A new report looking at design and civic engagement shows the small things really do matter Can better spaces create better citizens" It seems like a tenuous connection at first, but when Joanna Frank, executive director of the Center for Active Design, examines the relationship, there?s a definite cause and effect. Safer, healthier, and more accessible neighborhoods breed better attitudes. Positive attitudes foster participation, and empower the public to take part in the electoral process to shape their neighborhood.
?Do you feel the agency to change where you live"? she told Curbed. ?It?s hard to impact people?s perceptions, but it isn?t impossible. Attitudinal shifts are shaped by the public environment.?
The Assembly Civic Engagement Survey, a new report released yesterday by the Center for Active Design, seeks to understand the connections between the design of public spaces and buildings on public life, and eventually create a toolbox for planners and politicians to make decisions that can help improve civic pride. There?s perhaps an obvious connection between what one might consider a better-designed neighborhood and public perception of government and community, but drilling down to how design that neighborhood to directly improve public engagement?especially during an era of low voter engagement and partisan divide?is an important, and unanswered, question. To begin to find concrete answers, the Center for Active Design, with support from the Joh...