Leadership, Love and Experiential Planning = Smart Cities
Yesterday I heard part of an interview on Smart City Radio with Larry Beasley founder of Beasley and Associates, an international planning consultancy. Larry talked about planning cities based around an emotional response…love.
He is advocating that love is the key force to building great cities (and suburbs), suggesting that we need to tap into people’s emotions and what they want, what will make them happy. If we do this, people will invest back into the city and that will feed the economy. He calls it experiential planning.
This piqued my interest from a leadership perspective as we look at community, what that means and how each of us can contribute. Larry says it’s as easy as coming together and starting a discussion about one street, one park and it’s design. Creating an environment that we enjoy being in and part of shifts our attitude about it and then the image of our city shifts as people identify their city as very livable, happiness increases. That is what differentiates cities – those that are vibrant draw and create wealth vs. those that simply exist.
Larry points to going beyond the basic economic development model and look to include right from the start, fundamental beauty – the things that evoke a strong positive emotion. A complete vision for what we want, combined with experiential planning and involvement create smart cities.
He urges that we be brave – to step beyond the limitations, safety and security that exist now. This is leadership.
Go to http://www.smartcityradio.com/show/2605/All-for-Good to hear the whole interview.
Tags: emotions, leadership. love
