all
right thank you thank you very
much in March of this year there was a
wedding in Durham North Carolina and
like most weddings it had Brides it had
Grooms it had flowers tuxedos beautiful
dresses it had receptions unlike most
weddings it had, 1600 bride and grooms
and they weren't marrying each other
they were marrying the city of Durham in
what was called the largest Civic Union
in history these 1600 people stood up in
front of their peers and their friends
and they pledged their love and falty to
the city of Durham and their pledge
included uh promises to uh keep the
streets clean and safe to BU local to
support local arts and culture to
protect the environment and to vote
responsibly uh what was also unique
about this was it was not done by the
city it was done by a bunch of people
who came together and said really we
love this city what are we going to do
and someone came up with the idea let's
have a wedding uh they decided to raise
a little bit of money for charity and
they set a fairly modest goal of about
$122,000 and they more than doubled that
and raised over
$25,000 around this same time mayor Dave
Bing of Detroit receives a tweet says
Hey mayor how come there's not a Robocop
statue in
Detroit to which the mayor who's on
social media politely but rather tly
replies thank you but there are no plans
for a Robocop statue in Detroit too late
the idea was out there and within a
matter of hours Detroit is buzzing about
this idea it's like why don't we have a
statue of Robocop in Detroit and so a
Facebook group uh forms within a matter
of hours and all of a sudden now people
are saying we're going to build a
Robocop statue and instead of going to
the city or to the Arts Council they
said no no no we're going to fund it
ourselves and they start this
Kickstarter campaign and within a matter
of days despite what the local press
called irony run a muck um they raised
over $ 67,000 to build this statue and
it's actually going to happen it's
pretty amazing now what do those two
stories have in common well they start
with people who are emotionally engaged
with their City people who love their
city and people who want to do something
above and beyond ordinary citizenship
and maybe do something EXT extraordinary
for their city now we'd like to think
that that's actually a fairly common
notion but it turns out it's actually
not when Gallup in conjunction with the
KN Foundation conducted their 2008 to
2010 so of the community survey which is
basically taking the temperature of our
relationships uh with our cities they
found out that that relationship is
actually not very good 40% of people
said that they were unattached to their
cities 36% say they're uh neutral and
just 24% less than one quarter of us say
that we are attached to our cities now
attachment is not love attachment says
maybe you voted you're part of the
neighborhood watch and you volunteer
once a year congratulations you're
attached doesn't feel very warm and
fuzzy uh you know but uh what was also
interesting is at the same time Gallup
was looking at economic data and what
they found was very interesting the
cities that had the highest levels of
emotional engagement uh passion and
loyalty also had the the highest levels
of local GDP and economic Vitality now
they were not going to go so far as to
say these were causal but they were
clearly one of those interesting
statistics that move together and we pay
attention to those statistics that move
together now the fact that love matters
shouldn't surprise us when children are
loved they Thrive so too with pets
plants and objects and I do mean objects
and let's take for instance the car
because almost all of us have some sort
of relationship mostly a LoveHate
relationship with a car right um and
this car maybe is sort of indicative of
of that relation ship it's we it gets us
from point A to point B you know we do
the maintenance occasionally we wash it
sometimes and we treat it like a tool it
gets us from point A to point B and we
have this very functional relationship
with it and I think many of us probably
have a very functional relationship with
our city but think about the car we all
know somebody who loves cars right
they're the ones who are out there on
the weekends waxing it with a diaper
they change the oil even if they haven't
driven it an inch and they love that car
and it shows that car looks and feels
very different from the car you and I
drive it's because they have invested
some of their emotional identity some of
themselves some of their love into that
object now don't you think if we
invested more of our love and our
identity and and our emotional uh side
into our communities that they would not
shine like that car I believe they would
I've been asking the question what do
people love and hate about their cities
for a long time now and what's really
interesting is the commonality of some
answers and then the wild diversity of
others the commonality is people are
pretty clear about what they hate about
cities it's big things it's things like
traffic it's things like parking it's
things like a bad education system bad
design big intractable problems that you
could spend a ton of money trying to fix
and even if you fix them I'm not sure
that creates a whole lot of love and
nothing represents this more than the
pothole we all hate potholes no doubt
about it we all probably have a
particular pothole on our way to and
from work that we all have this sort of
very much of a hate relationship with
the thing is was We complain to our city
leaders about the potholes and they
think that what we really want from them
is to fill more potholes I can guarantee
you this you could fill every pothole in
Iowa City and when asked people would
saywell the streets don't suck quite so
bad sorry you get no love for filling
the pottles there is very little
emotional return on investment for doing
things like that because the things that
we love about places are small things
intimate things uh things like a
particular view a great little uh Park a
place where you sit and watch people a
place where you walk your dog personal
things and I liken these things to that
handwritten note that goes with the card
or excuse me goes with the gift and
gentlemen we've all had this experience
at one point in our lives when we forget
to give the card to our significant
other we learn very quickly that that
card really does matter um it says
something it says we have this emotional
connection to it and we've taken a
moment and we've made it personal we've
made it intimate and we've made it
important in that sense so I have this
idea that love notes these small things
that have an outsized impact on the way
we feel about people also have an impact
on the way we feel about places and I
have some examples here for you if
you've not been back to New York City in
the last couple years uh go back and
check out Times Square it's an amazing
difference since they've made it into
into a pedestrian friendly area now in
the past when you went to New York you
went to Times Square and it's this
sensory overload right it's the place
where you ultimately just wanted to look
around but if you did you know you step
one foot off the curb you're going to
get run over by a cab and if you stayed
on the sidewalk you're going to get run
over by a New
Yorker now they've actually fixed that
because you can actually go and do what
you really wanted to do which was
actually look around they brought in
chairs they brought in Wi-Fi and in a
daring move to close off the busiest
intersection in one of the busiest
cities in the world and make it into a
pedestrian friendly Zone and it's
wonderful it totally changes the way you
feel about New York because now of a
sudden it doesn't feel quite as
overwhelming it has that moment and
that's a love note and while you're
there you should probably check out
Highline Park Highline Park is this
elevated Railway in the meat packing
District of Manhattan it's about a mile
long and for 30 years it was it was
empty they couldn't figure out what the
heck to do with it so they eventually
they decided to make it into this Above
Ground Park and you wouldn't think that
being two stories above the City would
totally change the way you feel about
and experience the city but it
absolutely does it's magical you're
walking up there you're among these
weird grasses and trees hundreds if not
thousands of other people and it's an
incredible example of a small thing that
changes the way you think about the
city Millennium Park in Chicago is a big
love note it's a big giant love note uh
but Millennium Park illustrates
something very very important about this
it illustrates the importance of play
how many of you have been had that
experience of going to Millennium Park
and tell me tell me if you did this you
approach the bean which is what it's
colloquially known there of course it's
actually called cloudgate but all good
public art eventually gets a nickname
right so you approach the bean you find
yourself you take your picture you take
your friend's picture you take this
Skyline picture you see kids lying
underneath of it taking their picture
because it's like this giant sort of fun
house mirror and then right next to it
you have these two towers that have
these video faces on them and they move
and then during the warm months they
actually have this these water cannons
and it creates this above ground pool
play think about how important play is
in the context of our personal
relationships those moments that we have
with our friends and family that are
unstructured unplanned play those are
the Bedrock of our of our deep emotional
relationships we need to find more ways
to play with our city this is the Tampa
Museum of Art this is pretty new it just
opened within the last year or so and I
love the museum it's fantastic great you
know architecture great collection
really cool but there's a couple
elements that I think are even maybe
more important than the museum itself
that's the dog park that's out back on
the river and the playground that's out
front uh of it now I know the the museum
has to be there to Anchor that but in
the grand scheme of things I think those
that dog park and that uh playground
actually humanize that museum in a way
that you wouldn't otherwise think now as
high-minded as we'd all like to think of
ourselves like oh of course I always go
to the museum right well how often do we
really go in and experience that you
know maybe when friends come into town
where's a great there's a great exhibit
but people on a on a near daily basis
are getting use out of that dog park and
that playground and I'm sure at some
point they said do we really need that
dog park and isn't that playground
really just a lawsuit waiting to happen
well fortunately they said no those are
two important elements that add to the
the to the the importance of that Museum
and in fact Elevate that museum even
more in the sense of making it more
human this is the Saturday Morning
Market in downtown St Petersburg where I
live and in like many places a lots of
places have you know a farmers market
and you don't think of farmers markets
as being sort of really important but
they really are I like to say that this
is where St Petersburg goes to meet
itself and on a typical Saturday
there'll be 10,000 people who come down
there 120 vendors people with kids their
dogs uh the former mayor used to come
and play his guitar uh down there and I
think that was a pretty good move
politically and you don't think again as
these things as being important but they
really are because these are the things
that attach us to our
places now I have a few more things that
make cities lovable um any of you who
have kids or grandkids you know
dinosaurs make things lovable they do
and this happens to be the uh the
children's museum in Indianapolis and
it's part of their outdoor facade and
there's multiple dinosaurs that are all
around there and it's wonderful it's
just sort of this simple expression of
fun and things like that but if you can
figure out how to add dinosaurs pretty
much to anything I think that's a
winner rituals and traditions make for
lovable cities and this is uh Providence
Rhode Island this is waterf fire it was
started about 15 years ago by an artist
by the name of Barnaby Evans and they
anchored these brers in the river that
runs through downtown uh Providence and
they put cords of pinewood in it and
they light them on fire it's water and
fire it's the most basic thing in the
world and it's absolutely magical when
you go there uh it's it's happening you
hear the crackle of the wood you smell
the pine smoke it creates these great
sort of dancing Shadows because the
light is moving magic think about how
many times we've had the experience of
sitting in front of a of a campfire or a
bonfire we're mesmerized by this stuff
now imagine taking that to a municipal
level and you have the idea of what
water fire actually is and a few years
ago I had the opportunity to participate
in what they call a lighting ceremony
and like the villagers out of a
Frankenstein movie we carry these
torches from you know from City Hall
down to the river we place them in this
big ear and from this urn they actually
light all of water fire and this has
become Central to the identity of that
City and if you're a tourist you want to
go to Providence you want to go when
waterf fire is
happening zombie
walks folks you know what a Zombie Walk
is it's a yeah it's a for those of you
who don't you not everybody not
everybody's as cool as these guys um
it's this really slow moving parade
brains and people dress up and they sort
of shamble through town and really good
zombie walks have like designated
victims as well you know so I might be
dressed very normally except I've got
maybe goat ENT tril stuffed in my shirt
and the zombies descend upon me amidst
much screaming guts blood things you
know fun um not everybody but zombie
walks in Pittsburgh go like this hand in
hand because of a movie called Night of
the Living Dead by George Romero 1968
George Romero who is from uh Pittsburgh
creates his classic movie and a few
years later he does Dawn of the Dead
which is filmed in Monroeville Mall just
outside of Pittsburgh so Pittsburgh has
become zombie Mecca and this is really
cool because this particular thing came
from uh the Pittsburgh downtown
partnership they said look we've
recognized this is you know this is
Central to Identity we're going to make
this part and parcel of what we do I
think that's pretty cool a bike friendly
city is a lovable city of course for the
obvious reasons of being you know good
for the environment good for our people
fun things like that says something even
more important if you're a bike friendly
City it says it's not just about the car
think about how much of our decision-
making around our cities happens uh
around the car seems to be made by the
car if you're a bike friendly City it
says you know what there's room for
something else and there's room for a
different way of thinking here that's an
important message that people do connect
with people do realize that similarly a
walkable city is a lovable City for very
similar reasons to the bike but also
walking allows you to do two important
things it allows for improvisation and
Discovery because think about this when
you're driving down the street and you
see something new a new shop new
restaurant whatnot do you stop chances
are no uh you maybe log in the back of
your mind hey I got a come back and
check that out but maybe you don't but
when you're walking it's like hey this
is new let me check this out or I've
never been in here before I wonder
what's down this street and how
wonderful is it to discover something
new about a city that maybe you've lived
in all your life or discovering
something new about an old friend you
know say hey I didn't know you were a
trapes artist in college me
too and that's that again when we
discover something we feel like we're on
the inside of something so a walkable
City allows for Discovery in a way that
other things don't
a dogf friendly city is a lovable City
and with apologies to cat owners bird
owners fish snakes ferrets and all that
stuff the reality is is we just don't
walk our
cats and if we did people look at us
very very funny when we walk our dogs
we're creating something that's kind of
unique we're creating what developers
and City officials and all people want
to have happen says we're creating
Vitality on the street a sense of
something that's happening right because
you've always got to go out and walk the
dog um so when you're out there you see
other people they're walking their dogs
is creating this sort of sense hey
there's something going on here by the
way there's a couple other really great
things that happen when people are
walking dogs you have this sort of
negotiated Social Capital that happens
when a dog is in the mix you know if
you're walking two people past each
other they go hey hey we're in the
midwest maybe it's a little friendlier
than that but you know for the most part
uh it's it's kind of yeah but if there's
a dog in the mix you look at the dog you
look at the owner the dog wags his tail
you smile at the dog you you talk to the
owner maybe there's something going on
there it just creates a slightly
different feel and that's social C
capital and by the way in an era where
we can't afford more police more
surveillance equipment and things like
that uh the dog walkers create a sense
of safety not because this you know not
because the little puggle is going to be
a killer you know guard dog but because
there's simply more people out there and
eyes on the street and what Jane Jacobs
the great urbanist said when we feel
safe is when we see we sense the eyes of
strangers on the street because there's
nothing worse than go walking down a
perfectly Empty Street we've all felt
that but ultimately the element that
makes for the most lovable cities are
the people themselves who are in love
with the city the ones who are those
living embodiments of a love note
they're the ones who who started Mary
Durham they're the ones behind RoboCop
in Detroit and they're exemplified by my
friend here this is Bob Devon Jones uh
who's a creative director uh of a small
blackbox theater in downtown St
Petersburg where I live and Bob is the
quintessential co-creator in the sense
that everything he does seems to have an
outsized impact on the city yet he does
not show up on any traditional or chart
you know for the city um but clearly Bob
is one of these Central connectors that
make St Petersburg a great place to live
and I bet all of you know somebody in
your own Community that's like Bob it's
like man if we lost that person think
about all of the stuff that we would
lose it's not just that one person but
all of that great stuff that they
produce the way they feel about the
place and the way that's it's infectious
you know when somebody really loves a
place we sense that and we feel better
about that place Bob is like that and
the thing that's interesting is that Bob
is like the best spices that goes in
making a great dish and I know you don't
actually need a lot of those great
spices and I know this because Wikipedia
tells me so and not for the reasons that
you think most every one of us here is
probably used Wikipedia right but very
few of us have probably ever made a
Wikipedia entry and in fact statistics
show that less than 1% of all of the
users of Wikipedia have ever made an
entry for wikkipedia less than 1% it's
what uh statisticians call a power law
distribution and sociologists call A A U
participation inequality which is a
fancy way of saying that there's a very
small number of people who do all the
work and the rest of us sort of consume
and that's fine um I believe that
physical communities follow a very
similar Rule and if we believe that that
1% of the community actually really
makes the content that is the community
I mean let's face it all of us consume
our cities right and in return you know
we obey the law we pay our taxes and we
spend our money but there's a small
number of folks and you probably know
them you guys probably are them who are
actually creating content for the city
that the rest of us consume and I think
that if we actually looked at that and
we started to think about our Economic
Development strategies and how we go
about this we might change some things
let's think about this if 1% is actually
making the city that means in Cedar
Rapids we've got about 126,000 people
and so that means there's about 1,200
folks and here in Iowa City 67,000
people which means there's 670 odd folks
who are really making the city both
officially and unofficially what if we
were to add just on Tenth of 1% and take
that number just up by 10% 67 more
content creators people who are going to
start businesses people are going to do
extraordinary things people are going to
love the city people are going to start
Ted X's things like that don't you think
that would have an exponential impact on
the quality of life that happens here in
the city I do to me this is the new math
in Talent attraction and retention and
it's something we need to think we need
to find more lovers for our
cities because there's a gap the gap
between the city that we desire and the
city that we can afford and we feel it
every day into this Gap it's going to
step people who are emotionally engaged
the ones who love their City the ones
who give a damn think about that we need
more of those folks because when we love
something we go above and beyond we do
extraordinary things for it we fight for
it and here in a place where Iowa is
affected by the floods and many cities
felt you know or many people felt like
they might have lost their City this is
a powerful powerful tool because I
believe if we add the human heart to the
conversation if we add the human heart
to our toolbox of community and economic
development that to me will prove to be
the most powerful tool of all in
creating not just livable cities but
creating lovable cities thank you very
much