UD/MH

Location: International

Website: urbandesignmentalhealth.com

The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health (UD/MH) is a start-up think tank focused on answering one question: how can we design better mental health into our cities?

More people are living and working in urban environments than ever before - and these environments affect how we feel. Urban design by architects, transport designers, city planners, developers, interior designers, urban gardeners, street artists, and many more impact our mental health as we move around our built environments.

The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health: Reviews the breadth of research on urban design and mental health, summarizes, and identifies gaps.

Catalyzes interdisciplinary dialogue on urban design and mental health in cities around the world.

Showcases successful projects and innovative ideas,

Develops practical, evidence-based recommendations to improve mental health and reduce mental illness through urban design.

Mission:

To help inform, motivate and empower policymakers, designers, planners, and public health professionals to build better mental health into their cities through smarter urban design.

Vision:

To be a central repository and global go-to resource for policymakers, architects, transport planners, urban planners, developers, designers, engineers, geographers, and others who want to design better mental health into cities, and drive integration of mental health into urban design as standard.

Approach:

Share knowledge -

UD/MH brings together useful research, ideas, experiences and intelligence from across the world and shares it on our platforms to increase its reach and make it more accessible to academics and diverse city makers. We also publish external op-eds and participate in conferences and other events to share knowledge and inspire new audiences into action.

Increase knowledge -

There is still much we need to learn about how urban design can improve mental health. UD/MH encourages research and sharing of ideas and experience by providing global platforms for publication - the Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health, and our Sanity and Urbanity blog.

We also encourage investment in research focused on this field.

Improve cross-sector communication -

We convene cross-sector dialogues in cities around the world, bringing together experts from architecture, urban planning, transport, geography, public health, psychiatry, and many more to identify opportunities and discuss potential collaborations.

Empower practical action

UD/MH works closely with those involved in policy-making and on-the-ground citymaking to understand the barriers to integrating better mental health into urban design, and tries to help address these barriers by inputting to consultations and producing practical, evidence-based advice.

UD/MH launched in July 2015.

S.O.A.R.

Location: Ventura County, California

Website:www.soarvc.org

SOAR is a series of voter initiatives that require a vote of the people before agricultural land or open space areas can be rezoned for development.

The first SOAR initiative was approved by the voters in the City of Ventura in 1995. Since 1995, nine SOAR initiatives have been enacted protecting open space and agricultural land around all of the major cities in Ventura County as well as in the county’s unincorporated areas. The County SOAR initiative blocks the Ventura County Board of Supervisors from rezoning unincorporated open space, agricultural or rural land for development without a vote of the people. Eight city SOAR initiatives require city councils to obtain the approval of their citizens before allowing urban development beyond a City Urban Restriction Boundary (CURB), or, in the case of the City of Ventura, before rezoning agricultural land within the city’s sphere of influence.

No other county in the United States has more effective protections against urban sprawl.

Who is SOAR?

SOAR is a non-profit grassroots group of citizens in Ventura County, California who are dedicated to keeping Ventura County from following the same urban sprawl pattern that has plagued the rest of Southern California. SOAR has over one thousand active members with a presence in each city of the county.

Why do we need SOAR?

Sitting on Los Angeles County’s northwestern boundary, Ventura County is subject to tremendous sprawl development pressure. Ventura County’s rolling hillsides, rugged mountains, beautiful beaches and fertile plains and valleys present a spectacular setting that creates conflicting incentives to preserve and develop this landscape. With a population of approximately 900,000 and over 100,000 acres of agricultural land in production the county offers a highly attractive semi-rural respite from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles County, where one city’s strip malls and subdivisions merge indistinguishably with the next.

The history of wasteful sprawl development in Southern California over the last several decades, often over the strenuous and vocal objections of residents, is testament to the fact that local elected officials have been more responsive to development pressure than to the core values of their citizens. The fact that the largest source of campaign funds for local elected officials in Southern California is pro-development money was a primary reason that Ventura County citizens recognized the need an extra level of review for urban sprawl development proposals. Most of the SOAR initiatives were passed in 1998 and most of them will expire in 2020. Ventura County citizens need to renew SOAR protection against urban sprawl for another generation by passing new initiatives during the November 2016 election.

Meeting of the Minds

Location: International

Website: cityminded.org

Meeting of the Minds is a global knowledge sharing platform based in San Francisco, CA.

Since it was founded, Meeting of the Minds has been dedicated to a singular proposition: bring together a carefully chosen set of key urban sustainability and technology stakeholders and gather them around a common platform in ways that help build lasting alliances. We believe that such a platform is a vital ingredient for smart, sustainable and equitable urban (re)development strategies.

Meeting of the Minds focuses on the innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Through our blog, magazine, webinars, monthly meetups, workshops, roundtables, and an annual summit held each fall, we invite international leaders from the public, private, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors to identify innovations that can be scaled, replicated and transferred from city-to-city and across sectors.

Among the thousands of international leaders who participate in the Meeting of the Minds network are innovators scaling-up practical urban solutions in infrastructure, policy, design, equity, technology, energy, mobility, water, finance, and more.

Now in its 10th year, our annual summit brings together 400+ opinion-shapers, policy-makers, leading thinkers and innovators from all over the world for 2+ days of intensive immersion in thought leadership and cross-sector development.

LAND

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Website: nomadicdivision.org

LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 committed to curating site-specific public art exhibitions in Los Angeles and beyond. LAND believes that all people deserve the opportunity to experience innovative contemporary art in their everyday existence, to enhance their quality of life and ways of thinking about their community. In turn, artists deserve the opportunity to realize projects in the public realm, unsupported through traditional institutions. LAND brings contemporary art outside of the walls of museums and galleries, into our shared public spaces and unique sites, in Los Angeles and beyond.

LAND supports dynamic and unconventional artistic practices using a tripartite approach:

Commissioning public projects of site- and situation-specific works with national and international contemporary artist
Collaborating with a variety of institutions and organizations, such as universities, museums, and theaters as well as other types of spaces, industries, and entities

Offering additional programs such as performances, workshops, residencies, discussions, educational opportunities, and publications

LAND’s innovative exhibitions and programming structure features three main types, or scales, of programming:

Large-scale, multi-site, multi-artist exhibitions (group thematic shows that exist over time and space)
Monographic exhibitions or discrete group exhibitions

One-night ephemeral performances and durational events

Levitt Foundation

Location: Nationwide

Website: levitt.org

The Levitt program is transformative. Abandoned, blighted places—whether a neglected and gang-infested park, a dormant downtown, a vacant lot or a toxic brownfield—are today vibrant, welcoming destinations where families, friends and people of all ages and backgrounds gather to discover new worlds, and each other, through free, live music.

Levitt’s free concerts, easily accessible locations and open lawn settings foster social interactions among people of all ages and backgrounds—strengthening the social fabric of our cities. There’s no front row, no back row, just a grassy open lawn filled with friends dancing, children playing and neighbors picnicking. Levitt venues are places where people relax and enjoy the company of others. Where we embrace our shared humanity.

At Levitt, we believe the arts aren’t a luxury, but a basic human need, just as essential as food and shelter. Studies show that frequent engagement with the arts has remarkably positive effects on our individual well-being, as well as society as a whole. However, the average American’s ability to access the arts is dwindling. High premiums are placed on cultural activities like going to a museum or experiencing a live concert.

Levitt concerts feature first-rate, critically acclaimed artists free of charge. This enables people from all walks of life—many of whom could not afford the cost of a concert for themselves or their families—to have those meaningful cultural experiences essential to a healthy, happy life. Both permanent Levitt venues and the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards are community-driven, inspiring engaged citizens and civic leadership to come together and commit to creating a meaningful impact in their city. Once a Levitt location opens, people from throughout the community are invested in the success of the concert series—from concertgoers and volunteers to community partners and local sponsors. At the helm is a local nonprofit, either Friends of Levitt for signature Levitt venues or the local organization presenting Levitt AMP, mobilizing support for the concert series and driving community engagement.

Why We Matter:

Through both permanent Levitt venues and the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards, Levitt harnesses the power of free, live music to strengthen American community life one city, and one concert, at a time. The impact of the Levitt program goes beyond the free concerts. Levitt demonstrates the power of creative placemaking—the integration of arts and culture into communities to spark economic growth, strengthen social bonds and enhance overall quality of life. Below are just some of the ways the Levitt program impacts communities:

Green spaces are reclaimed.

Neglected public spaces are activated.

Local economies are given a boost.

Communities are safer.

Social and economic barriers are broken.

Right to the City

Location: International

Website:righttothecity.org

Through shared principles and a common frame and theory of change, RTTC is building a national movement for racial justice, urban justice, human rights, and democracy. RTTC seeks to create regional and national impacts in the fields of housing, human rights, urban land, community development, civic engagement, criminal justice, environmental justice, and more.

Right to the City was born out of desire and need by organizers and allies around the country to have a stronger movement for urban justice. But it was also born out of the power of an idea of a new kind of urban politics that asserts that everyone, particularly the disenfranchised, not only has a right to the city, but as inhabitants, have a right to shape it, design it, and operationalize an urban human rights agenda.

In the realm of ideas, a key resource and touchstone is “Le droite à la ville” (Right to the City) a book published in 1968 by French intellectual and philosopher Henri Lefebvre. In the sphere of human rights, this powerful idea was adopted by the World Urban Forum and elaborated into the World Charter of the Right to the City in 2004. Building from this powerful idea, international principles, and forward-looking grassroots organizing, the Right to the City Alliance was established in January 2007.

THE RIGHT TO THE CITY PLATFORM

Land for People vs. Land for Speculation:

The right to land and housing that is free from market speculation and that serves the interests of community building, sustainable economies, and cultural and political space.

Land Ownership:

The right to permanent ownership of urban territories for public use.

Economic Justice:

The right of working class communities of color, women, queer and transgender people to an economy that serves their interests.

Indigenous Justice:

The right of First Nation indigenous people to their ancestral lands that have historical or spiritual significance, regardless of state borders and urban or rural settings.

Environmental Justice:

The right to sustainable and healthy neighborhoods, workplaces, healing, quality health care, and reparations for the legacy of toxic abuses such as brown fields, cancer clusters, and superfund sites.

Freedom from Police State Harassment:

The right to safe neighborhoods and protection from police, INS/ICE, and vigilante repression, which has historically targeted communities of color, women, queer and transgender people.
Immigrant Justice:

The right of equal access to housing, employment, and public services regardless of race, ethnicity, and immigration status and without the threat of deportation by landlords, ICE, or employers.

Services and Community Institutions:

The right of working class communities of color to transportation, infrastructure and services that reflect and support their cultural and social integrity.

Democracy and Participation:

The right of community control and decision making over the planning and governance of the cities where we live and work, with full transparency and accountability, including the right to public information without interrogation.

Reparations:

The right of working class communities of color to economic reciprocity and restoration from all local, nation and transnational institutions that have exploited and/or displaced the local economy.

The right to support and build solidarity between cities across national boundaries, without state intervention.

The right of rural people to economically healthy and stable communities that are protected from environmental degradation and economic pressures that force migration to urban areas.

Neighborhhod Assistance Corporation of America

Location: Nationwide

Website: naca.com

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America ("NACA") is a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization. NACA’s primary goal is to build strong, healthy neighborhoods in urban and rural areas nationwide through affordable homeownership.

NACA has made the dream of homeownership a reality for thousands of working people by counseling them honestly and effectively, enabling even those with poor credit to purchase a home or modify their predatory loan with far better terms than those provided even in the prime market.

The NACA homeownership program is our answer to the huge subprime and predatory lending industry. NACA has conclusively shown that when working people get the benefit of a prime rate loan, they can resolve their financial problems, make their mortgage payments and become prime borrowers.

NACA’s track record of helping people who have credit problems become homeowners or modify their predatory loan debunks the myth that high rates and fees are necessary to compensate for their "credit risk.

Started in 1988, NACA has a tremendous track record of successful advocacy against predatory and discriminatory lenders as well as providing the best mortgage program in America with $10 billion in funding commitments.

NACA is the largest housing services organization in the country and is rapidly expanding by growing its existing 30+ offices headquartered in Boston, MA,opening many new offices nationwide and expanding the services it offers its membership. NACA’s confrontational community organizing and unprecedented mortgage program have set the national standard for assisting low- and moderate-income people to achieve the dream of homeownership.