Friday, October 25, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #2 Build a Better Block

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Now that we've covered our 30 ideas, it's time to get out and Build a Better Block!

Idea #2: Build a Better Block

Better Block is a movement that seeks to promote livable streets and neighborhood vitality through short-term interventions. Started by Go Oak Cliff in the neighborhood with the same name in Dallas, since their start in 2010 the event has been repeated throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Benefits include helping to fill previously vacant or underutilized space. Streets are reclaimed as places for people and not just for automobiles. Entrepreneurs are given a chance to get their start through popups and new jobs and businesses are frequently created as a result. Most significantly, the power to bring about transformation is put directly into the hands of citizens. This has the power to transform the way people relate to place.

One of the best qualities of Better Block is the open source nature of it. What one community has done frequently serves as inspiration for another. Efforts have been made to use social media - especially Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to share results. FriendlyCorps based in Grand Rapids created a brilliant sign system that will be used in Middlesborough. Oak Cliff continues to have a big sway on all projects that have followed.

This TED Talk by Better Block Co-Founder Jason Roberts is inspiring, fun, and gives you some background - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwqVDzdqAU



The Better Block site has more of the thinking behind it - http://betterblock.org/ 

There's been 40 Better Blocks in the US and several internationally. The best and most up-to-date list we have follows.

Upcoming Better Block Events



Past Better Block Events
Now all that is left to do for you is to go out and help Build a Better Block!

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #3 Encourage Public Participation

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Getting people to show up is key to success with your Better Block event.

Turnout is key for a successful Better Block event. Credit: Team Better Block.

Idea #3: Encourage Public Participation

Communities with an existing organizational and civic infrastructure to support the work that goes into planning a Better Block event are at a competitive advantage to those without. Having a strong knowledge of who the important people and organizations in a community is key.

In the first half of the twentieth century community planning was dominated by large government and institutional actors. In the second half of the century the role of the citizen increased, with a higher value placed on gathering community input. This impulse was powerfully expressed through the emergence of the modern historic preservation movement that was grassroots and community based by its nature. More recently the Tactical Urbanism and Better Block movements have sought to place the power to act and transform places into the hands of citizens.

Direct action by citizens yields multiple benefits. Community participation in the planning and execution of the events instills a level of buy-in and support. Once the event is over the responsibility for stewardship rests with the community too. The community or the public is then responsible for moving forward with ideas generated after the event.

Rallying the community and building their support for the event is key. The first step in doing so is identifying leaders. This need not necessarily be elected officials, though their support certainly helps. Instead it is the building owners, business owners, and civic leaders who have the ability to get results when asked. These people will form the inner circle of a project team.

Then it is important to branch out from leaders to the general public to find volunteers who will be responsible for carrying out the work of the event. Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are a powerful way to connect with these people in your community. Consistently putting your message out about what you are trying to accomplish has the potential to attract many people who may have never had contact with your organization, or never thought of themselves as change agents.

Public meetings are valuable for identifying shared goals. This also helps to bring out the best ideas a community has for itself, while downplaying those that do not help to realize shared goals.

Finally, one of the keys to success for any Better Block is having a great turnout during the event itself. Using any and every communication tool at your disposal will help to make this happen. If properly organized, the excitement people have for the event will cause them to enlist the support of their family, co-workers and friends. Providing opportunities for businesses or organizations to sign up their members or employees en masse helps to build up large numbers. Canvassing and one-on-one outreach helps. Finally, answering “yes” to anyone who has an interest in participating guarantees you’ll have a good sized crowd.

Ultimately the value and power of encouraging public participation is that this display of community support can be used to attract the attention of policy makers, investors, foundations, and others who want to support places with a strong civic infrastructure. So, in a way, the efforts to mobilize support for community projects initiates a virtuous cycle that attracts further support to realize the very visions the community defines for itself. 

 For more information, please see:



This banner on our Facebook page encouraged people to RSVP for a Facebook event. Credit: Discover Downtown Middlesboro.

 Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #4 Temporary to Permanent

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Now we will discuss the extended impact of a Better Block event, i.e. what happens once the event is done.

Idea #4: Temporary to Permanent

Here are just a few ideas of how the improvements made during better block may lead to permanent changes in the project area.

  • Pop-up stores become actual stores.
  • Transportation planning process leads to upgrades and improvements.
  • Pop-up cafes become actual cafes.
  • Mobile vendors and food trucks and carts become bricks-and-mortar businesses.
  • Preservation work begun leads to comprehensive rehabilitation projects.

A commitment to evaluating the success of the event is essential. SurveyMonkey is a valuable tool to gather input from participants, stakeholders, and the public-at-large.

It is also important to make clear to the public a commitment to continuing change. This can be done before, during, and certainly after the event.

To close, if Better Block is viewed as just a freestanding event, then it is a lot of fun. If it is viewed as the initiation of a process that leads to continuous improvement, then it becomes a force to change places for the better now and into the future.

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #5 Pre-vitalization

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Our next idea deals with how to attract the resources you need to make your event a success.

In this example of pre-vitalization, a neighborhood was named the Bishop Arts District by painting a sign on a wall. Sure enough the artists followed. Credit: Jason Roberts, TEDxOU.
Idea #5: Pre-vitalization

The pre-vitalization tactic is used to temporarily activate a previously inactive, underutilized parcel of land. Food, art, and retail uses all can be brought together at a single location. Revenue is generated for the land owner/developer, and the community's awareness is raised about long-term potential. Community building occurs while supporting local entrepreneurs.

Specific sues to consider are public markets, art exhibitions and studios, community festivals, beer gardens, micro-retail opportunities, flea markets, and other temporary programs.

This tactic was used in 2007 with the Hercules Market in Hercules, CA; and again by City Point Developers at Brooklyn's Dekalb Market. This approach is described in more detail with photographs in the Tactical Urbanism Manual, vol. 2.


Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Monday, October 21, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #6 Leverage the Power of the Crowd

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Our next idea deals with how to attract the resources you need to make your event a success.

Twitter page for Better Block Boro. Credit: Discover Downtown Middlesboro.

 Idea #6: Leverage the Power of the Crowd

There is a digital corollary to the physical work being done during a Better Block event. With so many tools and websites out there, it is hard to know which to use. We'll name a few and give some specific recommendations for how to utilize each for your Better Block event.

  • Twitter. There are few quicker and easier ways to get your message out as quickly as Twitter. Here are a few tips. 1) Find similar people and groups and look at their Follower list. Then ask as many of those people as possible to follow your page. You can get up to 2000 before Twitter places limits. 2) Use tools like tweepi.com to screen your users. This video is very helpful with overcoming your Follower limits. 3) Consistently use a hashtag like #BetterBlockBoro to promote your event. Include this in all of your tweets.
  • Facebook. Within Facebook it is easy to set up Pages or Groups for your event. With pages you can also set up Events for any meetings leading up to Better Block. 
  • SurveyMonkey. An appropriately designed survey can help with booking people for shifts during your Better Block event. See this as an example.
  • YouTube. Online video is a powerful way to demonstrate what your Better Block event is all about. Several communities create a summary video once the event is over to share their results with their own community and other communities seeking to do similar work. A slightly less common practice is to have a pre-event video such as the one we created here.
  • GoogleMaps. While traditionally not considered a crowd tool, GoogleMaps is a great way to design maps on the fly and then to share with other people. We used GoogleMaps to show a trail system that we proposed, then to adjust the trails created.
  • Blog. Lastly, a blog is a great way to get more detailed content in front of participants in your event. We used our blog to promote 30 Ideas in 30 Days. Every day at the same time a post was scheduled to be published, that discussed a different aspect of that event. For a complete list of posts see the links below. We also created a separate and free-standing blog for our Bike Friendly Middlesborough. While this got a start as part of the Better Block, the intent is to spin it off as a freestanding initiative.
Facebook Better Block page. Credit: Discover Downtown Middlesboro.

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #7 Raise the Funds You'll Need

30 Ideas in 30 Days

Our next idea deals with how to attract the resources you need to make your event a success.

Indiegogo is one platform to help raise money for your event. Credit: Discover Downtown Middlesboro.

Idea #7: Raise the Funds You'll Need

There is a line in the non-profit world that goes "No money, no mission." The Better Block movement rather than relying on million dollar budgets and multiple-year timelines tries to bring change about in a single weekend for $1,000 in less. As Better Block has advanced there has been a certain one-upmanship from one project to the next. Some organizers claim that Better Block events spend up to $40,000. These clearly crosses a threshold of sorts and the temporary improvements made go on to represent something else that is more permanent in nature.

Since the project is a demonstration, a majority of items needed for the project can be borrowed. These in-kind contributions can be invaluable. Just make sure whatever you borrow gets returned in as good of a condition as it is delivered. If funds are definitely required, use crowd-funding sites such as indiegogo.com or kickstarter.com.

Another idea is to auction or sell off some of the temporary items built as a result of the event. A Pallet Chair auction is a great example.

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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Saturday, October 19, 2013

30 Ideas in 30 Days: #8 The Strength of Main Street

30 Ideas in 30 Days

There are certain affinities between the Better Block approach that started in 2010, and the Main Street Four-Point Approach® established nearly three decades prior.

Downtown Middlesboro, ca. 1930's. Credit: Discover Downtown Middlesboro.

Idea #8: The Strength of Main Street

When historic downtown areas were struggling, preservation advocates came together around a vision that involves grassroots community based action to respond. What resulted is the Four-Point Approach that recommends action in each of the following areas: Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring. These just happen to correspond with the four elements of real estate value: Civic, Social, Physical, and Economic. Through organizing the community to bring about improvements in each of these areas, incremental actions will help to bring about the comprehensive change needed over time.

Fast forward to 2010 with emergence of the Better Block movement. With Better Block there are many shared goals. Most prominent is the desire to improve the physical appearance of places. This clearly corresponds with the Design committee. Pop-up stores, food trucks and carts, and mobile vendors all deal with varying the retail mix and providing amenities people need. This clearly corresponds with the Economic Restructuring committee and their work. Then there is Organization and Promotion. In the Main Street world Promotional events help to promote a positive image of the downtown area and attract people through retail promotions and special events. Clearly Better Block accomplishes this goal. Organization, on the other hand, deals with marshaling the people, will, and resources needed to bring change about. Once again, Better Block fulfills this goal too.

In a way Better Block is a faster, cheaper, and better fulfillment of what Main Street advocates have been working on for decades. It would serve advocates on both sides well to borrow from one another and to more fully explore opportunities for partnership.

Better Block Middlesborough was held from October 25-27, 2013, in Middlesborough, Kentucky. To help with planning for future events like this, please consider making a donation today!

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