Social Media + Community Planning

Nimble communication with the NIMBY and being fruitful with the BANANA crowd

What is social media?

"Social Media is a social trend in which people use

technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional

institutions." 

from Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

and it looks like this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87765855@N00/3105128025/

hmmm...

Put simply, social media is people having online conversations.

What about planning?

"Planning enables civic leaders, businesses, and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives...  "Good planning helps create communities that offer better choices for where and how people live. Planning helps communities to envision their future."

http://www.planning.org/aboutplanning/whatisplanning.htm

"Technological progress is already changing the way we interact with the built environment. "However, our planning system is progressing at a much slower pace, and some might say not at all. Potential developments are stuck on a nearby lamp post, and if you have any issues, you can write a letter or attend a meeting. The most active contributors are the ‘NIMBY’ (not in my backyard) and ‘BANANA’ (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything) crowd, halting bad developments, but good ones too." 

Could Social Media Revolutionise the Planning System?http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/Home/32592

   

leverage social media tools

to strategically listento better engage communities in meaningful conversationshelp make informed decisions for programs and procedures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/herculie/2370039001/

It's the People

The new communication model is a dialogue. We should be talking with our citizens not at our citizens.

which means it's...transparent inclusive authentic vibrant sincere community-driven

and NOT always...controlled exclusive manufactured project-driven "on message"

Social media and strong communities

Social media and strong communities

Be niceNot just a feel-good platitude Nice is a core belief Let it be contagiousThink about language being used on social networksIt's ok to be human

Adapted fromhttp://urbanverse.posterous.com/ten-ways-to-build-strong-communities-my-notes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/airloc/74772186/

Social media and strong communities

Know your citizensFuture growth is tied to CRM or Customer  Relations ManagementThink Citizen Relations ManagementSee people as individuals Listen to your community Tools: Forums, database research, Twitter ecosystems, Facebook

Social media and strong communities

Status Updates  and Location are keyWe have immediate local information from a trusted sourceNo longer are we traveling aloneCities become our stomping groundsTools: Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook

Icons for four Foursquare badges, including the BART-themed badge. http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091022.aspx

Social media and strong communities

Be compellingCommunity is distinguished by creating a unique, memorable perspectiveUse blogs in multimediaVideo and photos tell the story of a placeTools: Blogs, YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo

http://urbanverse.posterous.com/ten-ways-to-build-strong-communities-my-notes

Sources and additional goodieshttp://sustainablecitiescollective.com/Home/32592 http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/Home/28994 http://urbanverse.posterous.com/ten-ways-to-build-strong-communities-my-notes http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091022.aspx http://www.chrisbrogan.com/grow-bigger-ears-in-10-minutes/ http://www.twellow.com/category_users/cat_id/667 http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/ http://seedingthecity.org/blog  http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cool_local_places_without_tourists.php http://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/2010/04/bigger-thinking-on-texas-stadium-site.html

http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2010/02/emergent-urbanism-or-bottomup-planning.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera.html

Contact

Richie Escovedo  richie.escovedo@gmail.com http://twitter.com/vedo http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/rescovedo