High-Density Happiness: a Discussion
BY Steve Napier | Oct 21, 2015 | Learning
Some interesting takeaways from an event Neometro held in Melbourne about placemaking. The event is a four-month program hosted by Neometro titled "High-Density Happiness."
- Community is important and it takes a village to get things done.
- Communities are about people…having a story to tell and people to listen.
- Building a community is challenging and people will tell you when they’re not happy.
- You can facilitate a community but you can’t direct one.
- You can’t control a community. Instead, create a warm and inviting space and then let go and see what happens.
- While it’s important to ask questions of your community, it’s even more important to listen to the answers.
- When it comes to building a community, go hard or go home.
- "Enlightened hospitality" is key to community. Welcome people into your community and make them feel like it’s their home.
- It’s important to establish like-mindedness, without creating a herd mentality.
- The key is to establish enduring communities that are more than fads.
- Authenticity is so important. The community will know if you’re not being genuine.
- Have open heart and a high level of empathy/awareness and understand that what you put out comes back quickly. It’s like karma.
- A city is buildings, trams, and streets. Place making is what gives that city meaning.
- Placemaking is about creating something that can’t be destroyed.
- The aim of placemaking is for people to walk an area in 50 years time and think ‘wow’.
- Placemaking and community can be hard to achieve in built form because once the concrete is poured, it’s poured.
- Place making is hard wired into built form at Jewell Station, thanks to the performance space, bike path and community garden, all of which take things to a new level.
- Jewell Station is handing the community to the community. It’s about providing an environment in which the community can prosper, without Neometro giving direction.
You can also download Neometro’s white paper on High Density Happiness here, and register for future events here.
Category:
About the author
