There are two kinds of inconceivable: 1) the one I tell myself isn’t possible and 2) the one I can’t imagine.
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Community has a vital role to play when emergencies arise: to enable transition from what was to what could be.
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Six ideas and eight suggestions to improve a community’s ability to be proactive, responsive and response-ABLE as the scales of emergencies grow.
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I had an “allergic reaction” this summer to some language people around me are using to invite climate action: “be a first responder.” And so, I sit and write as a means to scratch the itch. What I found: As the scale of emergency grows, the ability of community to be proactive, responsive and response-ABLE becomes imperative.
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6 questions to ask at any time in your career, in Beth’s address delivered to the Master of City Planning graduates at the University of Manitoba, June 2021.
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As Mother’s Day approaches, I want to be more aware of how my behaviour erodes the growth of younger people in my life, especially when I am feeling challenged, hurt, or left behind.
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We all know this feeling of surrender, of turning around or giving in. It is not failure; it is facing reality with a clear commitment to look after self. Nor is this about losing, about having not won. It is a recognition of when we’ve hit our limits and choosing to accept the emotional challenge of not being able to do what we expected to do.
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When I take action to do the work I need to do for myself, or to stop doing work for other people, I change the rules of the game between us. It is vital to understand that awakening agency, whether in myself or others, is destabilizing. When I asked my loved one, in my dream, to stop leaning on me because her actions were going to push me over the edge, she was unable to stabilize herself. There may be places were others need to ask me to stop leaning on them, and that will destabilize me.
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Our cities are an expansive nestwork of feedback loops. The healthier and stronger the connections are within the nestwork, the healthier our cities. To a great extent, the quality of our cities, and how well they serve us, is up to us because we make or disable the connections within the nestwork.
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As a species we are experiencing and watching our transformation in real time. Two questions guide me into possibility: What is the quality of life I/we wish to have?Under what conditions do I/we respond responsibly?
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I’ve long been struggling with how we can gather in ways that are socially proximate. When we gather at conferences, for example, we are physically close, but socially separate as we sit and listen to the expert sage on the stage. I’ve had what I call “a keynote itch” that needs to be scratched. And it will work both face-to-face and online. I call it Street Corner Visiting.
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I’ve long been uncomfortable with keynote speakers who fly in, speak for an hour or so, and then fly out. This format of information delivery is a download, often without confirming the download is the right download, let alone if the download is complete and meets the needs of the audience.
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He was a conference speaker with an urgent message: we must change our ways or we will die. We will only save ourselves if we do what he says, what he prescribes.
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My two kids are great at metaphors. The latest: that they are buying a car “with training wheels”. Whether it is kids, co-workers, students, anyone for whom we serve as training wheels, this experience has taught me a few vital things about my relationship with the sovereignty of people making decisions, whether they are my kids, clients, friends (or myself!):
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