The Private Side of Public Work | Exploring How to Make Cities Happier, Government More Innovative, & Science More Accessible

The impact of the big environmental acts passed in the 1970's is enormous…and almost invisible to the average person because we tend to take things like clean air and clean water and forests and beaches for granted. But if it weren't for those four pieces of legislation passed in the early seventies, we would be living in a very different world. Brian Mooney Rick Engineering provides a fascinating retrospective on environmental planning in California.

Go to profitside.work to find the Profit Side Challenge or to work with Ingrid.

What if there was a book that you could hand to a developer that would help them understand how to activate community spaces before dropping millions or billions of dollars into a project? And what if there were a book that you could hand to community leaders that could help them infuse vibrancy into their neighborhoods to attract resources and capital investment? And, what if those two books were one in the same? Kevin Wright and Joe Nickol have created The Neighborhood Playbook to speak to both developers and community leaders, and bring them together to work on a singular goal.

What does a bitter refreshing drink from Barbados have in common with the field of urban planning? The answer is Tamika Gauvin and a vision for social justice. She is part planner and part founder for Looen Teas. But trust me when I say that those parts add up to more than the whole.

Rhode Island is a hot bed of creativity. DESIGNxRI fuels that creativity through and drives economic development in the process of Rhode Island. This requires persistent collaboration and partnerships between the public and private sector.

Today's Profit Side Challenge: Communicating Value

What do you think of when you hear the words "food hall?" Does it bring up memories of college dorm food? Or do you imagine an inspiring array of local cuisine, edgy entrepreneurship, and innovative urban planning? Today we are going to talk about the latter (though you are free to reminisce about college days after the show). And I dig into the private and personal side of food hall design and development with my guest Nicolia Robinson from Cooper Carry.

Continuing the conversation on online citizen engagement, but this time with a twist.

Karin Brandt of CoUrbanize has a soft spot in her heart for the folks that everyone loves to hate at public meetings – real estate developers. She has developed a platform for bringing broad audiences of community members together with developers to envision successful projects.

In today's Profit Side Challenge I talk about how to make competition irrelevant by developing a blue ocean strategy.

This episode is all about forward motion – 7 ways to jumpstart profitability and impact.

1. Grasp the relationship between profit and impact

2. Identify your money demons and get rid of your head junk

3. Don't mix business and pleasure

4. Set up a solid accounting system and don't let the pretty software fool you

5. Get help when you need it

6. Read and implement Profit First

7. Set up an impact account