Imagine you are a friend from Brazil and I’m writing to you to share the wonders (from my point of view) of North American cities in my first year back in 2016. I don’t name the city I live in (although it is easy to find that out) because this little story applies to many … More Cultural Shocks in a Built Environment
In 2014, hundreds of people came together to literally rebuild a small park in the downtown of a big city. In 2018, an art hive experiment welcomed hundreds of people to share a space where they were encouraged to express themselves, make art for free as a community and improve individual and collective mental health. … More Urban Literacy: a place-making tool
You probably saw many “No Exit” signs in your city. And if you pay closer attention, there are quite a few of them that actually have exits. … More There is a path, we just need to see it
This post is a real story about immigrants and an event that took place exactly six years ago. Dec 6 is a very special date for me because it is my canniversary. It is the day I landed in Canada and became an immigrant myself. Reflecting on my own experiences in the last four years … More Black Lives Matter pt. 2
Recently, another controversial debate started on the Facebook community group from my neighbourhood. This time was about bike lanes vs on-street parking. A good place to start My convictions are well known and I don’t need to state them here. Actually, I want to dig a little deeper. When it comes to what really matters, … More Real change requires real conversations… and bread
A story of how a community came together to literally build the city they wanted. To solve old problems we need to use new tools. … More Shift Happens! – A community story
In a world where we recognize more and more the importance of bringing diverse voices to the table to tackle the complex issues our cities are facing, we can’t stress enough the need to normalize knowledge about our urban environment. A precondition to become proficient in city building as a community is to improve our … More Using stories to co-create cities
As a child, Tim Gill’s daughter – one of the UK’s biggest voices when it comes to childhood – enjoyed spending some time at the nursery backyard where a few trees quickly became a “forest” in that little girl’s eyes. The example serves to illustrate an idea that Gill strongly advocates: bringing children closer to … More Children in public spaces activate communities
Luis Patricio 