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“What is Community”?
“Community” seem to be a catchword in a recent decade. There is “Community” all over the real estate advertisement; there is also “Community” on most of the social media. Nonetheless, there is a community center in every municipality. So, what does “Community” really mean and what does that do to us?
If you lookup Wikipedia, you will read this: The English-language word "community" derives from the old French comuneté, which comes from the Latin word communitas means "public spirit" . However, if you simply look at this word as “common” + “unity” = people who have/share the common interests to unite as one group (as a unity), that might be easier to explain what I am going to tell you next.
It is easy to group people who have similar perspectives to be one “Community”, such as people who live in the same area, people who go to the same clubs, or people who came from the same culture. Overall, that’s what draws people together. Yet, it is more important to group people with opposite opinions, contrary interests and even reverse direction to be as one “Community”.
“Why do we pull different people together to be one community?”, you might ask.
Perhaps after the controversial between Jane Jacob and Robert Moses over the Washington Square Village and the Lower Manhattan Expressway in New York, more and more people are aware of the public affairs(policies) and the neighborhood they live in.
In recent decades, many jurisdictions require community engagement in their planning process. Images below are the samples of how the local planning office incorporate or encourage the community involvement/public hearing into their planning process.
Arlington County 4.1 submission flow chart. Image credit: ULI
Image source: Montgomery County Planning Office
Image source : DC Office of Planning
“So, how to make them share common interests and become one community?”, you might ask.
Like many other policies, there are challenges and benefits of Community Engagement. Challenge such as building a trust within the community. “Trust is an essential yet fragile elements of constructive community engagement.“ (Source: ULI) Oftentimes the processes take long time which result in both public and private are losing faith in the process. They see the process more as a required formality than a true opportunity to engage.
On the other hand, study has shown the community engagement can foster a more constructive dialogue about community need. The transparency of the process makes the community more aware of the goal and vision of upcoming plan in the early stage.
It is not surprising on those public meetings, you will hear those residents worry about traffic and noise that new development will bring. The civic associations complain the scale and monolithic façade and constructions brings to their local businesses; the renters are afraid the future soaring rent, etc. Bringing different voices early on and help them to imagine various scenarios would be a win-win for all the stakeholders.
One Place, One Story.
What local residents want is they can be benefit from the future development.
What developers want is the approval process move smoothly so they remain financially viable.
What architects want is a project can show-off their design talent.
And you ask me? What I want is you would spend sometime to browse the creativity scorebook series— so all together we can make our place a better place.
Notes and References:
During the 1950s and 1960s, the media was taking sides with two opposite voices: The New York Times was more of the outlet for public policy, and the The Village Voice provided more sympathetic coverage for activists like Jane Jacob.
Increasing Housing Supply and Attainability: Improving Rules and Engagement for build more Housing, Urban Land Institute (ULI)
Last updated on 12/27/2020