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November 8, 2016 | 1:03 pm

NIMBY, I Hardly Knew Ye

Last week I stepped back in time a bit to revisit the idea of NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard opponents to development) and consider anew whether their tenacious aversions earn them the lauding of heroes or the disdain we reserve for villains and scoundrels.

As I said then, in many cases, NIMBYs have kept the world from becoming a worse place, and that’s no small feat. But they’ve also kept the world from becoming a better place because their reactionary nature can’t seem to tell the difference between bad change and good.

Category Community Development, Public Engagement, Public Policy, ResilienceLeave a CommentTags NIMBY, Scott Doyon

November 1, 2016 | 10:06 am

NIMBY Nation: Mad as hell and I don’t blame ‘em. For now.

Five years ago I felt like NIMBY activism was at a crossroads. Would it flame out, further becoming a cartoon of a once valid endeavor, or would it find its footing as torchbearers of meaningful collaboration towards community change?

Those thoughts are republished below. Next week I’ll follow them up with a look at where we’ve ended up, including a wrinkle I wasn’t expecting: the influence of social media.

You know, I gotta give NIMBYs their due. In many instances, their tireless efforts have kept the world from becoming a worse place, and that’s no small feat. But, sadly, it’s not their only accomplishment.

They’ve also kept the world from becoming a better place.

Welcome to the problem with NIMBYs. Their reactionary nature can’t tell the difference between bad change and good. And that’s a problem if you’ve any hope for building better communities.

Category Development, Public Engagement, Public Policy1 CommentTags NIMBY, Scott Doyon

November 19, 2012 | 9:30 am

Municipal Placemaking Mistakes 03: The importance of a meaningful vision

In our last post in this series, we covered the three steps of placemaking. The first of these steps, crafting a meaningful vision, is the most straightforward, yet it is also the most underleveraged.

It is underleveraged because communities do not understand its political implications. As a result they do not adequately invest in getting it right.

Mistake #3: Refusing to do the heavy lifting that is required in order to create a meaningful vision.

Category Architecture, Community Development, Development, Economic Development, Planning and Design, Public Engagement, Resilience3 CommentsTags development, economic development, environmental performance, Envision Utah, health impact analysis, Municipal Placemaking Mistakes, Nathan Norris, NIMBY, Tony Nelessen, visioning, Visual Preference Survey

July 16, 2012 | 12:01 am

Fair Trade Placemaking: Are you being compensated for your choices?

Over a decade ago Andrés Duany of DPZ taught me that, more times than not, NIMBY opposition stems from a sense that proposed development is not of equal or greater value to what would be lost.

Tony Nelessen, the inventor of the Visual Preference Survey, confirmed this lesson a few years later when he came to my town and conducted one. Continue Reading

Category Development, Planning and Design, Sales and Marketing2 CommentsTags Allison Ramsey Architects, Andres Duany, Dover Kohl, DPZ, James Howard Kunstler, John Norquist, Nathan Norris, NIMBY, Octavia Boulevard, Pedestrian Propulsion, Ross Chapin, Sarah Sus, Steve Mouzon, The Waters, Tony Nelessen, Urban Advantage, Visual Preference Survey

June 11, 2012 | 12:01 am

YIMSEO: Yes In My Sphere of Emotional Ownership

Last year about this time I wrote on the subject of NIMBYs and laid out a challenge to the NIMBY nation. It’s time to stop talking about what you don’t want, I said, and start talking about what you do want.

In short, it’s time to develop the criteria under which a Not-In-My-Back-Yarder will say yes. And to that end, I want to consider a shift in perspective that might help the process along. I call it the Sphere of Emotional Ownership.

Category Development, Planning and Design, Public Engagement, Public Policy2 CommentsTags community planning, development, neighborhood planning, NIMBY, redevelopment, Scott Doyon, smart growth

July 29, 2011 | 12:01 am

NIMBY Nation: Mad as hell and I don’t blame ‘em. For now.

They’ve also kept the world from becoming a better place.

Welcome to the problem with NIMBYs. Their reactionary nature can’t tell the difference between bad change and good. And that’s a problem if you’ve any hope for building better communities.

Category Development, Public Engagement, Public Policy6 CommentsTags Alpharetta, NIMBY, Scott Doyon

April 22, 2011 | 10:25 am

Gettin’ Paid: Placemaking and the Importance of Compensation

Over a decade ago Andres Duany of DPZ taught me that, more times than not, NIMBY opposition stems from a sense that proposed development is not of equal or greater value to what would be lost.

Tony Nelessen, the inventor of the Visual Preference Survey, confirmed this lesson a few years later when he came to my town and conducted one. Continue Reading

Category Development, Planning and Design, Sales and Marketing10 CommentsTags Allison Ramsey Architects, Andres Duany, Dover Kohl, DPZ, James Howard Kunstler, John Norquist, NIMBY, Octavia Boulevard, Pedestrian Propulsion, Ross Chapin, Sarah Susanka, Steve Mouzon, The Waters, Tony Nelessen, Urban Advantage, Visual Preference Survey

September 3, 2010 | 12:01 am

Wrestling with Jane, Robert and Andrés

Recently, I have been intrigued by newly emerging books and articles critical of Jane Jacobs’ legacy on our built environment. Fifty years ago, she was the community activist who ‘saved’ New York city’s Greenwich Village and went on to become the post-modern icon to inspire citizens and urbanist to this day. She was ranked first in Planetizen’s Top 100 Urban Thinkers poll in 2009. This newfound criticism is specifically leveled at her for the gentrification woes of the Village today and for the general rise of NIMBYs across the nation. Continue Reading