Struggletown

On this week's episode of Pod Places, hosts Phil and Jeff go it alone. The pod starts with a discussion of Phil's recent Proud Places contribution on the power of storytelling and how every city can develop a Humans of New York campaign. After Phil's thoughtful words, Jeff rants about vacant property for a spell before wrapping things up with a conversation on the dreaded G-word. Gentrification. 

This week on the pod, guests Tara Ross and John Giusto of B4Place talk to hosts Phil and Jeff about their experience of living in The Netherlands.

Tara and John grew up in Texas and California respectively, but have spent their last decade living in The Netherlands, where the thinking about the places we inhabit is extremely different. We discuss what makes the Dutch approach so different and how, over time, living in places such places, changes who you are.

B4place helps create places that leverage the effect that good old-fashioned proximity has on economic, social, and environmental success. And we’re fierce defenders of countryside conservation by focusing on engineering compact, enduring places.

Through our Property Experiments, we explore the opportunities and practicalities of developing unique and beautiful places. 

This week, hosts Phil and Jeff welcome guest Melody Warnick to discuss her book, This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are.

Melody talks about her experience of moving 7 times in 11 years and how each time taught her more about the value of place and why a person has to be intentional in making their home into the place they want.

Melody is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Fast Company, The Guardian, Slate, Quartz, CityLab, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, O: The Oprah Magazine, Medium, Livability, and many other publications. You can find learn more about Melody here.

This week, hosts Phil, Ryan and Jeff discussed contributor pieces that all related back to building more local wealth and pride. We start with Joe Borgstrom's post on why cities use economic development as justification to kill community character, followed by Ryan's piece on creating community "made-in" brands and wrapped up with a discussion on Jen Acosta's post about choosing out of town developers over local ones.

This week, host Phil Eich takes the reins and interviews Flint, Michigan's Director of Placemaking, Kady Yellow and Founder of The Porch Project, Megan Hayze, on how design shapes our lives and the ways we can make residents more connected with their place.

Kady Yellow has been making places come alive since 2010 when she discovered the power of cross-pollinating municipal governments, community organizations, and the arts to build strong urban cores. Kady graduated with Bachelor's degrees in both Mathematical Sciences and Graphic Design from Binghamton University (BU) and went on two work full-time at the university as the Technology Specialist and volunteering as the Creative Director at a local art gallery.

Megan Heyza started The Porch Project with the goal of using beautification efforts and porch repairs to promote "neighborliness" in the community through increased use of front yards. The project is also used as a way to provide avenues of research for universities. The grassroots effort has a goal of revamping social connections in urban areas. 

This week, hosts Phil, Jeff and Ryan dig-in on the topic of civic self-esteem and how important it is for city leaders to consider how residents view themself and their town. The discussion turned towards the impacts of having low self-esteem, the benefits of high self-esteem and how a place could move in between the two. The crew wrapped it up with a long discussion of Phil's feelings. 

This week hosts Jeff Siegler, Phil Eich and Ryan Short, discuss why running a small business is like having a child, why community engagement is critical and rarely done right, and how Tonino, Washington created their own local currency.

This week on Pod Places, Phil Eich and Jeff Siegler welcome in guest host Jaime Izurieta to discuss his recent piece titled "The 30 Things Place Taught Me." Jaime sticks around to talk about the impact of people migrating away from large cities due to covid, and then Phil and Jeff get down on the importance of fostering friendships in your place. 

This week on Pod Places, hosts Phil Eich, Ryan Short and Jeff Siegler discuss why communities let national chains truck away millions of dollars every year, how murals can help begin turning around a neighborhood, and why we should treat civic apathy like we do addiction. 

This week on Pod Places, Ryan Short, Phil Eich and Jeff Siegler discuss why cities have to learn how to utilize social media, how understanding Enneagrams can help you get what you want and strategies for working with committees, boards and commissions to get things done. Bonus topic this week, Phil's omelet.