Reimagining Mid-Sized Cities to
Heal Our Divided Society
Our divided society is quickly reaching crisis level. We are no longer able to sustain social and economic prosperity nor ensure democracy. Fuelling this crisis is a growing sense of social isolation caused by the divisive nature of social media and the decline of infrastructure that used to bring communities together.
But there is hope for rebuilding our collaborative society, and it is found in our mid-sized urban areas. These towns and cities offer a scale that can tangibly change the quality of our lives and an intimacy that allows us to influence what our communities can become. Changing cities can change the world!
In The Joy Experiments, real estate developer Scott Higgins and creative mind Paul Kalbfleisch use their own mid-sized city-building experiences to present a new way for citizens to engage with their city, and an urban planning strategy that prioritizes infrastructure for the human spirit.
The JOY Experiments offers a new city building narrative that reminds us that cities have always been the habitat of the human spirit – that source of invention, resilience, and compassion – the social traits we are in such dire need of today.
The authors believe that by challenging ourselves to ask, “How does our city play?” we can positively alter how we behave as a community and flipping the traditional Live, Work, Play city building model to a more rewarding Play, Live, Work prioritization.