Livable Communities Coalitions and Global Livability Actions

Regardless of whether Senator Dodd's Livable Communities Act passes or not, Livable Communities will be built across the United States and all over the world. Here's a good representation of the way it's been introduced and implemented... already:

What We Stand For
Our goal is working to improve quality of life in the Atlanta region through smart growth. The Livable Communities Coalition is establishing a coordinated framework for working together to achieve its four guiding principles of smart growth. By adhering to these principles of smart growth, we can provide better choices for our citizens and businesses, reduce traffic, recycle underutilized and blighted properties, be more efficient in our use of public infrastructure, and save green space.
The Coalition advocates four principles:
Support greater densities and mixed use developments in appropriate areas, especially in our region’s centers and transportation corridors
Integrate transportation investments with appropriate land use
Increase housing choices by removing barriers that artificially restrict the market Guide how greenfield land is developed, promoting a sense of community, provide more houisng choices, leverage existing infrastructure, and conserve natural resources.

http://www.livablecommunitiescoalition.org/

In England Livable Communities are being renamed the Big Society:

Christian groups responded en­thu­siastically to the Prime Minister’s speech on the Government’s Big Society programme this week, which laid out a larger place for voluntary groups in serving local communities. Speaking in Liverpool on Monday, David Cameron said that the Govern­ment planned “the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from élites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street”. It would “foster and support a new culture of voluntarism and philan­thropy”. The Evangelical Alliance said the Big Society was “an immense oppor­tunity for community service which Christians should not pass up”. The organisation’s dir­ector, Steve Clifford, said: “We are delighted that the Prime Minister has recognised the in­credible work community groups are already doing, and want to en­thusiastically encourage churches to accept his invitation to get stuck in.” The Interim director of Livability, a Christian charity that works with disabled people, Adam Bonner, said: “This new emphasis on community work could prove a great way to highlight and develop the existing long term work that many churches and Christian projects are already doing and present further oppor­tunities for involvement.” It re­mained to be seen, however, “whether there will be enough funding and support offered to implement this Big Society initiative”.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=98079

In the Philippines it's sounding like a pretty good idea too:

Public Seminar

on “URBAN PLANNING FOR MORE LIVABLE COMMUNITIES”

on September 23, 2010 (Wednesday)

at the Central Philippine University EMC Conference Room

8am – 5pm

http://www.cpu.edu.ph/news.php?newsid=1283411556

It's ALL about the partnerships which have already been established:

For the past 30 years, Bob has led Partners to become the national leader on issues of livability and better communities. A network of over 1,000 organizations ranging from the World Wildlife Fund to the Urban Land Institute, Partners embodies the diversity and consensus-building needed in the recovery of the American city.

http://www.livable.org/about-us/staff/47

In South Africa studies in creating Livable Communities is well underway too:

The distribution of land uses can have a major influence on total transport needs, car ownership and use, the availability of alternative ways to travel and the effectiveness and viability of public transport. Government’s Policies are to encourage public transport, walking and cycling over the use of the private car. The paper presents a case study of how the coordinated spatial, urban design and transport planning approach can provide a transport system that will reduce the present excessive dependence on the private car, while providing a more efficient transportation service that supports, rather than impedes the development of a livable community.

http://repository.up.ac.za/dspace/handle/2263/5876

Building Livable Communities is like a Science for Humanity:

Supported by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), teams from cities in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East will exchange ideas and lessons on how they are making their cities healthier and safer places to live. These teams are composed of researchers, field experts and politicians. They are part of IDRC’s Focus Cities Research Initiative, an 8-city project where communities act as urban laboratories, testing innovative solutions to problems in such settings as landfill sites, urban agriculture plots, and water treatment facilities.

Here are just a few examples of this initiative’s unique work:

• Jakarta, Indonesia: Organic waste is collected from poor households every day and is sorted, shredded and composted in order to prevent the contamination of community water sources.
  
  
• Kampala, Uganda: In Africa’s “garden city,” local government is working with the Kawaala-Kasubi community to transform garbage into electricity, convert organic waste into fertilizer, and improve agricultural production in urban plots.
  
  
• Ariana Soukra, Tunisia: Small-scale farmers are developing new technologies to harvest greywater and rainwater to irrigate urban crops in a water-stressed environment.
  
  
• Moreno, Argentina: People from different walks of life are working closely together to address waste management and water provisions to ensure that their neighbourhoods are safer.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-126394-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

This is just a sampling of how this ideology has been slipped into the human consciousness around the globe. And on the surface it all seems lovely, doesn't it?