Thanks to Sarah Harvey for excellent editing suggestions, to Vivian Sinclair for careful copy edits and to Jenn Playford for the beautiful design. What a team!

To my family and friends, who have supported me with everything from cups of tea to bags of manure for my boulevard garden, thank you. Im so grateful to have you all in my life!

Lock, Deborah, Penny Smith, Carrie Love and Margaret Parrish, eds. Outdoor Crafts: Lots of Fun Things to Make and Do Outside. London, UK: Dorling Kindersley, 2013.

Vermond, Kira. Why We Live Where We Live. Toronto, ON: Owlkids, 2014.

Wheen, Steve. The Little Book of Little Gardens. rsta, Sweden: Dokument Press, 2012.

Archikidz: archikidz.com.au

Block by Block: blockbyblock.org

Little Free Library: littlefreelibrary.org

PARK(ing) Day: parkingday.org

Play Me, Im Yours: streetpianos.com

Play Streets: playingout.net

The Pothole Gardener: thepotholegardener.com

bumping placea public space where people are likely to see each other, stop and chat

green alleya back alley where local residents have cleaned up, planted gardens and set up street furniture to create a community-gathering place

Homo sapiensthe modern human species, which has been around for the past 200,000 years

inuksuk/inuksuit (plural)human-made, stone landmarks, used traditionally by Indigenous peoples of Arctic North America to mark important local places

mandalaa diagram or pattern with regular lines or shapes that represents the universe

Minecrafta video game published by Mojang in which players create their own structures with textured 3-D cubes

nomadicliving by traveling from place to place rather than settling in one location

placemakingan international movement that aims to change public spaces to draw people together

playborhoodsenjoyable, safe streets or residential places where adults encourage kids to play outside

reverse (or clean) graffitimarks made on public or private property by removing dirt, such as drawing a happy face with your fingertip in the dust on a car

schizophreniaa long-term mental disorder that affects how people think, feel and behave and causes them to have trouble figuring out what is real

street furnitureobjects placed in the street for public use, such as benches or tables

vandalismdamages done to public or private property on purpose

woonerf/woonerven (plural)a Dutch word meaning living street, which refers to a place where people move furniture and plants into the roadway so that cars and trucks slow to walking pace

yarnstorming/yarn bombingcovering or decorating public objects with colorful knitting or crocheting

What would you like your city to be like? dana Hutchings

Index

Page numbers inboldindicate an image caption.

500 Plates project,

activism: ideas for,

Akron, OH, 500 Plates project,

Argentina, public fridges,

artwork: chalk drawings,

Australia: Billy Project,

automobiles. See cars

back alleys,

beach library,

bicycle highways,

bicyclists: attitudes toward,

Bike to Work Day,

Billy Project,

Block by Block program,

block parties,

Bol, Todd,

book exchange boxes,

buildings, repainting,

bumping place,

cars: car-free day,

chalk drawings,

Chicago, IL, street basketball,

children and youth: gang violence reduction,

cities, growth of,

city streets. See streets

communal ovens,

community-building: and crime reduction, . See also streets

community gardens,

cooking. See food

Copenhagen, Denmark, cycling in,

crime reduction,

cyclists: attitudes towards,

Darwin, Charles,

Dominican Republic, village life,

environment: and pace of living,

farmers markets,

fences, removal of,

food: 500 Plates project,

Franks, Hunter,

garbage, and pride of place,

gardening: community gardens,

Germany: book exchange boxes,

Gerry, Grace,

graffiti,

green alleys,

health and community,

Homo sapiens,

Hoops in the Hood program,

human settlements,

India: park designed by kids,

industrial revolution,

inuksuk/inuksuit,

Ithaca, NY, placemaking,

Japan, and pace of living,

Jerram, Luke,

Khao Yai, Thailand, street art,

Lakeman, Mark,

lemonade stand,

littering, and pride of place,

Marino, Adam Kaddo,

mental heath and community,

Minecraft (game),

Montreal, QC, green alleys,

Morocco, communal ovens,

murals,

Myrick, Svante,

neighborhoods: mapping exercise, . See also streets

neighbors: getting to know,

Nepal, gathering places,

Netherlands, street design,

New York City, NY,

nomadic peoples,

Ottawa, ON, chalk drawings,

painting: buildings,

Paris, France: booksellers,

PARK(ing) Day,

parking spot, as gathering place,

parks,

Pauline, Minu,

pedestrians: and safer streets,

Peru, village streets,

placemaking, .