I’ve had a chance to read a lot lately about a variety of social issues that tie into urban planning (really what social issues don’t) and I’ve also had a chance to step back and look at some of the citizen-based efforts working to engage those problems from a more distant perspective (I’m currently in Iraq so I can only see such efforts through snippets on the internet and e-mails).  The approach I see however is somewhat troublesome and problematic.  There seems to be a recurring theme that as groups working to solve various issues (take for example neighborhood associations) become more complexly organized, they become less of an agent change and more of a middleman group used to make demands and coerce government agencies.  (Read more...)

I recently decided to take a class on international relations in order to learn more about global political systems and how things work at a macro scale rather than the micro scale I tend to focus on.  It’s been extremely eye-opening for a number of reasons, but I’ve been really excited about the implications of how the international relations perspective can compliment the type of work that takes place within neighborhoods and communities.  From what I’ve learned so far, examining policies at a global level tends to be more formal and systematic and is heavily saturated in powerful political relationships.  Is there really anything that relates to the community level?  Is there really a need to make community participation that complex?  I feel like the answer is a resounding “yes”.  (more after the jump)