Class Is Cancelled Today

Class is canceled today (Monday the 29th.)  Sorry, I can't get a flight back until tomorrow.  See you Wednesday.

We'll plan on making the project presentations more like 2-3 minutes each, so plan accordingly.

Please pass the word.  Thanks!

Living the Life

What separates my ideal community from most is its relative size. My utopia will be relatively small. This will help in making everything within walking or biking distance as well as uniting the community. What is most important about my utopian community is the emphasis on unity. My community will not just be a group of people living within the same vicinity, it is an establishment of people working together for the greater good. While this may sound cliche at first, one will find that my community is one in which all find happiness and security. A normal neighborhood is full of mutual strangers. No one takes the time to get to know each other on a personal level. Very few neighbors can actually consider themselves friends. In my community everyone will know each other. Every weekend there is a community activity in which all community members get to know each other and enjoy some relaxation to further build bonds. On the first Monday of every month, there is a community board meeting in which issues are brought to the attention of the board by the members of the community. This allows everyone's voice to be heard if some local problems or disputes arise between members. Interestingly enough, advertisement of my community will not be entirely necessary. The best form of advertisement is word-of-mouth. It is not only free, but it is the most credible because it is coming from a friend.

Besides the strong emphasis on unity within the community, an emphasis will also be put on amenities and landscape. Landscaping will not be uniform for each house, as in a subdivision. Rather, each home owner will be allowed to design their landscape according to their own tastes. It will not have the bland monotony of a normal subdivision. Several playgrounds and pools will be available to members, as well as a fitness center within walking distance. A community center will have stores, shops, and entertainment facilities.

More important than the amenities is the ethical practices which will be applied to all aspects of the community. My utopia will be one of principle, emphasizing ethical business practices and respect for community members. Thus, the law enforcement will be minimal in my community, however it will be present in case of emergency situations.

The Life You Shouldn't Live Without

Everyone seems to long for an “escape from reality”. My community makes that escape from reality, a reality. The aspect of my community that will first grab your attention is the aesthetic aspect. Let’s be honest, we all like things that look good. Somewhere between my communities luscious greenery, litter-free streets, refreshingly pure air, and friendly atmosphere you’ll find yourself feeling that your current community is a tad inferior. But the real selling point of my community is that it goes beyond surface appeal. In the midst of economic turmoil, we manage to isolate ourselves as much as possible from the outside world and we are able to maintain an steady, semi-independent, economy. Grocery stores are provided for by in-community resources. We have our own factories, manufactories, agriculture, and so on. These resources not only provide jobs for our community members (and our community members only), but they also allow us to control our own prices. Only community members are given special community prices. Outsiders that stop by to shop in our out-of-community shops only further benefit our economy.

The biggest problem convincing people to live in my community is the extensive application process. You see, in this community there is virtually no crime or murder. In order to maintain these standards there are extensive background checks done on each individual that applies to be a member of the community. We only want to be sure that we can provide the safest environment for our members to raise their children in. The thing is, once someone sees what my community has to offer, they usually find that the benefits far outweigh all else. Also, we don't need to advertise our community; word of mouth takes care of that for us.

-Phil Giddings

Pleasantville

Think back to the movie Pleasantville. The world seemed perfect. There were firemen who never had to put out a fire, the basketball team never missed a basket, and no matter how much butter there was on the pancakes they never gained a pound. When you look past the superficial layer of the town, there was one thing about that neighborhood that everyone watching the movie longed for, and that was a sense of community. In the movie, as people would walk down the street it was certain that they would see someone they knew.  There was never a worry because there was always someone looking out for you.

Now think back to your current neighborhood. Do you sometimes feel like your neighbors decide to turn their music up around the time you decide to go to sleep? Maybe your neighborhood is quiet, but you do not know the people walking past you every morning?  For those of you who do know your neighbors do you feel like there are not activities that bring the community together? The recently established Brownsville addresses these issues and more. Realizing that this is the 21^st century and people like to have their personal space, the homes in the neighborhood are not close together. There is a large amount or lawn space allowing you to either sit and enjoy the scenery or invite your neighbors over. The center of the town is in the midst of all the houses. The park, schools, stores and offices are within walking distance of each other. This not only encourages people to interact with each other, but it also lessen the amount or carbon produced by cars. When the day is all said and done you are able to retreat to your homes with your families or go to the park to hear a concert with a few friends. Of course each community would have its problems and that is why we’ve set up a town hall forum that is in the center if the town so that if someone has a problem they can go to the town hall to discuss it. If the problem is within a smaller group such a block of homes, there is a block association that would be able to help solve the problem. If there is a problem with your children at school, we have staff available to meet with you when it best fits you so that our children can get the best of their education.

Think back on men such as Ben Carson and Thomas Aquinas. When Ben Carson was younger he did not do well in school, in fact many of his teachers wrote him off as stupid. However, Ben went on to go to Yale and became a well-known neurosurgeon. The same for Thomas Aquinas, when he was in the university, he never answered any of his teachers’ questions. His nickname was the Dumb Ox. However, whenever someone misspoke about a particular philosophy, Thomas Aquinas was the first to correct them. Aquinas became known as one of the most influential theologians of the Church. All great things have a rough beginning and that is why we have programs set up to help ease the transition as the community gets built up even stronger.

Spreading the good news.... for some

When ideal meets reality, conflict inevitably arises. It is not difficult to dream up an ideal community. But it becomes a nearly impossible task when we try to make it work. The first challenge that I had was deciding how open my community should be. I don’t want my community to be some sort of an exclusive club. But In order for my ideal community to work, I need people who would want to live by the ideal of my community. And in order to keep our community ideal, I would need to screen out people who do not fit. My community cannot grow indefinitely. So, rather than advertising about the physical place, I want to spread the way of life that my community embraces. People can adopt the philosophies and ideals of my community and start their own, and my community will serve as a model to which other communities can learn and immediate.

Adopting the philosophies of my community requires a change in heart. As I write it, I don’t know if I could fit into this community. The ideal of helping others and sharing may be intellectually sound but really desiring to live in the community is a different matter. Also, voluntary participation is hard to achieve. I don’t want to have any laws in my community. I want people to do what is right for themselves and their neighbors. All these require people becoming selfless, which would literally be going against human nature and is impossible. To convince people to live in my community or live like our community, I first need to persuade people to be less selfish and that spending their lives trying to accumulate wealth is futile. I also need people to be thankful in small things and find happiness in life itself.

For people who are fully satisfied with the way they live, my “advertisement” would not mean much. But for people who have experienced dissatisfaction and emptiness in the way we live, my message will be a good news. Whether my place will be better than typical American community is depended on one’s standard. For people who enjoy buying lavish things and have no interest in a communal way of living, my community will probably the worst place to live. But for people who know how to be appreciative of small things and enjoy interaction with neighbors, my community will be the ideal for them as well.

As I was writing my plan, I realized that I’m sort of copying what God did. Christianity is all about community, and God wanted humans to live in a certain way. Israel, although with many flaws, was chosen to be the ideal that other nations could see and follow. It wasn’t so much their geographical location that made this community special. It was the relationship this community had with God, and through that relationship, the relationship between people became special. Moses was a visionary who preached the way a community of God should live. But for some Israelites, the concept was hard to grasp and some preferred the way they lived as slaves. In a way, we are becoming a slave to large companies and the system we created. Through constant advertisements, we are being trained to spend more money and be dissatisfied. We are in this continual cycle where we work hard to buy something and work even harder to buy something else. This doesn’t necessary have to be the way we live. We can change it and we should change it.

Cool Tactics, Not Scare Tactics

Live in an environmentally sustainable community—a community that thrives on the ideas and practices that surround the act of lowering carbon dioxide emissions. Live in a community that lives exactly as that—a community: one that values history, community, fellowship, its responsibility to the earth, and its “coolness factor”. Live in a community that believes and practices the phrases “re-use” and “re-purpose” without sacrificing aesthetics.

Many environmentalists use scary, “Armageddon-like” descriptions of our future world and explain how our environmental irresponsibility will destroy us. However true these descriptions might be, what if we used a different way to convince people to care and to change. Could we make an environmentally sustainable life attractive, or even “cool”?

My community would be one that attracts its members through “buzz”. If “buzz” works for so many other products—why not use it to work for a radically different way of life? Exploring the benefits of my community through the different areas of media would be the typical way to create a following or a fan base. However, my community would first be marketed to a niche group of individuals with a sure-fire belief in my community’s standards of living. As with most “cool” things—it would be important to create a lifestyle that would cause a stir and a significant amount of intrigue. By narrowing to a niche group, a form of exclusivity would be created and, in turn, that exclusivity factor would generate want. The next step would be to appeal to the masses in a slow, calculated way that would convince them that they, too, could live the life offered in a community such as mine.

As with anything being sold or advertised, my community must be seen as better than what is already in place. If I can convince people to live a better life, why not do it using cool tactics and not scare tactics?

Do you want your children to be the last generation of human race on Earth?

It cannot be denied that the activity of Human species on Earth has greatly upset the equilibrium in the delicate ecology of our planet. Al Gore had made it plain in his lecture "An Inconvenient Truth" that our actions are greatly responsible for most of the anomalies of the planet's climate. In this sense, each and every one individual is responsible for preserving the environment in which we exist. We do not need anymore apocalyptic movies to remind us of the consequence of our overlooking the problems we are facing, nor do we need to actually endure one to learn the lesson. Our would is at a brink of destruction due to our actions, and the inconvenient data presented by environmental scientists are not mere applications for someone's business model to increase revenue.

In fact, the slogan of Going Green must not be just another actualization of some clever business model to increase private corporations' profit. It must be an awareness for every individual member in the Homo Sapiens species. As the crises is imminent, it takes more than a small change in our lifestyle to preserve our environment. As such, I have envisioned a community that will live according to the ideal of preserving the planet and will train our future generation to act responsibly.

This community is designed with welfare of human beings in mind, by promoting a healthy and environmentally responsible lifestyle. The premise of the community is intentionally designed to be inaccessible for non-essential vehicles, to encourage a healthy amount of exercise and at the same time to ensure the safety for children within. The facilities will be constructed with environmentally friendly materials and methods. The local economy will be one that does not put stress upon the land.

It is essential for each human beings to understand that we have owed much to our landlord, and we must take up responsibility to pay the debt. Choosing to live in this community is a tremendous commitment to repay our debt, which everyone of us is entitled to. In doing so, our landlord may choose to renew the lease, to grant us our continual existence.

Attracting People to My Community

I would first like to remind people what my community entails. It is a place where people have to live on enough land to provide food for themselves in the event of an economic crisis rendering it impossible for them to purchase goods of nutritional sustenance. This society also seeks to find renewable sources for energy. In the short-term, the residents would use fossil fuels but would then transition to power made available through other resources as they become available (assuming that these individuals have not yet made the change in energy source themselves). I would also encourage those living in this settlement to have efficient heating systems given that our settlement occupies the latitudes of New England (i.e. modern and efficient wood stoves that could provide heat to emanate throughout the house). The community is part of an already-established municipality with a government that utilizes town hall meetings and offers opportunities for civic engagement. My community is also Christian in nature. Thus, it is a place where people resolve their disputes with their neighbors using the principles found in Matthew 18.


How would I attract people to this settlement? I would begin by purchasing a large plot of land, informing the municipality of my intention to convert it into a residential area governed by the principles that I outlined. The first people I would seek to attract would be my family and friends; they know who I am, share similar principles, and might actually desire to live in this sort of community. I would then seek to find others who are ecologically-friendly and Christian who would be attracted to this way of life. To do this, I would advertise that the community has the potential for being self-sustaining in agricultural production and that it is actively seeking alternative energy sources. I also think it would be prudent to invite the members of the town to our community to have a meet-and-greet. Perhaps I can promote my community on this occasion. One thing people will be looking at is the attractiveness of the homes that are in the settlement. I would want the architectural designs to be somewhat uniform to denote the fact that these are private residences that are somehow linked together.

Another question I must address is the possibility that my ideas may not work in practice. What would happen if nobody desired to be a part of my community? I would have to sell the purchased land and try another idea. I cannot account for all possible problems that may arise. However, as in the case of Thomas Edison inventing the lightbulb, success is not always achieved right away. It takes work. When we speak of these utopian communities, we must remember that change in society can be seen as the cumulative actions of individuals.

I am convinced that the growth of my settlement will depend on shared values and a town's willingness to have the existence of this enclave in their territory of land. I believe that if social mingling is encouraged, good relations between my community and the municipality of its location would be possible.

Written by Bradley Sica

Community within a community

Since my community is really a community within a community (being as it is just one apartment building in the middle of a large city; think NYC or London), the best way to advertise it will be to become involved with those outside the apartment building. A lot of these communities run the risk of being so insulated from the rest of the world that reality becomes distorted. Although I understand escapist tendencies and admit that residing in an insulated utopia sounds much more enticing (and certainly easier) than trying to change our existing superstructure, my community's goal of sustainability is inherently interested in the greater good and stems from a desire to be connected with the larger global community and the environment. Thus, my "ideal" apartment building community in the city - with its solar panels and vegetable garden on the roof - will involve itself heavily in the city life around it in an attempt to include, educate, and inspire the citizenry.

This larger community involvement will consist of things like open house days, free urban gardening classes, and hosting for community events such as art galleries and poetry readings in our large street-level lobby. Through inviting the larger community into our small community, we will surely create enough interest that people will want to move in; those who cannot will be given the tools to implement some of our practices in their own homes and apartments. It's not hard to teach people about the environment, and how to make small changes like cutting water and electricity use. If they are really inspired and seem dedicated to environmentally sustainable life, they may apply for an apartment in our building. I like to think that there will be a waiting list. You may sneer, but believe me. There will be a waiting list.

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. "
Barack Obama

Change That We Must Believe In

Based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, after acquiring physiological and safety needs, humans desire social  needs. After achieving these basics needs, we then go on to acquire our needs of self-esteem and self-actualization. The average community today overemphasizes physiological and safety needs and avoids confronting the social and personal aspects of life in a community.  In my ideal community, all 5 levels of needs will be achieved. It will be a place where family relationships will be the foundation--where people will feel a sense of belonging and protection; where the comfort of a stable, social environment will produce individuals with high self-esteem, confidence, and knowledge.  The reason people in my community will prosper is because they will be dependent on each other to motivate and to support.  Individuals will occasionally sacrifice their own interests to help with the advancement of others because they know that by helping others, they are improving the state of the whole community.  Recycling, reducing waste, car-pooling, etc. will all be activities that families will participate in because they are mindful of the choices that their present actions will make on the future generation.  Out of familial love, the young will respect their elders, and elders will do their best to brighten the future for their children. 


American society in its current state is obsessed with the present--how can we change things right now? How will it make my life better? My community focuses in on the larger scope--how will we manage carbon emissions, how can we educate our children to be eco-friendly? We will focus on decreasing emissions, therefore lowering utility costs. Also, by having families drive together and eat meals together (locally) a more intimate family bond will form (lowering costs for food and fuel).  


The difficult aspect is to make people change their mindset.  To be part of a community that actually cares about the future of their planet, and their children, many sacrifices must be made. Although these sacrifices will improve the over all condition of communities, in truth, they are still sacrifices, and people must be willing to make them. Just look at the state of our economy.  People remain upset because immediate changes have not been made.  Approval ratings for the Obama Administration have declined; people are giving up on change because it is not immediate. Leaders like Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. struggled convincing people to participate in civil disobedience. Having people accept a new idea or a new mindset will always be difficult.  However, if a small tribe of people who passionately believe in the future of their idea stick to it, change is always possible. 

A Sustainable Community

When asked to design my ideal community, the first characteristic that came to mind was sustainability.  Ever since I heard Henning Sehmsdorf describe his farm where he practices biodynamic and sustainable farming, the idea has fascinated me.  I have always been interested in farming, but it just didn’t seem practical in the modern world.  Yet here was a university professor telling me that he runs a sustainable, debt-free farm that produces everything his family needs except for toilet paper, which they pay for from the sale of farm produce.  I have dreamed of going and learning how to run a sustainable farm, but what would be even better would be a sustainable community. 

There are many benefits to living in a sustainable community.  On the top of the list would be improved health resulting from higher quality food and increased exercise.  The community would also dramatically reduce its impact on the environment and the farming techniques would improve the land.  There would also be an increase in a sense connectedness due to neighbors helping each other farm.   All these factors taken together would increase the community members’ levels of satisfaction. 

While this community may sound great in my head or on paper, making it a reality is taking it to a whole new level.  That is something that I can’t do myself, which may lead me to give up on the idea.  However, according to Seth Godin, if I can build a tribe around my idea, than anything is possible.  I don’t need to convince the world that my community is the answer to its problems; I simply need to convince 1000 people.

So how do I create a tribe around my idea?  Godin proposes four steps that I have seen to be effective for leaders of various movements.  The first is to tell a story to people who want to hear it.  This step is what I’ve already begun to do in writing this blog.  The key is to find 10 people with whom I can share and further cultivate my passion for sustainable farming.  These 10 will find another 10 who will in turn find another 10 and voilà, 1000 individuals with a common interest that can link them together.  The second step is then to connect these individuals into a tribe based on their desire to practice sustainable farming.  How convenient that farming requires teamwork.  Humans seek community.  We want a place to belong.  The idea is to make a tribe that satisfies that desire. 

Now this tribe needs a leader.  This sounded the most daunting to me at first.  Telling a story about my passion to people who want to hear it naturally brings people together, but now to lead a movement, that is scary to me.  The problem is my concept of leadership.  I don’t have to know all the answers or possess all the skills to lead.  Rather, I can actually be a more effective leader by recognizing my inadequacies and finding others who excel in those areas.  By helping each person to find his or her niche, the area where he or she can shine, I can strengthen the tribe.  Now we are ready to take the final step, to make a change.

Change is not easy.  In fact, overcoming people’s fear of change would be one of the biggest obstacles to making my community a reality.  In order to form this community, the members of the tribe would have to reject old unsustainable habits and embrace new, sustainable ones.  This would involve learning new skills.  They would also have to give up some of the luxuries that we take for granted without considering the environmental consequences of their production.   All of the above is possible if one decides that the outcome, a sustainable community, is what they want. 

There would also be the difficulty of maintaining the community by building a strong internal structure because as the community grows, more and more challenges will present themselves.  For this I would rely heavily on talented individuals in the tribe for leadership and support.  However, for now my task is to build that tribe and become acquainted with the various strengths of the members.

 

the ideal community.

there is no such thing as an "ideal community."

unless this community was one where anyone could dream of whatever they wanted, but then again people wouldn't live in perfect harmony because people's dreams would clash. one person's wants would interfere with another person's wants. the only such thing as an "ideal community" would be one where everyone lives in their own world. because no matter how ideal a community is. one person is bound to complain about something.

However, most of us dream of a community where we would have nothing to complain about. but if this were the case, then the ideal community would only be suitable to that one person. this is the problem with an "ideal community," because there is no way that one community could meet anyone's and everyone's ideals. this would mean that everyone is the same person, and that everyone has the same standards, which is bogus.

the truth is, we're all selfish people and we aren't willing to make compromises for other people. a good community would meet everyone's needs and wants, but people don't know what they need, but they only get what they want, and they want it now. communities are supposed to support and motivate each other, but what kind of community would it be if everyone is only inwardly focused?

not to say that i've never been part of a good community, there are, in fact, great communities in this world. but it's in human nature to only care about oneself more than someone else. "what's in it for me?" is the question universally asked when someone goes out of they way to make someone else comfortable. this just goes back to what i had turned in for my midterm. we don't need an ideal community. we only want it. and the only reason we want it so bad is so that we can move higher up the ladder; so we can make a name for ourselves.

A Community of Change

Although my ideal community has intriguing innovations why would you want to live there? One of the most important reasons is that your voice will matter. Your input will be used to shape and form the community as it grows. This not only allows you to suggest new and innovative ideas but also allows for ideas that are not working to be revised or disbanded.

Another important reason to join my community is because it will save you time, money, and resources. By having a community power grid that is fueled by alternative energy sources your energy costs will decrease. This will occur because the power grid production will be shared equally between members of the community. In addition, because the power grid is dispersed among many small units it will reduce the amount of money that is invested when a power source needs to be replaced or upgraded. The water system used in the community will also cut costs because it will ensure that less water is used among its members. This will reduce the amount of water that has to be processed at treatment plants and will prevents public money from being siphoned off to fund new and larger wastewater treatment projects that can cost millions of dollars. The public transportation system will also save you money because you will no longer have to pay for a car, mechanical repairs, or insurance. In addition, the public transportation system will save you time because you will be able to get from point A to point B without waiting in heavy traffic or at stop lights.

Although the above items of my community will help you keep more money and waste less time what else does it have to offer? Even more important than money is your health and the relationships you develop. Because of this my community offers an ideal environment for improving both of these. Your health will improve because walking will be encouraged by having a pedestrian “chip” which allows you to get across busy streets without waiting. In addition, community meetings and person-to-person interaction will encourage healthier relationship as you walk around town or ride the public transportation.

The above commentary on my community outlines the advantages of living there. However, how easy would it be for me to convince people to live there and what difficulties would I encounter. I feel that one of the major hurdles I would have to overcome would be people’s independence. People in America are fiercely independent and convincing them to give some of it up to join my community would prove difficult. I think one of the hardest things to ask people to leave behind would be their car. Not only does a car function as a symbol of independence but it also allows people to go where they want when they want. Thus, having people join my community where personal cars are discouraged could be very difficult. Another aspect of my community that I believe would be difficult to sell would be the water restrictions. This aspect also deals with independence because it limits how much water can be used each day. Finally, I believe that community meetings could be another obstacle for people joining my community. Because people have a vast spectrum of opinions I feel that community meetings could put a strain on the members who are not as agreeable. Thus, I feel that there are some tough issues that I would have to address in order to convince people to join my community. However, I also realize that the struggle to convince society to accept innovative ideas is not a recent phenomenon. People before me have also struggled. Mahatma Gandhi faced these difficulties when he was trying to advocate for the independence of India. Martin Luther King Jr. faced these difficulties when he tried to convince the United States to legislate equal rights for people of color. Jesus also faced these difficulties when He came to earth and advocated for a society in which the least were the greatest. Visionaries have always faced opposition. Because their ideas are different people are wary of accepting them. However, I feel that it is only through new ideas that change can truly happen.

Subliminal Coercion

My ideal community was built in such a way that the most convenient way of doing something was also the ‘ideal’ way. Such as making walking more convenient than driving between home and school, or work.

If people can live more environmentally friendly, or use local goods and services rather than imports, without going out of their way then the goal of my community has been achieved. Thus to get people to do this is less about directly convincing the people, and more about providing the resources and layout of a community that fosters the desired way of life. For example, to convince people to increase their socially connections and to interact with their friends more is a hard concept to implement, but if you give them the technologies of Facebook, Twitter, or SMS, the populace embraces these and your result is achieved, albeit in a somewhat different form.

So in order to have people remember to turn off their lights for example, convince them to install a smart system that, through their cell phone’s GPS or some other tracking device, will automatically turn off house lights when they are not in the vicinity. Mapping programs that will suggest walking as a good option to get from point A to point B, and websites like WHERE.COM that help people become more aware of their local surroundings are all technologies that I believe have potential to change the masses. As an individual in a community, I can help foster others, by writing reviews and rating different local services and outlets in my community on websites where others in the community will be able to see and be influenced by my contributions.

As an engineer, I hope to assist in developing technologies that will allow people to be more environmentally friendly, locally supportive and globally aware. Coming up with ideas for change is relatively easy. The challenge is implementing in such a way that it sticks and grows without being a burden on the community.

By combining well-though community design, and the implementation of appropriate technologies, it is possible, I believe, to create certain changes without ever publicly expressing the desired change. Through this and similar techniques, a community can be formed, over time, into one that is growing more environmentally friendly, locally supportive, and globally aware.

You Know You Want To...

"Are you tired of seeing others around you suffer?

Are you tired of always being there to support your friends and then when you need them they're nowhere to be found? Do you want to belong to a community that knows you and supports you?

Come live with us!! Everyone belongs with us, there is always a place for you here."

*This is not for those who enjoy constant solitude and being an outsider.

My community is not one that immediately appeals to people. It's one of those things that you think you're not going to like, but then when you get there and you're actually doing it, you don't want to leave. It's one of those things that you might not realize that you are missing until you have it. Helping people to realize their inner most desires and attractions would not be the easiest task, but the end result would not be something that they regretted. Although I admit that the initial attraction might seem small or non-rewarding, their newfound sense of belonging and confidence would soon assure their stay in the community.

I would start with the church communities because I know that they would be (should be) the quickest to respond and want to join in, but I would include a short disclaimer that this is no 10 day trip, it's a way of life and they shouldn't be in it if they are not in it wholeheartedly. Secondly, I would start by advertising to the poor and homeless, they would have an immediate interest in the benefits of the community for them, but I would again include a disclaimer that this would not be a place where they just receive and receive, they would also have some part in giving, that's what a community is. After a first couple of people joined the community, their testimony would be advertisement enough; from those two groups of people I think that the numbers would increase as word got out and people started to hear how belonging to a community makes one feel.

The most difficult part would be the initial convincing and transition into the community. I feel that some would turn away if they didn't stick with it for a couple of days until they really began to understand it and fully embrace it. There are two people that come to mind that had difficulty convincing others of their causes: Jesus and Socrates. Two people completely different, but many people did not take them or their ideas seriously until they were able to experience it and sample it for themselves. They were in their days "weird" and no one had any desire to listen to them, but when they fully understood what they were talking about, they couldn't get enough of it!

Want to reduce your energy bill? Sick of keeping the kids in the house all day? Craving the small-town life? Then look no further!

Our community offers all of these, plus much more. One of our community goals is to lower our carbon footprint on the planet, so we offer a unique compensation packet for those who are environmentally friendly. Our studies have shown that those who participate in this program reduce the amount of energy used and have a LOWER energy bill. Not only that, but our community is one of the safest localities in the United States! With crime non-existent, kids have the freedom to spend time outdoors with their friends without worrying their parents. Due to this, we have also been rated as one of the healthiest communities, offering various after-school programs for children, ranging from athletics to art to academics. The range of activities that the community offers makes it impossible for someone to not be involved! The regular instrumental recitals, spelling bees, and football games allow us to develop a sense of community and belonging while also forming relationships between neighbors.

This community is the perfect size! The housing is luxurious and affordable! The people are welcoming and friendly! Why not leave your crowded, busy city or your lonely, separated town and come to this spot that people cannot stop talking about.
"One of the best decisions I ever made" says Rosie.
"Phenomenal people, phenomenal place, phenomenal life" exclaims Michael.
And you can join in with them!


I know, I know, this sounds like a typical infomercial, but there is a reason that they make infomercials: they work. I think that many some of the hardest things to "sell" for the community include attracting those from the city and the country. Many people who live in the city are content with where they are and the enjoy the benefits of living in a heavily populated area, especially the convenience and diversity. Many people who live in the country enjoy their seclusion and privacy. However, everyone wants what they can't have. It is a matter of taking what they don't have and playing it up; for those in the country, it would be the intimacy that comes with community while for those in the city, it would be the quiet, more laid back atmosphere. The hardest population to target would be those who already live in a community of similar size. Another problem that would probably hinder some people from choosing this community is the Stepford Wives feel that the community has. Many people stay clear of communities for fear of becoming a cookie-cutter person, a copy of their neighbor. Individualism needs to be stressed and proven to make people feel more comfortable with moving into this community.
Someone that I believe struggled with this, though it might sound cliche, was Jesus. He was trying to start a movement, but many even nowadays think that it means we are all copies of each other, walking around like zombies with no identity. Nonetheless, Jesus' movement was much more monumental than the community project. There have been many people throughout history who have tried to change the community around them, but most of the time they have been labeled as crazy and ostracized. Maybe that's because they are the only ones who made the headlines, people like David Koresh and the Mormon pioneers. One of the biggest challenges facing the community would probably be exclusion; a balance needs to be found, at least initially, between the old and the new. Once the community is established and validated could the newer changes truly take hold.

A "No Worries" Community

The central idea that flows through my creation of an ideal community is the idea of relaxation.  Without saying anything more than that, I think I could already capture a very large amount of people into my community.  The idea of relaxation brings to mind many different things to many different people, depending on what is considered labor and pleasure in their mind.  Relaxation suggests vacation, resorts, sunshine, warm beaches, a hobby, or ultimate serenity.  While these things are not quite how I organized my community, I did base it on a stress-free, or stress-limited, environment.  And who wouldn't want that?

I suppose one efficient way to promote my community would be to set up a blog or a forum where people who live in my community will be able to write about their daily happinesses.  My community will be reasonably priced so that it is not necessary to have a high-paying job to live there.  This will quickly bring in a few people to be the testers.  These people will live their daily lives, just like everyone else, but without all the pressures of a career and homework.  Without these pressures, people won't be so uptight and their constant directions and goals in life will be a little less focused on future outcomes and bit more centered around life in the present and spending time with those you love and even those you've never met.  Life in my community promotes friendships because survival through a good career is not a top priority.  As my testers write about their positive changes, outsiders will read their posts during their lunch breaks at work and wish they could have the same care-free life, not having to return to another six+ hours of work (yes, humans in America are far too overworked).  If people are skeptical of joining my community, they are always welcome to come stay in the home of a community member (cost-free) to try out a life that could be theirs.

The main struggle that I see resulting from my community is laziness.  The less people work, the more they don't want to at all.  However, an easy fix to this is the encouragement of voluntary community service.  Through this work environment, people will not only be accomplishing things, but they will leave knowing that they benefitted someone's life.  Hopefully this feeling will drive them to continue to participate, and laziness will never set in.

My community may sound too perfect and peachy keen.  But if it did exist and was that easy to attain, would you honestly not want to be a part of it?

Change the World!

Or at least your neighborhood!

Architect (and Andrews graduate) Jeff Sommers will be our guest speaker on November 22, discussing his dream for a reformation in urban residential design.

Here is a link to an article in Green Bean Chicago about Jeff's current project: a prefabricated, urban home meeting the criteria for LEED Platinum certification.  Meaning: really green and quite cool.

Please review these links:

• Square Root Architecture + Design on Facebook.  Check out the videos of the modules being built in a factory near South Bend.
• Square Root Architecture's blog.
• Project photos from Curbed Chicago.
• Article describing the project's long journey from the Chicago Tribune.
• A link to the Urban-C3 micro-site.

The Self-Advertising Community

At the risk of sounding arrogant (though I promise I'm not), the community I’m proposing would be so self-sufficient, earth friendly, and economically ideal for everyone that I think the community would almost advertise itself. Of course that is likely the case for all of the communities that have been designed.

I would create a tribe of followers by having a sort of “test group” to attest to the true advantages of living in a completely self sufficient community like mine that helps to fulfills the dreams of everyone who chooses to join it. They would be a living testament to the advantages my community has and their personal appeals to potential residents would include the benefits they personally have enjoyed, including: freedom from poverty, all of their needs provided for, jobs and careers they love, an outstanding education system for their kids, energy sources that are practical yet natural like solar energy, food that is organic and free of all human interferences, and more. As the community grows more jobs would be available as needs increase, so families could move and start their dream job in a supporting community. I think everyone could find an improvement above their current life in any number of these features of my community.

I think the struggle would be easing the skeptical minds of any hidden problems that my community might not be advertising to them. The ideal, though, is that the community is free of undesirable defects. I would simply present my community to them in a way that doesn’t give off a salesmen aura but rather appeals to their reasoning powers and leaves the decision up to them pressure-free. I would simply describe all the benefits like the ones listed above.

For Sale: A Dictatorship

The ideal community that I created was invented under the notion that I would have control of the entire world and that the whole world would do as I said. That being said, if this were truly the case, I would not have to sell my community at all--I could simply force it on people in a militaristic manner. However, as it comes to how I would have "taken over the world", the only way of creating a tribe of people who agree with me is, essentially, to lie. Having done that and gained control, it would be easy enough to implement my true plans and learn to live with the hate mail, death threats, and constant grumbling. I can only think of a few people who would voluntarily give up their freedoms for the welfare of the planet and the human race if my community were presented to them as it truly is. In order to "sell' it at all, only the positive points must be mentioned. First, there is a freedom to choose occupation and a standard salary for any occupation. Housing and public sanitation are provided, and all of life's conveniences are within easy walking/bicycling distance.There is a very strong social network, no tolerance for crime, and benefits for supporting/aiding the city including a better form of social security. We will work to eliminate the overpopulation problem by providing adequate birth control, and most of the hassles of our current society would be done away with.  If you do not care to live in big cities, you may choose to live outside of the city and help care for the city's food supply and be granted special benefits for your contributions. I am sure that many vegans would appreciate the fact that I would close down meat companies (butcheries, farms, production lots, processing plants, etc), but I am positive that many meat eaters would want to put me on the grill. 

Using these notions as an appeal to any human's desire for paradise, it might be simple enough to gain a tribe. However, as soon as freedoms began disappearing, or the government began poking its nose in places many people feel it doesn't belong, it would be nearly impossible to keep the tribe I had gained. It is very similar to the current story of President Obama. All of the world hailed him as a savior, but once the changes began being made, people stopped caring for him altogether and are now looking forward to the 2012 elections.

In short, it is hard to be honest about one's intentions and keep a "tribe"--especially with an ever increasingly fickle market of followers to choose from.

Please read this for Monday:  "4 Ways Advertising Gets Tricky and Wacky."

the american dream.

"Purposeful effort comes to mean, primarily, effort directed to or resulting in a more creditable showing of accumulated wealth"

We live in the United States, which has now coined a term that we all love to hear: The American Dream. This "dream" can be achieved by a motto that says "If you want success, you can get success." In one way or another, we all live in some sort of facilitated "American Dream." We all want to be successful, so why deny that we want to be a part of it? "Follow your heart, follow your dreams, follow your passions..." These are all statements that fall under the American Dream. It's become so popular that it's the ideal that anyone would want to reach, as if you reach this point, you will achieve true happiness, true wealth, and true success. But success for who?

This is all focused inwardly. I want success. I want wealth. I want fame. I want attention. I want it. It's as if they have no regard for what others want or need. No matter what one does, it's just a means for them to climb up the ladder.

So to that I say this.

Screw the American Dream.

It's just become another boring cliche. No one cares about anything anymore except for themselves. Celebrities only join non-profit organizations and donate millions of dollars to poor children because they know it would be good PR for them. They don't care about who they're helping, because they only help themselves. The same can be said about anyone, anywhere today.

People only want to be heard and people only want to put in their two cents because they want to make a name for themselves. That's the reality of today's world, and it's ugly. Success is only achieved selfishly, and most of the time it's not even looked at as a bad thing. We look at successful people and say "I want that for myself." Successful people, in turn, only make for more selfish people.

What's in store for me? That is the question we all ask, no matter how much we give. That's our human condition. But I find that most people are successful not because of how much wealth they acquire and give away. More successful people are people who genuinely forget about themselves and their fame and their wealth and their own names even. And give that success to someone else.

But then, we are in a conundrum. Because that successful person will help someone to be successful, and in turn they could either grow up to be genuinely successful, or live the cliche "American Dream."

Success is failure.

-a

How YOU Doin'?

Please send me an e-mail this week (steve@t1resources.com) telling me what grade you would assign yourself so far for our in-class discussions.  Remember, class participation counts toward your grade and can be a key factor in bumping you up (or down) to the next grade level.

Tell me what YOU think you deserve, were the semester to end this week.  If you're not happy with the result, tell me how you'll improve. Thanks!

Blog Post for Friday, Nov 12th

In the midterm, you outlined your ideal community based on the concepts you found important in our readings thus far.

Now spell out how you would galvanize others around YOUR community. Why should I want to live there? Why and how would it better than where I am now? Using Seth Godin's notion, how would you create a 'tribe' of fellow believers? Sell it!

What difficulties might you encounter in convincing others of your utopian vision? Can you think of other visionaries who struggled in this way?

More About The Project

Several of you have asked for clarification on the major project which I've titled the "Influencing and Persuading" project.  In previous iterations of this class, students were asked to visit a local mall and analyze the shopping experience.  You are free to do that, but in this day and age so much of our shopping and exposure to brands occurs in settings other than malls and thus the analysis should follow where the brands lead.

I see the assignment rolling out as follows:

• Pick a company, brand, political campaign or issue.
• Analyze the basic underlying message.  A good way to structure your thinking is through a so-called audience analysis:
• Analyze: Who is the audience?
• Understand: What is the audience's knowledge of the subject?
• Demographics: What is their age, gender, income level, etc.?
• Interest- Why might they pay attention to the message?
• Environment- Where will this message be sent/viewed?
• Needs- What are the audience's needs associated with the message topic?
• Expectations- What action does the sender wish the audience to take?  Buying, obviously, but anything else?
•  

I hope this is helpful. We'll go through an analysis in class so you have an opportunity to work through an example.

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it."
Ellen Goodman (1941 - )