Saskatoon isn't exactly a giant city, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the station essentially featured an approximately 10-minute prerecorded message that was continuously replayed so that visitors could quickly and easily get the information they needed.There was a positive greeting included from the Mayor, which was short and sweet. Tourism Saskatoon also gave their plug and included details about their hours of operation and physical office location where people could get more information.
The short radio blurb is an ideal medium for giving people a taste of what is available. Basic information can be shared about a wide variety of events, such as festivals, sports, concerts and races. Attractions/venues such as the local art gallery and main theatre were also highlighted, typically with a few events or programs, a phone number, location and website for each.
A traffic and road construction message indicated that "operation pothole [was] underway" and that drivers should be aware of construction signs and detours.
I didn't mind that a few public service announcements were included. If the time is available, it is worthwhile to reserve some space for non-profit groups and community associations who are looking for inexpensive opportunities to get the word out about what they do/offer. Too many can result in a lost listener, but a flavour of community support can give the impression that your municipality cares about its citizens and might even be a good place to move to.
I was actually impressed with the amount of concise information that was covered in the 10-minute spot, and I think that other cities could make use of this too, not only for visitor information, but perhaps for other purposes like public hearings and Council meetings as well. After all, there can be a considerable amount of time during these meetings where there are pauses and breaks, and brief segways from the main issue at hand. I believe that many meetings could be summed up with a 5-15 minute audio clip or podcast, just as we may read a whole book, but really just take away a handful of main points which are relevant to us.
Listeners will naturally "zoom in" to the information they want to hear. In my case, I have enjoyed riverboat tours in a number of cities, and I caught the blurb about the one available in Saskatoon. It would have been fun to experience if I'd had the time, but there is always the next visit, especially if the planners who heard me at the conference would like to bring me back to do a guest lecture, a presentation, prepare some focus documents, take some photos, and propose some ideas. (*nudge, nudge* *wink, wink*)]]>
Today, I gave a presentation at the APCPS Saskatchewan Planners’ conference at Waskesiu Lake in Northern Saskatchewan about “A City Planner’s Guide to Creating Positive Change,” and although I had some time toward the end of my presentation about Ebenezer Howard’s garden city story, and how he might never have gotten into the history books had he not been given the initial $50 to get his book published, there were some extra related points on mentorship and the role of the planner that I wanted to make...Early in my presentation, I encouraged everyone in the room to visualize their frame of mind, hopes and dreams while studying in university. Surely most of the planners entered the profession because they wanted to help people, shape their cities, improve urban conditions, and restore the environment, among other reasons. But there is still so much untapped potential and creativity out there, and there are many planners who have become jaded, never getting that "$50" that Ebenezer Howard received.
I made the point that all planners, young and old, have a role to play in building our colleagues up, and in improving our cities. As active participants in the planning process, we can create change in our communities, and thus creating more opportunities for us to enjoy our own cities as well.
I relayed the story of Ebenezer Howard, who was 48 years old when he got his seminal book, which was eventually renamed Garden Cities of To-Morrow, published. From there, he went on to pool investors, purchase land, develop one garden city, and then another, found an international association for garden cities, become its president, and then travel to other parts of the world to promote the idea and see more garden cities planned and developed there too.
And there are many younger planners out there, and probably in your own city, who have, and have had, great ambitions too. Lest we forget that Thomas Adams was in his 30s when he took over management of a garden city in England. Or that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were 35 and 33 respectively when their design for Central Park was selected. Or that Frederick Gage Todd, who apprenticed under Olmsted, and was the first registered landscape architect in Canada, was traveling across the country giving advice to cities even before he was 30 years old. And Sylvester Baxter was a writer and urban planner from the Boston area who, at the age of 27, started up his own consulting firm.
A modern day example of this level of mentorship and support is Brent Toderian, the current Director of Planning at the City of Vancouver, who, around the age of 30, approached Larry Beasley (who at the time was Co-Director of the City of Vancouver) for advice, and was later recruited by Larry to move to Vancouver take over the helm of city planning in his mid-30s.
Does this always happen? Unfortunately, no, as the planning field and municipal government in general have been accused of catering to an “old boys club,” but cities who want to be progressive need to tap into young energy and new ideas to get ahead.
In the political spectrum, several strong examples of Mayors, past and present, have been young. Edmonton’s youngest Mayor, William Griesbach, was only 28 when he was elected. Granted, that was some time ago, but the current Mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, was elected at the age of 27. And other current progressive Mayors, such as Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey; and John Fetterman of Braddock, Pennsylvania; were elected at 37 and 35 respectively.
Neil Goldschmidt, who led Portland, Oregon as Mayor into its progressive urban planning movement, was elected at 33; and urban planner Jaime Lerner, who transformed Curitiba, Brazil into the world-renowed example it is today, was selected as Mayor of the city at 37.
I was encouraged to see quite a lot of young planners at the Saskatchewan Planners’ conference, but was told by many of them that it was not always this way. Apparently, even just two or three years before, there was a lot more gray hair in the audience and a lot more resistance to change. Some of the younger planners told me they were still encountering resistance to change at the higher levels of the organization, but they did appreciate that they were getting opportunities to start pushing bureaucratic boulders with more youthful senior planners around them.
We are seeing, in many cities, where municipal planning departments are not changing fast enough, intelligent entrepreneurs and corporations who are finding ways to make money where planners and developers have failed to create community. Children who used to play outside in forests, parks and playgrounds closer to home, are now, because of limited opportunities and perceived safety concerns in the suburbs, being driven by their parents to strip malls to play at businesses like “Gymboree”. There are also many people, parents and otherwise, who are utilizing self-help books and a variety of services from massage therapists to psychologists to deal with increasing levels of stress, because we are so often alone in cars and in traffic, and in the suburbs, citizens do not enjoy the same level of community support that more compact neighbourhoods with varied compositions of people did/do.
Those who understand the true value of mentorship realize that it is a two-way street. Effective mentoring partnerships are less of a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” relationship, and more of a joint teaching and learning effort. Newer planners can bring new perspectives and unconventional ideas about the world, and more experienced planners can help cut through and avoid the pitfalls that can come with learning any profession.
I love mentoring, teaching and coaching. I love helping planners solve problems, connect with like-minded professionals, and find jobs they enjoy. And although there are others that feel this way too, it can be difficult to find them. I continue to get emails from planners and students in North America and beyond, who are having a hard time getting the advice, information and support that they need. If you are such a planner or student in this kind of boat and are trying to get ahead, or feel you could benefit from some mentorship and life/career coaching, then by all means, drop me a line.
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Understanding Zoning Bylaws, sometimes a forgotten section may only mean the difference between something like a 5.5 foot fence and a 6 foot fence; but it could also result in precedent being set for anything from reduced setbacks to fee reductions, or any number of things that such a Bylaw might cover.
In the particular case mentioned above, I realized the potential for precedent to be set for other nearby properties in the neighbourhood, and elsewhere in the city, and for the potential of public safety concerns, liability issues and/or environmental damage occurring - plus it had the potential to create a lot of headaches and extra work for our section - so I quickly pulled together a presentation, got on the agenda to attend the meeting and fortunately got the appeal overturned.
To avoid this sort of situation, a checklist would be very valuable. For instance, in reviewing a specific type of application or file, a checklist could indicate that it is important for a reviewer to consider a specific set of primary issues before making a decision and writing a response.
In the event you are preparing a planning document for a reviewing agency, you could create a checklist based on the agency's requirements, and follow it to the letter. In the planning process, simple omissions can sometimes result in big delays, with a reviewing agency being unable to sign off a file until they can say they have reviewed all the appropriate and required documents. And with good reason - sometimes legal issues come into play - and if a reviewer neglects to ask for a piece of information which could have resulted in the request for further investigation, such as in potentially contaminated sites or in sites likely to have significant historic or geologic deposits, who is on the hook for any subsequent impacts or removal costs if found?
Checklists can even be valuable for veteran planners. It is only a matter of time before a poor night of sleep or a head cold keeps us from performing our best on the job, and an important detail is forgotten. Of course, mistakes happen, and we can't expect ourselves to be perfect - it is part of learning, after all. But where an error in our decisions and responses could have big spin-off effects, we need to make sure we go through our checklist to make sure we catch everything that needs to be caught.
In the case of presentations at public meetings, a checklist in the form of an agenda and/or speaking notes can ensure that you cover all the pertinent topics and information. Having a second staff member available to assist with questions, or in smaller meetings, having a very dependable, trustworthy and knowledgeable community member on hand to make sure all the issues are covered can also help.
Despite your best efforts, a detail left out in a public meeting may still be able to be captured if you will be preparing and sending around, or reviewing, a set of meeting notes. Failing that, a notice of addition/correction/revision may need to be sent to all the attendees or at least to the leader of a particular community or industry group you may have been meeting with. Taking attendance and capturing basic contact information is a great way to make sure you have the names of all the attendees in case you need to reach them in such a case.
For mailed responses or decisions, depending on when the error is caught, you might still be able to hand deliver a second letter to arrive faster than a letter sent by snail mail. By contrast, e-mail is relatively instantaneous. Depending on when an email error is caught, you may have time to recall the message, depending on the time of email program you use, or you may end up having to send a second email to follow up. Of course, if you're too late, and work on their end has already begun, you may have to use some creative bargaining tactics or offer up some cost-sharing or other incentive in order to make sure a certain step is taken, especially one that could cause a delay.
Treat others as you would like to be treated. Just as we are not perfect, the various individuals and groups we work with as planners are not perfect either. In the same way that we would like to have the opportunity to right wrongs and catch unintentional errors, we should allow members of the public to do likewise, at least within reasonable timeframes.
For instance, a citizen coming back two years after the fact to request a change to a mistake they made on their development permit papers may not have as strong a case as someone that made the effort to phone in within 24 hours of their application.
Of course, each situation is different, and as we are all to work in the public interest, we should try to look out for each other and ensure that we do whatever we can to get the best projects built, and the wrongs righted as soon as possible.
Conference presentations are a different kettle of fish. I like to do several practice runs of my presentations to ensure that I am prepared at "go time," and each time I give a presentation, I make small adjustments based on the reactions and my perceived impressions of the crowd.
If people seem very engaged and are laughing at comments about one particular set of photographs, I may spend a little extra time on those, and make additional references to the photographs or points which reached the audience during the remainder of my presentation. Consequently, a set of say, 100 points I wanted to make, might get 90-95 covered, but 15-20 additional points might get included on the spur of the moment.
The first couple of times I presented, I remember spending some time afterwards mulling over extra things I should have said, or could have pointed out, but eventually you learn that you can't sweat the small stuff. The good news is that even if you missed a couple of key points, surely your presentation would have covered a lot more than that, and you must have said a lot of other great things during your talk. If people are coming up to you after the presentation and congratulating you on a thought-provoking discussion and a job well done, you can easily move on.
But if these sort of things tend to nag you after a presentation, I recommend writing down whatever it is that you are stuck on so that you get it out of your mind. Come back to that note within a day or two and make a decision from there - you will either move on and commit to not worrying about it again; or you will do something about it - for example, build a new article around that topic, or develop a follow-up presentation and post it on the Internet. Having a blog is great for this sort of thing, because you can easily post follow-ups to your presentations online, and you can even encourage people at your session to check out your website to get extra additions and ideas, and in the process get some extra traffic to your site.]]>
I noticed that several of the books recommended in the American Planning Association’s list of the “100 Essential Books of Planning” are available through the search engine, and hopefully more will be made available soon. If you have connections with a planning library, perhaps you can help with this cause.
Several books by Charles Mulford Robinson, John Nolen, Thomas Adams, Frederick Law Olmsted are available. I also spotted some very rare books like Patrick Geddes’ Cities in Evolution and Raymond Unwin’s Town Planning in Practice in the listings.
Not every library carries these, and when trying to purchase several books online, even used books, the cost can get quite steep. Some out-of-print planning texts can cost $100-to-$200 or more per book, and the quality is not always where one might like it to be.
An added bonus of the PDF or TXT document versions of the books is that they are often searchable. If you know a particular phrase or a piece of quote, you can search for what you know and find a page reference, and/or the rest of the quote you are seeking. However, to go through a hard copy of a book looking for a particular quote with a fine-toothed comb can be substantially more time consuming than just hitting a "Search" or "Find" button.
The stated purposes of the Internet Archive "include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format."
The website has audio material available, moving images, software, and even archived webpages, and could take some time to explore. It has close to a million users and is sure to keep growing and expanding from here, so this is a website to bookmark and watch.]]>
The Edmonton Sun covered a story in yesterday's paper about the initiative, which works like this...Maybe there are some seniors or people with limited mobility in your community, or people who have minimal free time and ability to take care of fruit trees on their property.
Perhaps because of their limited time or ability, they have considered having the tree removed, but that would be a shame, because mature trees, in addition to providing fruit, also provide shade, wildlife habitat, improved air quality, and much more.
As indicated in the article, "the group donates one-third of their bounty to the Edmonton Food Bank. The rest is split between the property owner and the picker." So the program is win-win in a number of respects.
New suburban neighbourhoods are often planted with a limited variety of tree species, sometimes only one or two types, so any type of variety, including a fruit tree, is a bonus. More mature neighbourhoods may have more variety in their tree canopy, but depending on your city and climate, you still may not see that many fruit trees, so when they are present, they should be preserved.
Calgary has recently started up a similar program, known as The Calgary Urban Harvest Project, and the idea is gaining popularity in other cities as well.
The level of interest in such a program could be an indicator of a larger interest in other types of local produce and community gardens. Cities with such programs would do well to conduct a survey or residents, at least in the areas covered by the fruit rescue program. They may find that people would like to see more support for farmers' markets, environmental initiatives, and entrepreneurship in general.
Thus planners who keep their ear to the ground and their eyes on the news media about pockets of interest for small initiatives, especially those which follow larger regional or national (or even international) trends, have the potential to position themselves as changemakers in their communities and help build movements in support of walkability, sustainability, and healthier people and environments.
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I was driving home today after running some errands, and while heading south along a busy four lane road, I saw a boy, perhaps 10 years of age, pounding both his fists against the sign and button at a crosswalk, and shaking his head in frustration...I assumed that he had been waiting a while, and I empathized with him. There are times when I have also had to wait far too long as a pedestrian for the light to change, to the point where I have even missed buses that, at the time I had pushed the signal button, were over six blocks away. This is really not fun when it is raining or snowing heavily.
Likewise, when a walk that is supposed to take only ten minutes takes fifteen minutes, due to traffic signals, it creates a disincentive for people to put on their walking shoes. Cities that plan for walkability first should have signals that respond quickly to pedestrians, to make it easier and faster for them to get where they need to go, and slower for drivers, to create the disincentive for them.
One of our goal as planners is to get people active, healthy, and walking. We are charged with improving people's lives and their environments. Where possible, we should do what we can to make our cities better, even if an improvement opportunity we recognize (e.g., on a walk into work) doesn't fall within our particular job description. There is real satisfaction in giving up ten minutes of a lunch break in order to find the right person to carry an issue or project forward, even if that person is in another department or division.
Those special initiatives are the kind that people remember - in a community you helped, or in another department which became aware of your desire to create change - when you have another good idea that comes to mind, or an opportunity for promotion reveals itself.
We might informally, or even formally in a computerized workflow tracking system, refer to them as complaints, but we can choose to see these as opportunities as well - opportunities for helping others and for civic improvement.
People in our cities can get frustrated about all sorts of things which planners can change or at least influence, and of course, we are fellow citizens as well. We would like to be heard and helped if the shoe were on the other foot, so we should be helpful whenever we can.
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One of the fact sheets in the package includes the following statement: “The Wisconsin State Capitol is the city’s signature landmark. No building within a mile of it may rise higher than the 284-foot white granite dome of the Capitol, which is modeled after our nation’s Capitol...”In Madison's case, the Capitol exists as one of the primary attractions and landmarks in the city, much like the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, does as the prominent domed cathedral in Florence, Italy.
There are several North American cities where once-prominent buildings, such as historic hotels and cathedrals, have been dwarfed by skyscrapers and surrounding development. However, the history of a place is often closely tied to its culture, and historic buildings often make excellent tourist attractions.
Unique, historic buildings, and prominent landmarks can also make great wayfinding tools. Terminal vistas, where a view down a street ends at a specific point or landmark, allows citizens and tourists alike to establish reference points in the landscape, and to feel more comfortable about where they are going. Kevin Lynch wrote about these as "nodes".
The more comfortable people are in a place, the more likely they are to stay for some length of time and enjoy it. On a related note, where historic buildings are complimented by surrounding development, this can also help with wayfinding (i.e., you will know if you are still in "Old Town"), and the subsequent development of districts for shopping, entertainment, etc.
Cities built along rivers, like Edmonton, often have opportunities to preserve views of the scenery and natural beauty. Over time, trees or weeds can creep in, and it can be difficult to tell what should be part of the view and what should not, especially where the views from adjacent homes are concerned. How do you determine which homes are allowed to have the "million dollar view" and which only get to see the trees beside or blocking the "million dollar view"? A few years back, a woman in Vancouver poisoned a numbers of trees on the edge of Stanley Park, killing three, in an effort to improve her particular view.
Unfortunately, if everyone poisoned or cut down the trees that were in fact part of the view, then there wouldn't be much of a view left.
On public land, decisions have to be made in the public interest. Particular viewscapes may be preserved with viewing decks, or even a small row of fencing with accompanying signage to inform the public about what they are looking at. This formalizes the space enough to establish it as a view worth saving. Some cities, including the City of Edmonton have developed or are developing viewscape management guidelines to address these sorts of issues.
When? Where? and How to preserve views can be challenging questions, and where homes are located nearby, the residents should be consulted. Historic photos may be on file with local archivists which can help establish precedent, or at least a starting point in these discussions.
There is more than enough in our cities which can be described as "cookie-cutter development". Thus anything valued (or likely to be valued) by the public for its unique, historic and/or special features, should be preserved wherever possible.]]>
We had a great, in-depth talk about this, and it would make a great presentation topic for a conference or symposium. For the purposes of a shorter article, though, here are some of the highlights...Resilience: Sustainable cities will stand the test of time. They will be self-sufficient and will stay strong in years of drought, extreme weather, poor food production, and other external effects. They will not depend on the goods or services of any other region or country. Sustainable cities set limits and are smart about everything coming into and going out of their borders.
Strong Local Economy: Relating to the issue of resilience is the idea of buying local and supporting local businesses. A strong local economy is open to entrepreneurship and innovation, and small business incentives. Fresh, local food and products are sought out and supported. Citizens get to know their neighbours and local merchants better, and are able to walk more to access what they need.
Waste: Sustainable cities will produce little (if any) waste. Policy decisions will be made to minimize and mitigate waste, to the point where everything can ideally be reused or recycled. Industrial processes must be adapted to eliminate toxic by-products, and if, for a given process (e.g., chroming) this is not possible, then sustainable cities would make the choice to seek an alternative to produce a similar effect.
Conservation: Relating to the idea of waste elimination is the idea of conserving all that is worth saving - environmentally, socially, cultural, politically, and economically. Nature is integrated into daily life, and citizens are well-connected with agriculture and open space.
Ban What Needs to Be Banned: If cities can ban trans fats and plastic bags, they can ban all sorts of other things, including polluting industries, polluting vehicles, excess packaging, products that cannot be recycled, and anything else that is not in the public interest.
Energy: Sustainable cities get their energy from renewable sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal), and when they use energy, they use less of it. They make choices for everything from mechanical production to entertainment which result in comparable enjoyment without the environmental expense. Compact development done right will allow for efficiencies in energy production and transmission, as the transmission infrastructure needed to move energy (e.g., electrical power) from place to place would be minimized. People would expend more of their own energy (e.g., by walking), thus getting healthier, and limiting the need for personal vehicles.
Living Arrangements: Housing has strong ties to energy usage. Housing will take full advantage of daylighting from the sun to limit lighting needs, and sufficiency in space, rather than excess, will be sought. Sustainable cities house their citizens closer together, and people will more easily connect with neighbours and build friendships. Creativity and innovation in housing will be explored, especially where retrofits to existing buildings are concerned.
Several individuals have built homes out of recycled materials:
- One man used 6 million beer bottles.
- Another man in Texas built a 750 sq ft home for roughly $26,000, out of a variety of recycled materials, including bones.
- Another house was built out of parts from a Boeing 747.
- And one more article which features seven amazing handmade homes.
Ultimately, the sustainable city seeks creative ideas in all their forms. To that end, I recently learned about Mark Boyer from England, who has been dubbed "The Moneyless Man", and has lived without money for close to two years. He barters, works in exchange for food and supplies, recycles/reuses aggressively, and loves it.
Mark describes his living arrangements in this YouTube video of an interview with The Guardian, and takes the news team on a downtown tour to point out a problem in the food system - perfectly good food (e.g., carrots) are tossed in the garbage can by grocery stores because they are past an arbitrary "expiration date", whereas farmers' market vendors are empowered to look at the product and make the appropriate decision.]]>
If a sign doesn’t fit within your usual standard, make sure it follows the general guidelines of accessibility (set at an appropriate height), simplicity, and readability (for people with limited vision). Make sure your signs are clear to the people reading them, and consider running potentially tricky or challenging language by a test group first, before spending money on the real thing.
The Trans Canada Trail has some very polished and professional-looking signs. Their “Trail Tools 2010-2011” guide suggests that “Signage can fulfill many functions from directional to educational. Depending on the nature of the conflict, signage can be an effective first level approach.” (p.32-33) The guide also lists several examples of signage functions, including:
- influence behaviour
- alert and warn users
- designate routes and activities
- general trail etiquette
The National Park Systems (in both Canada and the USA) have spent considerable time and money developing high quality signage standards. They have done a lot of the legwork relating to symbology, typology, and aesthetic design that cities may be looking for already. For cities wanting to build upon a well-designed existing standard, and not waste a lot of time (or spend a lot of money developing a completely new custom solution), the National Park Systems would provide a great starting point.
Brand new signage designs aren’t cheap, and in many cases, neither are the signs themselves. It is not uncommon to receive quotes for larger interpretive signage of over $1,000 per sign.
Directional and wayfinding signage can be more, depending on the size and material of your signs, as well as the time required for installation, especially if cement is desired to anchor the signs. But it can also be considerably less - available technologies and materials are leading to considerably less expensive signs being sold on the market.
For example, composite fibreglass signs, because of their longevity, durability, flexibility, resistance to vandalism, relatively low cost, and ease of installation, have been seeing great gains in popularity in both Canada and the United States. In recent years, “off the shelf” versions of these signs have become big sellers at trade shows.
Sometimes individual citizens put up their own signs, and when they do, the designs may be far from “off the shelf”, often consisting of a piece of bristolboard or cardboard, and some handdrawn marker text. When signs are designed to be very temporary, such as for a lost pet, or an upcoming garage sale, this may be fine, but too many of these sorts of signs can create clutter and blight in the landscape. Many municipalities have enacted signage bylaws that may specify times when personal signs are allowed, and even when a permit may be required.
Issues with homemade or cheap looking signs is not an issue exclusive to individuals. Companies have used these signs to get attention for their products and services. You may have seen signs advertising that “Billy Bob Buys Bungalows” with a phone number, or signs for a particular dating service or website. Some of these have proven difficult to catch because there may not be any name or contact information on the sign, and even when there is a phone number or website, tracking a particular individual down to issue a fine to can be a challenge, especially if they are from out of town.
Websites may be listed privately, and a phone call to remove the signs may not be responded to. If there is a contact form on the site which you can email requests through, you may not even be able to obtain an actual email address. The time-consuming nature of this type of enforcement has led to some municipalities finding creative ways to keep an eye on streets and to promptly remove the signs whenever they come up, as I have written about previously.
Other municipalities stick to it anyway, and if they finally do succeed in issuing a fine, even if the sign is removed, the company or website owner may have gotten just what they were looking for – several new clients for the cost of a $1 sign and a $50 fine.
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It is evidence that others are trying too; a reminder that we are each far from alone in our desire to make our city a better place…Likewise, I was recently greeted with a new green roof outside my office window:
And with several pots of colourful flowers put in place by the Central McDougall Community League, a neighbourhood association:
I have given several presentations on both urban colour and on greening our city environments, and we may never know if a particular presentation we give or an article we write inspires one individual to tell another person, who tells another, who buys some paint, and gets some friends together on a weekend, so something new gets built or accomplished.
The importance of observation has been highlighted throughout the history of planning – Benton MacKaye observing changes in the physical landscape; Kevin Lynch observing the connections between “nodes” and “paths” in the city environment; and William Whyte observing people to understand where they like to go and why.
When you do regular field work; when you engage your community; you develop a greater awareness of your surroundings, and it is amazing what you can find (and fix!).
In the case of new murals, often the artist will include their signature and a website. You might see a company name or the name of a funding program. Knowing any of these pieces of information can allow you to get in contact with programs and people who want to improve the landscape.
Maybe they would like to paint more murals? Maybe their friends would too? Maybe they would like to be part of a larger community improvement effort? It is amazing what can happen when you get enough like-minded individuals together on a regular basis.
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