C.A.N.E
Community. Arts. Nature. Education.
These are pillars of an idea to bring a neighborhood together. To redefine, once again what a neighborhood in modern American could look like. To gain a sense of place. We want to reconnect children to nature, from which all things come; and to instill in all folks who touch this ideology that with togetherness we can alleviate loneliness, depression, and poverty. This is about continuing education in food-making, (and all the history and expertise that entails: nutrition, fermentation, seed-saving, ) resourcefulness, environmental protection, psychology (mindfulness and the power of meditation), the arts: how to connect yourself to a craft and evolve. This is about being together with your neighbors: story times, nature walks, potlucks, dance parties. Whole neighborhoods connected to CSA farmers just outside the city, everyone growing tomatoes, our chosen mascot. Full moon walks to re-examine the hugeness and mystery of the night sky, and the littleness of us. What if everyone donated a little time to their neighborhood? To pick up trash, to watch your neighbor’s kids one night a week, to make food for a friend, to tell stories, to play music for fun, could we not make something worth staying for?
C.A.N.E. is an initiative for program development and community engagement. It's about bringing the best of what can be found in the local art scene and natural world, and creating space for conversation and celebration of those topics. Then cementing it in the culture by creating festivals, community events, and C.A.N.E. certified professionals who educate youth for long lasting heritage.
Social Infrastructure
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/palaces-for-the-people/
City Museum in St. Louis
Placemaking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placemaking
Placemaking is the intention of creating public spaces that promote people's health, happiness, and well being, by capitalizing on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential. It is political due to the nature of place identity. Placemaking is both a process and a philosophy that makes use of urban design principles. It can be either official and government led, or community driven grass roots tactical urbanism, such as extending sidewalks with chalk, paint, and planters, or open streets events such as Bogotá, Colombia's Ciclovía. Good placemaking makes use of underutilized space to enhance the urban experience at the pedestrian scale.
Coffee Shops often serve as third places for communities
Third Space
In community building, the third place is the social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places would be environments such as churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries, or parks. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.
Robert Putnam addressed issues related to third place in Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital (1995, 2000).