If you’re looking for a model example of crowdsourced placemaking, check out the Better Block project in Oak Cliff, near Dallas, Texas.

For two days on April 10th and 11th, 2010, locals changed a car-centric thoroughfare to a people-friendly destination, complete with temporary businesses like a cafe, flower market, kid’s art studio, and featuring historic lighting, cafe seating, live music and more. All with a budget of $1000! The event was such a success that members of city hall now want

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Regular readers may be familiar with the East College Street Project, a sustainable urban village in Oberlin, Ohio proposed in 2002 by three graduate students, now known as Sustainable Community Associates. Check out previous entries about the project from 2009, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

It’s such a great story, that we’re continuing to tell it. Here’s what’s been happening since the past year, according to Josh Rosen, one of the founding three. It’s even framed with the same questions as last

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Looks like the creative industries will have a vibrant home in Swansea (pop. 220,000), Wales, in the UK,

The Welsh government recently approved the plan for a $38 million urban village on High Street, bounded by The Strand and Kings Lane streets, with shops, offices, restaurants and attainably-priced apartments organized around courtyards. The area is reportedly largely derelict, boarded up or demolished, though it strategically connects the train station to the city center.

The developer,

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As part of the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) invited to East Bayside, Portland, Maine, here’s the section of the final report that explains how to establish a crowdsourced sustainability system, as summarized by this previously posted entry and video. Stay tuned for the AIA SDAT’s final report to be posted here. Why am I posting this? It may serve as a guide for other neighborhoods like East Bayside that want to attract investment, yet

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When communities that want change in their built environment have the leadership, but not the funding, that’s where the AIA (American Institute of Architects) SDAT (Sustainable Design Assessment Team) comes in. The AIA sponsors several SDATs each year, supported by a voluntary team professionals carefully selected to fit the community’s needs and values.

The first 2009 recipient is the 130-acre neighborhood of East Bayside in Portland, Maine, with about 2500 residents, a fifth of which are

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