Someone who cares

Our lives follow a pattern.

For most of us, generations before us set our pattern. We wake up every day somewhere in a pattern. That somewhere is familiar and known to us. For some, we love it. For others, we wish there was another somewhere we could be. And, unfortunately, for many, we have no idea that something better could happen right in the very place we live.

The pattern of prosperity, stagnation, or decline persists everywhere. Redlining is a pattern. Diversity without inclusion, equity, and belonging is a pattern. Eating dinner before dessert is a pattern.

If we want to see change in our villages, cities, and city-region’s, then we must ask what pattern are we living out of, and what pattern are we intentionally keeping.

The practice and work of building communities have never been so crucial in my lifetime. As we grapple with pockets of prosperity and vast swaths of places stagnating or declining, place development has the potential to transform the very area you and I wake up and go about our daily lives.

Observe your environment. Observe the territory of others. Ask yourself if the neighborhood or city you live in is really the best it can be or is there more. The transformation of places can go forward only if someone cares. That someone is you.