![[IN]City](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vp11bOFAL1Q/TD9KokWYmpI/AAAAAAAAABI/pnxesafZiO4/S1600-R/incity_blogbanner.jpg)
Dear Students,
Following the climate action plan presentation, I would like to post a couple of questions: Can we use climate action plans to compare and contrast cities? What are the possibilities and challenges of this method? Feel free to ponder.
- Fernando
Public sentiment is largely missing from these plans...
ReplyDeleteI heard People's Park peeps talking about their Facebook accounts. Might be cool to use tools like Facebook to conduct surveys for input on these plans.
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your pointed comment. Right to the heart of the matter. How exactly is public sentiment missing from these plans? Are you talking about outreach? Perhaps participation in implementing? Or rather an acknowledgement of initiatives outside formal planning mechanisms?
I follow you in acknowledging that these plans are geared by experts ie. planners. Yet there is also a positive dimension to dimension. Climate change is such a complicated topic it may require experts to lead the way. Or maybe not? What would a climate action plan by non-experts be like? Could it work? How would it be managed or implemented?
The idea of social networking to provide a platform of communication between planners and non planners its an interesting thought. Could the Berkeley Planning department benefit from these types of platforms? How? Are there precedents for this type of measures?
Great comments Tracy.
Fernando
Additionally,
Climate action plans (CAPs) can be used to compare cities to the extent that they incorporate the values, ideals, culture, needs, and so forth of the city, and the people, to which it belongs.
ReplyDeleteIn the early parts of the Declaration of Independence it states that everyone has "unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It did not necessarily take the complete buy-in from the people to establish those Rights. They might even be referred to as principles. Those principles should be the backbone and common ground between all CAPs.
The CAPs are more or less environmental constitutions. Typically visionaries and leaders, elected by their people or not, construct those. Amendments may very well follow if/ when people feel that their rights are being infringed upon (and governments accept those amendments). At that point, perhaps that "Bill of Rights" type document might be the best voice of the people.
While it is sad to say, we are in the infancy of dealing with the environmental mess that industrialization and "advancement" has left us. I don't know what the ultimate goal of humanity is, but it always seems to be some degree of "progress." Hopefully we, the citizens of various cities, can find happiness in breathing clean air, swimming in our lakes and rivers and finding some connection to something greater than ourselves.
Do we need someone to tell us that all men should be free? Apparently yes. Do we need someone to tell us that destroying the place we live is bad if we want to continue to live there? Apparently yes. While the number of paths to less destruction is plentiful, so are the trials in getting there. It is with cautious optimism that I walk forth and desire that we all learn from one another and find the best path for ourselves, our cities, our states, our nations and our other conceivable governmental/ non-governmental means of dividing and identifying ourselves.
Tracy, I'm intrigued by your idea of using social media to engage the public in the planning process. I agree that most climate action plans seem to gloss over public engagement, often relegating it to a series of public meetings which only engagement a fragment of any community (i.e., those who can attend and who have the time). Social media could be an interesting way for a city to engage with younger community members or those who might not otherwise be excluded from such meetings.
ReplyDelete