Meristem Communities' Family Meal

At Meristem Communities, we're investigating how to create healthier and more resilient human-centered places.

We applaud those who have long been working deeply and thoughtfully in this space. We invited a group of them – developers, homebuilders, architects, designers, planners, authors, thinkers, and leaders – to share a Family Meal in Dallas during the Fall Meeting of the Urban Land Institute. This is a tradition we plan continue, to honor our love of breaking bread and thoughtful conversation.

We're calling this new tradition Family Meal in honor of the important restaurant tradition, whereby one kitchen staff team member shares their heritage and family traditions by preparing a meal for their fellow staff members prior to serving the restaurant's customers. This ritual bonds the team and prepares them for returning to the chaos of dinner service with their purpose (creating excellent food and sharing it with customers) in mind.??

?Much in the same manner, Family Meal was a warm and open space, with great food and drink where stories of struggles and successes were told. Through breaking bread and sharing stories, we were galvanized to continue the important work of creating places for people.

New connections were made. New collaborations are brewing. And there was a definitive positive energy in the air. But the discourse can't stop there...

While we may have started this conversation, we need you to join us to keep it going. Please add your answers to the questions above to the comments below and we'll share some of our guests responses in the next post.