These 5+1 common values indicate a variety of ways in which people can get engaged and involved in the design of public spaces. Most of them are inspired by community-based practices in multiple cities.
«Go and meet your people,
live and stay with them,
love them,
work with them.
Begin with what they have,
plan and develop from what they know,
and in the end, when the work is over,
they will say:
We did it ourselves.»
Lau Tse
1 | Go and meet your people,
Attending in neighborhood/community meetings or workshops, perhaps for someone may not be something they are used to do, or is something new or even the find them intimidating. But they may be willing to offer their input and stories in the neighborhood café. Involve people in a hands-on manner by creating and building with them trust relationships and mutual communication. Think that sometimes people have ideas that they are not able to articulate as well through words.
2 | live and stay with them
Commons is a term that combines old and new terminologies, thoughts, words even propositions. Allow more people to deepen the vision of empowering local cultures and societies and express their point of view. Commons need trust and time to be understand and be break down into simpler words; communicate ideas visually or tangibly.
3 | love them, work with them
Find a local partner. A new person may not be familiar with the neighborhood, but the baker, the bookstore manager, the butcher, is always somebody that is already embedded within and trusted by neighbors. This could be the partner and the local network enhancer of the social participatory idea for and in the neighborhood.
4 | begin with what they have,
Every participatory process is just as important procedure as the outcome. We are not looking for the perfect solutions but solutions compatible with the desires and needs of today’s. A perfect public space that is finished sends the message that the idea is final and cannot be changed Public space is an area constantly in search, a space for social relations, a place of people and they are constantly in progress.
5 | to design and develop from what they already know
See people for what they are good at. Encourage them to bring those skills and common resources to the public space. This will create a neighborhood ‘s network skills based on the exchange economy. Towards a neighborhood economy!
6 | “We, we did ourselves”
Provide training to develop the people ‘s skills and knowledge on issues around them, and create opportunities for them to step up in the neighborhood.
