Tag Archives: peace

A comparison between Burning Man’s Black Rock City and the Greater World Earthship Community

The American West is blessed with two modern utopian communities — Burning Man’s Black Rock City on a high desert playa in northwestern Nevada and the Greater World Earthship Community located west of Taos, New Mexico. As Burning Man/Black Rock … Continue reading

Posted in adaptive reuse, Advocacy, Alternative energy, architecture, art, branding, cities, civics, Civil Rights, civility, climate change, Communications, culture, deregulation, deserts, diversity, economic development, energy, entertainment, entrepreneurship, environment, food systems, fun, futurism, geography, government, health, history, Housing, human rights, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, literature, Maps, marketing, minimalism, nature, peace, pictures, place names, placemaking, planning, politics, product design, recycling, Renewable Energy, social equity, spatial design, sustainability, technology, third places, tourism, Trade, Travel, urban design, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The world’s most resilient city is… Hiroshima

… a remarkable place that has not only turned its seemingly desperate circumstances completely around in the past 75 years, but its entire focus and purpose as a member of the world community. The timeline expressed above probably gives away … Continue reading

Posted in adaptive reuse, Asia, branding, cities, civics, commerce, culture, economic development, economic gardening, environment, geography, government, health, Health care, historic preservation, history, humanity, infrastructure, land use, Maps, military, new urbanism, peace, placemaking, planning, politics, pollution, psychology, revitalization, Science, spatial design, Statistics, sustainability, topography, tourism, traffic, transportation, Travel, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Designate I-85 the “Civil Rights Freedomway”

It is my suggestion that Interstate 85 (I-85) Between Virginia and Alabama should be named the Civil Rights Freedomway. I make this suggestion because of the large number of important historical sites of the Civil Rights era located along or … Continue reading

Posted in adaptive reuse, Advocacy, Bus transportation, charities, cities, civics, Civil Rights, civility, culture, diversity, geography, historic preservation, history, human rights, humanity, inclusiveness, land use, Maps, peace, placemaking, planning, politics, poverty, social equity, tourism, trails, transportation, Travel, volunteerism | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No words…

…can possibly describe the sad and disturbing aspect of American history depicted by the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice (a.k.a. Lynching Memorial) that opened today (4/25/18) in Montgomery, Alabama. I will let these photographs of this solemn site … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Rights, civility, diversity, history, human rights, humanity, inclusiveness, peace, pictures, racism, social equity, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is your community a bully?

The title of this post may sound odd, but I am convinced that the persona of certain communities is to act like bullies towards their counterparts on the local and regional stage. In reality, this assertion shouldn’t be so strange … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, cities, civics, civility, Communications, culture, education, health, human rights, humanity, inclusiveness, Love, peace, politics, social equity | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

International Cities of Peace

The list below identifies the International Cities of Peace – currently 182. I’m very proud that my adopted home town of Traverse City, Michigan recently became the 175th such city on the planet and the third in Michigan along with Detroit … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, Cities, culture, geography, humanity, peace | Tagged | Leave a comment

Metro areas most impacted by the new immigration ban

Interesting data from the Brookings Institutionis provided below which is related to existing immigrant residents in the United States from the recently banned seven (7) Muslim nations.  The data in the first chart shows those cities where these immigrant populations … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, cities, civics, civility, culture, demographics, diversity, geography, human rights, humanity, immigration, inclusiveness, planning, politics, Statistics, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Building a peaceful community with good planning

Building a peaceful community does not just result from how we treat one another (see previous post), but can be literally develop based on how we design our communities and allocate funding. The days of the “wrong side of the … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, adaptive reuse, Advocacy, airports, Alternative transportation, architecture, Bus transportation, Cars, cities, civics, civility, climate change, commerce, culture, diversity, economic development, environment, gentrification, geography, health, historic preservation, history, homelessness, Housing, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, Love, new urbanism, peace, placemaking, planning, pollution, poverty, rail, revitalization, social equity, spatial design, sprawl, sustainability, third places, traffic, transit, transportation, Travel, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blue Waters: An ode to Lake Michigan

BLUE WATERS (An ode to Lake Michigan) by Rick Brown ____________ Sacred blue waters Beckon to me Wherever you are Come to the sea * Crystal blue waters Welcoming me Marvelous vistas For reflective retreat * Blessed blue waters Smile … Continue reading

Posted in environment, fun, geography, health, humanity, Love, nature, peace, pictures, Poem, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Nothing but blue waters…smiling at me

I don’t know about the rest of you, but whenever I am traveling to Lake Michigan, my anticipation continually grows until I get my first chance to glimpse those lovely blue waters. Through cities, towns, farmland, and wooded forests we may … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, civics, civility, Communications, culture, environment, fun, geography, health, history, humanity, land use, Love, nature, North America, peace, pictures, placemaking, pollution, rivers/watersheds, sustainability, topography, tourism, Travel, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment