Ryan Smolar is a leader in all things related to local food (e.g., food councils, markets, restaurants, crop swaps, community gardens), placemaking and community development with a focus on expanding access to healthy and affordable food, local economic development, eco-consciousness and cultural vivacity in diverse communities.
Cities justify the expense of hosting mega events by claiming that international visibility will yield economic benefit for the city. But most mega events cause more long-term economic harm than good, unless there is a specific plan for how the event investment will solve a specific problem or improve equity in the city.
Ramon Marrades is an Urban Economist, Director of Placemaking Europe and Founder of Vigla. He has spent his career creating sustainable, equitable, and lively public spaces that prioritize the needs of people and community. He is passionate about port cities, culture, and innovation and has worked as strategic advisor to a number of cities and large-scale development projects. Marrades is based in Valencia, Spain.
After the fall of the Franco dictatorship in Spain in 1975, citizens felt freer to express their opinions on many topics. Neighborhood Associations in cities like Valencia flourished as residents advocated for their preferences. City residents wrote op-eds and wrote articles to pressure government to listen to their input. This is the story of how government officials in the city of Valencia responded to citizen demands about one issue, and how it changed the city for everyone.
Ramon Marrades is an Urban Economist, Director of Placemaking Europe and Founder of Vigla. He has spent his career creating sustainable, equitable, and lively public spaces that prioritize the needs of people and community. He is passionate about port cities, culture, and innovation and has worked as strategic advisor to a number of cities and large-scale development projects. Marrades is based in Valencia, Spain.
Somsook Boonyabancha, is Chairperson, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), a regional network of grassroots community organizations, NGO’s and professionals actively involved with urban poor development processes in Asian cities; former Director of the Community Organization Development Institute (CODI); Chairperson, of the Baan Mankong Program Committee.
Boonyabancha has been working and facilitating sustainable, equitable collective housing development and slum upgrading in Thailand and other Asian countries for 30 years – specializing in community-led initiatives. As director of CODI, she fostered a “city-wide” approach to community upgrading that has been replicated in cities across Thailand. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Somsook Boonyabancha, is Chairperson, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), a regional network of grassroots community organizations, NGO’s and professionals actively involved with urban poor development processes in Asian cities; former Director of the Community Organization Development Institute (CODI); Chairperson, of the Baan Mankong Program Committee.
Boonyabancha has been working and facilitating sustainable, equitable collective housing development and slum upgrading in Thailand and other Asian countries for 30 years – specializing in community-led initiatives. As director of CODI, she fostered a “city-wide” approach to community upgrading that has been replicated in cities across Thailand. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand.
When community members, local government, practitioners and academics collaborate on one urban development project, they build relationships and a knowledge base that can inform and energize numerous other projects throughout the city. In this way, one project can change the city.
In what ways does your local government function in the same way as national government? In what ways does it not? What are the pros and cons of each?
What could it mean for local government to "lead city development working with the people?"
Why invite representatives from many neighborhoods, and local academics, to perform a citywide survey of possible locations for a project, when you only have money for one project?
What is the downside of having more people involved in planning one project, and what could be the upside long term? Do you agree that it may increase the chances that one project is the beginning of a larger set of projects and not a stand alone, one-off?
Somsook Boonyabancha, is Chairperson, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), a regional network of grassroots community organizations, NGO’s and professionals actively involved with urban poor development processes in Asian cities; former Director of the Community Organization Development Institute (CODI); Chairperson, of the Baan Mankong Program Committee.
Boonyabancha has been working and facilitating sustainable, equitable collective housing development and slum upgrading in Thailand and other Asian countries for 30 years – specializing in community-led initiatives. As director of CODI, she fostered a “city-wide” approach to community upgrading that has been replicated in cities across Thailand. She is based in Bangkok, Thailand.