“O say does that star spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” These immortal words were penned by Francis Scott Key in Baltimore harbor when he viewed the flag flying over Fort McHenry following a bombardment by the British. In August 1814 the British troops landed at Benedict, Maryland, and headed
Started my morning with friend and colleague Ed Morrison. He made his tacit knowledge available to others, and in so doing helped us learn. In a meeting, Ed discussed the difference between traditional management practices and adaptive management practices, emphasizing the importance of strategic doing. He introduces the concept of clock problems, which are well-defined problems with established solutions, and
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in New Brunswick has a Gothic Revival facade, complete with pinnacles, a central tower, and flying buttresses. The tower is visible from multiple vantage points throughout New Brunswick. It has an attractive silhouette thanks to the four pinnacles rising from each of the four corners. Detail of the pinnacle and flying buttress, providing support for
This morning on the weekly Strategic Doing talk I was reminded of the credo for Strategic Doing. It’s been exciting to me as a Strategic Doing Practitioner to watch these ideas grow. This discipline has proven effective to build collaborations quickly and achieve scale with better coherence and communication. Work has been done to form clusters, such as around water,
Cleveland Plaza is a level of architectural intervention unusual for an older building. The canopy on steel and reinforced concrete armature gives a neat hat atop this structure. I was fortunate to get a peek into St. Michaels church down the block. The stained glass, while narrow and compact, had themes and coloration that made them stand out. Religious statuary
Over the past decade I have attended every in person Main Street Now conference. Through that experience I have developed both expectations and an appreciation for the unique strengths and lessons that each host city has to offer. Birmingham was no exception. In a post spanning two parts I will share about my experience with the leadup to the conference
There are two phases of design work: to define a problem and develop a solution. Each phase has a diverge and converge element. Defining problems begins by understanding of space and the awareness that all problems can’t be solved. Then it converges on how to best serve customers in a distinctive way. For solution development we also can’t build all
Over the last few years I observed how the next town over from where I live has been trying to jumpstart revitalization efforts. The town is Edison and the neighborhood is called Clara Barton. There are a few multi-story buildings but most are single story and spaced out typical of a suburban neighborhood commerical district. In years past planters were
Many think of a nonprofit brand about being about a logo and tagline. It’s so much deeper than that capturing perceptions of what a nonprofit stands for, what it does, and how much social impact it is thought to achieve. Peter Frumkin at the Masters in Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice
We first became acquainted with the concept of a conversation landscape from the work by the urban designer Jan Gehl. The following quote from the book Life Between Buildings captured the concept well. “Chairs placed close together around a table, such as in sidewalk cafes, help conversations start. Good conversation landscapes can be found in traditional European train compartments. In