What is real estate development “for me”?
How often have you walked past a construction site and thought, “What’s going on here?”, and then, “I hope it’s a grocery store/child care facility/something I’m walking a mile to right now in the rain”? Then you go about your way because there’s no easy way to find out or provide your feedback. Crazy thing is real estate developers want to hear from you! It’s critical for them to engage people who have ideas and opinions they can implement to meet hyperlocal demand and build support for their project because most of the time they only hear from folks who want to preserve the status quo. The big question then is “What?”. What will respond and be sustainable for a community and its composition of unique individuals?
So WHAT should be built? For sure something responsive to the needs and wants of those presently in a community, but there should be a vision for the future that is sustainable. Sustainable environmentally, socially, and financially. The answers to these questions are personal at an individual level but also at a community level, especially as urban and urbanizing neighborhoods rapidly change. Change is difficult for most people but rapid change creates instability, which is why it’s critical to ensure everyone has access to the conversation and an opportunity to be informed, engaged, and invested in change that impacts their communities.
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” — Robert Swan
What should we ask ourselves about environmental sustainability in our cities? The impacts of sprawling metropolitan regions such as individual car usage, limited conservation of natural areas, the pollution of limited natural habitat around us. Fortunately the trend towards walkability is more environmentally sustainable, but it means more people living closer and denser around central economic resources (like jobs). This often impacts homeowners in lower density areas in and around cities who are reluctant or against denser development required for walkability. What does your community look like when viewed through a larger lens of regional environmental health and sustainability?
“One day, perhaps, unimaginable generations hence, we will evolve into the knowledge that human beings are more important than real estate and will permit this knowledge to become the ruling principle of our lives.” — James Baldwin
And WOW is it a great time to talk about social sustainability now that we as a society are faced with the tremendously negative outcomes of our historic (and present) inequitable decisions while we simultaneously add tens of thousands of new residents each year. Most of the time this is a topic discussed on a global or national scale, but the impacts are much closer to home, and far more complex and personal. How do we balance injustices of the past while we work toward solutions for today’s injustices in the midst of all this change? These tough questions are at the nexus of issues around gentrification, displacement, inequitable access to education, economic , housing that slow or stop entirely the demands placed on our cities to keep pace with economic growth and change. What would you change about your neighborhood to ensure it’s responsive and responsible to everyone who lives in and nearby?
“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.” — JFK
Balancing economic sustainability, like environmental and social sustainability, will not be a short-list of solutions. Priority #1 needs to be economic opportunity for everyone. An unbalanced workforce that ignores the underserved and rewards only a few is not a healthy or sustainable society. A renewed focus on economic mobility serves the larger community with a larger, reliable, educated workforce who have the economic means to buy a home or start a small business. The tough questions revolve around what resources need to be shifted in the short-term for long-term goals? And how can we stabilize affected communities at the front lines of change without negative impacts to economic sustainability of the larger region? What businesses and education or work opportunities are missing from your community?
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” — Shirley Chisholm
We collectively need to work towards development that responds to the present resident (whether at risk of displacement or not) while focused on what is responsible and sustainable for the communities that we all live in as so generations past and future. Communication breaks down when there isn’t a larger vision to motivate around. Asking, hearing, and assessing a broader set of answers to questions around “what should be” on a street, in a neighborhood, in a city, or a metropolitan region is a critical. Though some resist change, we all know that change is the only constant. So if you aren’t at the table then you’re on the menu and that’s what we at Imby Community aim to do — provide more seats at that table.
About: This article is one in a series describing the Why, What, Where, and Why of Imby Community , founded to be a resource for information and engagement on real estate decisions that impact our daily lives. Imby reaches people where they already are — in person and online — to bridge early, nonconfrontational conversations between the community and real estate developers to create and support responsive, sustainable development that reflects local values.
