Sprawl and our need for civic transformation

In confronting the challenges of sprawl, my brother Hunter raises some interesting points in his Meet the Blogger interview [1].

We have metropolitan planning organizations designed from the 1960's, and they haven't changed. (Listen especially to segment 9 [2].) These organizations have difficulty defining or sustaining a meaningful exploration of alternative futures for Northeast Ohio. That's not what they were designed to do.

Yet, we now have the capability to use computer modeling to define some alternative land use patterns and their consequences.

See, for example, CommunityViz [3] that helps people explore alternative land use scenarios.

Alternatively, look at how Dayton used Myron Orfield's approach here [4]. Orfield is now working in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, where we are exploring alternative development scenarios for the region under the sponsirship of Bluegrass Tomorrow [5].

Supporting these civic dialogues takes adjustments by a wide range of players. So, for example, we have redesigned CommerceLexington, the chamber of commerce in Lexington, to manage these dialogues, following the principles of "strategic doing".

It's perhaps a little to much to expect the GCP to assume this role in Northeast Ohio, for a lot of reasons that we can group under "Cleve-centrism".

But there are alternatives.

As Hunter points out, a regional dialogue, anchored in our colleges and universities, could begin to raise these issues and explore alternative futures.

We know what the pattern of current decisions yields: more sprawl.

Designing a better future requires us to design stronger, more purposeful civic dialogues. In my view, to sustain these dialogues, we will need to tie them to our colleges and universities.

We are now exploring in Indiana how to design such a statewide "civic transformation network" (our working title). We have serial entrepreneurs, civic entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, chambers, leadership programs, representatives from Indiana University, Ball State and Purdue participating in this exploration. Not the usual suspects.

It's early, and all this might fall apart. But I don't think so. In traveling the across Indiana for the past two years, more and more people recognize the importance of regional civic networks to compete globally.

Another person who can help lead the region in this direction: David Beach. In my travels across the country, there is no one who has a better grasp of these regional issues. His Green Cities, Blue Lake [6] web site is extraordinary in its breadth and focus.