Building better fences can happen overnight

Do you think you could make a section of your neighbourhood better in a day? It is doable - you just need motivation, a great team of people and apply a little fearlessness to your approach.

Today I am going to talk about a man called Jason Roberts - a founder of the Better Block Foundation. BBF is a nonprofit that helps people to breath life back into once dead neighbourhoods by showing - in 24 hours - how a few small design changes can make a huge difference and how these differences can prove to local government, that small changes don’t need masses of red tape to accomplish.

So how does Better Blocks achieve this? According to the Foundation’s website Better Blocks has a two-fold purpose: “They shows the community members that they have the power to make changes in their neighborhoods, and they show City Hall how these changes would work.

“The whole premise of a Better Block is to get a community to come together. Our projects are not successful if the community is not involved. In order to do this, we host multiple speaking and planning events. Better Blocks are speed dating for communities, and are just the first step.”

“The whole premise of a Better Block is to get a community to come together. Our projects are not successful if the community is not involved. In order to do this, we host multiple speaking and planning events. Better Blocks are speed dating for communities, and are just the first step.”

The next step is to make it happen. Jason and his team did just that several years ago in Texas. With little money, no permanent infrastructure but oodles of support form the community - the group went to work to revive a dead-zone in downtown Dallas. Here is video of how they accomplished it.

Better Blocks cofounder Andrew Howard said because the powers that be could shut the project down at any time (the group were being civilly disobedient after all) - they just went for it. “We broke as many laws as we could with it,” Howard said. “We were ready to go to jail.”

The group not only broke a few ordinances - they went on to invite the very people who could fine them to the area they had revived - in a bid to show them how prohibitive many of footpath and building laws were and how these laws contributed to the break down of such communities.

They shared initial success with this project - but did it have any long lasting effects? Andrew, who is also a transportation planner, told Marketplace’s Wendy Siegle that it had. He says that following on from the first Better Block project two businesses had taken up residency there permanently and Dallas City Council went on to hire his Firm to make some of the changes permanent.

So if it can be done in Dallas - surely together we can transform parts of Auckland (and all over New Zealand) into not only functionable spaces, but livable ones.

Thinking about how this could be achieved, I circle back to coliving. With coliving you literally have a built in group of like-minded people who not only want to live the way you do and maybe cowork the way you do - but perhaps they want to live in a living breathing community like you do.

Maybe there is an empty street around the corner of your coliving quarters that could do with a bit of a spruce up? Maybe from this 24-hour project cooperatives could be formed which shared the ethos of the coliving group while at the same time kept the revitalisation to the neighbourhood more long term? Perhaps some of the money made at the cooperatives could be invested back into the neighbourhood to achieve this?

These are just some ideas - but from coworking to coliving to perhaps even a couple of cooperatives to keep the area alive - what a community that would be to live in.

If you and a group of like minded folk are interested in doing something similar to what Better Blocks have achieved, below are Jason’s 10 steps to How to Build Better Blocks in Your Community:

1) Pick your spot. Look for a block of buildings that has a good pedestrian form, but lacks a complete street.

2) Assemble a team. It should consist of grassroots community activists, artists, and DIYers. If possible, work with existing area nonprofit leaders or organizers (community gardens groups, local volunteer corps, etc.)

3) Connect. Make your Better Block part of something larger like an art walk, ciclovia, fun run, etc.

4) Use empty storefronts. Work with area property owners to gain access to vacant spaces for a weekend. We pitched the event as a giant "art installation" so the vacant spaces become de facto art galleries. Our property owners were excited to allow access because we were actively marketing their properties. And, immediately following our original better block, these vacant spaces were leased.

5) Pop up! Develop and install temporary "pop-up" businesses to show the potential for what could be if the street had a more inviting presence. This might include a café, a kids' art studio, a flower/gift market, or bookstore.

6) Gussy it up. We worked with a local props warehouse to bring in planters to help divide the street, and temporary street lighting.

7) Invite artists to perform. Music is a key component to having a dynamic street. Use a guitar amplifier and pump out tracks from an iPod, or invite DJs to spin.

8) Give people a reason to stay. Provide plenty of seating, things to read, games to play, and food to eat.

9) Get a permit. You'll probably need to close a portion of the street. We specifically asked for a permit to allow one lane of vehicle traffic so that residents could see that a "complete street" that allowed all modes of transit was a viable solution.

10) Invite local VIPs. Include your Mayor, council members, and city staff, so they can see the possibilities for themselves. Be sure to track sales to show the increase in area business—potential for increased tax revenue is a city's largest motivator for change.

Does this sound like something you may want to do in your neighbourhood? Let me know what you think in the comments.