Ballarat was the third stop on our Australian Better Block tour. Ballarat is experiencing a revitalization due in part to rising cost of living in Melbourne and emerging arts community in the beautiful Victorian era downtown. We happened upon a gathering of artist and musicians on our first night, I even had a taco from a caravan (travel trailer). [...]
From the Blog
“A city is like a family portrait. You may not like the nose of your uncle but you don’t tear up the whole family photo. You don’t do this because the family portrait is you. In the same way, we just need to make those uglier parts of our cities more attractive. We can’t tear [...]
Geelong was the first regional stop on the Better Block tour and I believe we arrived at just the right time.Folks were ready to hear a message that encourages them to be active participants in their community. Geelong citizens are well positioned to transform their town into a model of sustainability through many small interventions [...]
Team Better Block is working with the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne Australia over the coming week to explore how better block can advance sustainable living and putting to work many of the wonderful innovations in green technology emerging from Australia. Kicking-off in Melbourne, Jason and I spoke to a packed crowd of enthusiastic doers and [...]
As part of the Dallas “Complete Streets” Initiative, Team Better Block was challenged with demonstrating how to re-engineer a three block stretch of Knox Street from the Katy Trail to McKinney avenue for four days to be safe for cars, bikes and pedestrians. Concurrently, we worked with the Knox Street Public Improvement District to establish [...]
Want to Learn How to Build a Better Block? Team Better Block is now offering workshops where you may earn your own Better Block Certification Register here for the 4 day workshop from Wed March 13th – Saturday March 16th What does Team Better Block do? Team Better Block temporarily re-engineers and re-programs auto dominated, blighted, [...]
So things have been super busy at Team Better Block as we’ve been launching projects around the world (!) and getting to meet so many incredible communities. Also, some great organizations have taken on the charge to revitalize their own blocks with amazing results that are leading to many rapid and permanent changes. In our [...]
Be sure to pickup the latest copy of DWELL magazine which focuses on 99 new design ideas, people, products, and plans. The Better Block is spotlighted on page 106 alongside Vancouver’s Picnurbia, and Philadelphia’s The Porch projects.
San Antonio’s first Better Block Project in coordination with the City of San Antonio’s Complete Streets Initiative and Metro Health’s SiClovia was a great success. Over 80 volunteers showed up to help transform a vacant building, overly wide streets, and empty park into a thriving, active neighborhood destination. Teams built cafes, flower shops, art galleries, [...]
2011 was an incredible year for the Better Block project and we look forward to all of the new projects that are in the works for 2012. The Better Block Project is only as strong as its community partners, so the real accolades belong to those who rolled up their sleeves and helped repair their [...]
