How do we address our nation’s fraying social fabric, with its alarming rise in loneliness,polarization and cynicism?
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We need new systems that can shift our culture and collectively build more caring, inclusive, and resilient communities.
Participatory City is an investment in social infrastructure: a systems-based approach to creating social connection and unlocking our collective creativity and capacity.
Participatory City focuses on where we live – our neighborhoods – as the unit of change.
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It’s core innovation is a support platform that scales-up participation in inclusive, easy, and practicalneighborhood-based projects.
Living in a Participatory City neighborhood means every week there are dozens of opportunities to interact with your neighbors.
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It occurs as residents cooking or sewing together; workshops for making, repairing and learning things; developing collaborative businesses; festivals and knowledge-sharing events; and much more.
Typically these projects would be developed in isolation and have limited impact.
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In the Participatory City model, they collectively build a rich and inclusive participatory ecosystem, creating social connection, belonging and mutual support at a neighborhood scale.
Within the first couple of years, Participatory City can engage thousands of residents in hundreds of projects, generating tens of thousands of hours of shared time together.
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This is how we restitch our social fabric.
Participatory City was developed in the United Kingdom over the past 10 years. It has a proven track record of success.
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We want to be the first to adapt and implement the model in the United States, and then see it spread throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Interested? Curious?
We are looking for people and organizations that can help support the implementation of Participatory City in Seattle.
We are also looking for diverse neighborhoods that would welcome a pilot project.
There are many ways to get involved: have a conversation, participate in our steering team, or donate some money.