#ioby

Trees Louisville needs your help to move this 35-year-old climbing tree to Maupin Elementary

When I was a kid, no, well into adulthood, I’ve loved climbing trees. Always fascinated with architecture, trees are a sort of natural skyscrapers and a forest is nature’s downtown. A campaign launched by TreesLouisville seeks to bring that joy of playing in and around trees to students at Maupin Elementary School’s Early Childhood Development Center in the Parkland neighborhood by relocating a…

This article from Robert Goodspeed and Katie Lorah discusses new crowdfunding platforms (like ioby) and their ability to facilitate citizen-led, citizen-funded projects and bring communities together. 

“Too many urban neighborhoods in the United States are struggling with issues like access to fresh food, housing vacancy, and a lack of community amenities. While addressing urban problems has typically required large-scale planning and policy changes, the success of techniques like bottom-up community development and tactical urbanism has shown the value of starting small to build community initiative for broader change.” 

Continue here for the full article. 

Meet the 2015 ioby Superheroes! Every year, ioby highlights the incredible work of citizen leaders to improve their neighborhoods and their communities. 

Los Angeles’ own Adé Neff was selected for the top honor this year. Adé is founder of Ride On! Bike Co-op in Leimart Village which provides hands-on education about bicycle repair and maintenance. Adé is also the team lead for Street Beats, one of our Great Streets Challenge Grant awardees, aimed at using music and art to envision a safer and more vibrant Crenshaw Blvd.

Other 2015 Superheros include Tanisha Douglas and Caitlin Gibb of S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective in New York and Miami and Daniel Peterson of Project Backboard in Memphis.

This #longread from NextCity discusses the future of the urbanists’ internet and how new tools and technology are helping to bridge the gap in civic participation.

“What ioby, its competitors and even Obama are betting on is a future in which we’ll all be urban planners. You’ll open your city app over morning coffee and get news, traffic and weather as you geo-map a monster pothole and donate to a new charter school proposed by your neighbor with three studious daughters. And look, the transformation of that former meat-packing house on Oak Street into a brewery with a rooftop farm is on schedule, and expected to cut neighborhood greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent upon completion.” 

Continue here for the full article.