Resilient Communities Start with Smart Growth

Wrap-Up: 08

Author

Robert Vidaure
September 13, 2024

As communities increasingly face the impacts of natural disasters and climate change, integrating smart growth strategies into disaster resilience and recovery efforts is more important than ever. The EPA provides valuable insights on how communities can use land use planning, development practices, and infrastructure investments to enhance resilience, reduce risks, and accelerate disaster recovery. By fostering sustainable growth and smart planning, these strategies protect lives and property and promote long-term community vitality.

For more detailed guidance, visit the EPA’s resource on Smart Growth Strategies for Disaster Resilience and Recovery.

ARTICLES

Accessibility by Design: Building Interfaces for Everyone

Stack Overflow‘s approach to building accessible digital interfaces emphasizes the importance of designing products that are usable by everyone, including people with disabilities, by integrating accessibility considerations into every stage of development.

In a “sea of sameness”, taste and storytelling will become vital creative skills

David Lee, CCO of Squarespace, discusses how AI could make human creativity a luxury good by automating routine tasks and commoditizing creative outputs, leading to a future where storytelling, taste, and craftsmanship are highly valued skills that distinguish human work from AI-generated content.

Underpromise, Overdeliver: The Greatest Lie a Business Consultant Ever Told

Dan Mall argues that the popular business advice to “underpromise and overdeliver” is misleading and counterproductive, as it involves dishonesty and erodes trust, suggesting instead that consistently meeting commitments builds stronger, more reliable relationships.

BOOKS

The 99% Invisible City
by Roman Mars & Kurt Kohlstedt

In The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to Hidden World of Everyday Design, host Roman Mars and coauthor Kurt Kohlstedt zoom in on the various elements that make our cities work, exploring the origins and other fascinating stories behind everything from power grids and fire escapes to drinking fountains and street signs.

Why Public Space Matters
by Setha Low

Public spaces—where people from all walks of life play, work, meet, talk, read, think, debate, and protest—are vital to a healthy civic life. And, as the eminent scholar of public space Setha Low argues in Why Public Space Matters, even fleeting moments of visibility and encounter in these spaces tend to foster a broader worldview and our willingness to accept difference.

PODCASTS

Lost Lake and the search for community

In this episode, we sit down with Brandon Still to hear his story of Lost Lake, a once a hidden gem cherished for its tranquility, now become a popular spot due to social media exposure.

Stephen Green, Founder of Pitch Black

Stephen Green, an economist, former startup executive, and banker. Stephen is a passionate advocate for small and local businesses.

PROJECTS

Branding for Pine County, MN

Pine County engaged CivicBrand to develop a community brand and brand implementation guide that would define a cohesive vision to guide the county for years to come. The brand enables not only the County Government but also local organizations and individuals to tell the Pine County story in a sincere, cohesive, impactful, uniquely Pine County way.

The creation of the community brand came out of the need for a unified voice to represent the Pine County of today and of the future. The goal of the project was to uncover what makes Pine County unique and then develop ways to tell that story both internally to local stakeholders and externally to potential visitors, business owners and investors. By deploying unified messaging and a consistent visual identity, the brand will help County staff, residents, business owners and visitors realize the value of the community and invest in its future.

Visual Identity Design for OpenResearch

OpenResearch (formerly Y Combinator Research, chaired by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman) is a nonprofit independent collective of deep thinkers, strategists, and researchers who dare to ask and investigate complex, open-ended questions such as unconditional cash in the U.S. In developing its brand identity, San Francisco-based agency Play took visual inspiration from the multilayered paper trail of the research world. Documents, sticky notes, and messy bulletin boards all informed our design which blends academic rigor with an entrepreneurial spirit. They wanted to capture the inquisitive passion propelling the human search for answers.

RESOURCES

Design Reviewed

Design Reviewed is an independent archive and website documenting the history of graphic design. The archive currently holds over 5,000 design artifacts used for educational workshops, as a wellspring of inspiration, and as a means to deepen the understanding of design.

PlanetBids

PlanetBids is an eProcurement platform for government agencies, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. It’s a great resource for designers to research the job market and bid on projects.

EVENTS

AIGA Design Conference

Get ready to redefine the boundaries of creativity at the 2024 AIGA Design Conference! Join us for a groundbreaking virtual experience that pushes the boundaries of what a design conference can be.

October 10–12, 2024

San Diego Design Week

A week of presentations on humanity-centered design.

September 19-25, 2024

DesignOps LA

Explore the power of change through design ops.

October 8, 2024

‘Wrap-Up’ is a monthly collection of findings, resources, and other interesting civic design news sent straight to your inbox. If you have a resource or a project that you want to be featured in the next ‘Wrap-Up,’ send them on over.

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