Who Are the Brave Urban Thinkers?
I’ll be honest: I hate lists that include superlatives. Think of anything on Forbes.com, or the Wall Street Journal’s recent tally of the best cities for young people, or Travel + Leisure’s sexiest Caribbean sunsets. I know these kinds of lists are catchy, but I take them seriously and then am disappointed. (I’ve been to some of those Caribbean sunsets and I’d say they’ve got nothing on the view west toward the Schyukill looking down Pine Street.)
So I was mildly pleased to see the cover of the Atlantic has a story called “Brave Thinkers” and there were 27 of them and they weren’t the bravest necessarily, they were just brave. But when I realized that none of the people are directly in urban affairs, I grew more critical. For starters, why include Barack Obama? Wasn’t the Nobel enough?!
But seriously, how come no one is seeing the connection between the innovation things that are happening in life and the fact that they’re urban. Even the MacArthur Foundation (which essentially rounds up the smartest, most interesting people each year for its fellowship program) has started to catch on, with recent picks such as Rebecca Onie, the founder of Project HEALTH, and Will Allen, founder of Growing Power in Milwaukee. As far as brave thinkers go, let me list a couple that will be featured in our next issue (Issue No. 25) because I happen to think these people and organizations are amazing.
-The Blues Project
Robin Chase, the founder of Zipcar
-John Hickenlooper
-Ed Mazria
-Bill Mitchell
-Philadelphia Fresh Food Financing Initiative
Roland Ries, the mayor of Strasbourg
-Rebecca Solnit
Those are just a few of the many that are in the issue. Who would you add?
You can nominate brave thinkers on the Atlantic’s site — or better yet, do it here and I’ll accumulate your ideas and send it over to them.
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City magazine.
Now Available: Issue 26!
Alex on Fri, Nov 06, 2009 at 3:23pm
Some forward-looking mayors deserve inclusion (Cory Booker might be one). Jim Diers, former head of Seattle’s Neighborhoods department has some creative ideas on cities. Roberta Brandes Gratz, the journalist and author, is another.
Greg in Seattle on Sat, Nov 07, 2009 at 2:20am
I would second Jim Diers. He courageously persuaded city leaders in Seattle to invest heavily and wholeheartedly in the people of our city and trust that, given the resources and agency to do so, everyday citizens could form a viable vision for the future of the city.
allitia dibernardo on Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 6:05pm
Thanks for this observation—I had a similar let down when I read the article in the Atlantic. For the improved list in NAC, I second Corey Booker (and actually his brother, too). In Philadelphia, I think we must acknowledge the radical food access and urban farming folks like Mary Courboy at Greensgrow Farm and the people at Weaver’s Way, two successful and transformative urban farms in the city. Mark Allen Hughes is certainly a brave thinker (maybe not so much cred on the doing part). I also think Jane Golden at Mural Arts has a radical and totally brave vision for positive civic engagement on daunting urban issues, like blight, violence, and crime. Thaddeus Phillips is a newcomer but could also be mentioned for the positive community outcomes of 2009 Hidden City—eg, Shiloh Baptist church has begun reaching out to its neighbors for the first time, engaging in arts festivals, a block party, regular tours of their sanctuary, Girard College is thinking about new ways to use Founders Hall, and Disston Mill has leased part of the formerly closed factory to a new manufacturer, all because Thaddeus put some art work in these sites and opened them to an appreciative public who came in droves—demonstratring the value of these sites to the community and sometimes to sites themselves.