For those of us concerned about democratic conditions today, there is much to learn from the nimble, innovative, participatory, and practical governance initiatives that ordinary citizens are creating and leading.
National crime rates in most urban areas have fallen considerably since the 1990s, but some cities have experienced greater improvements in public safety than others. One of those cities is Newark, New Jersey, where innovative community engagement strategies have helped make a difference in reducing the rate of crime.
Creativity, neglected for too long as a part of pro-democracy politics in the US and abroad, is fundamental to changing the seemingly intractable problems we face, and to seeing, designing and rehearsing new versions of the world we want to make.
In a 2024 study on how communities are handling the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness, three elements of success emerged: Strong leadership from civic and political figures acted as a catalyst for uniting communities, collaborative efforts engaged stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and the development of networks helped integrate service delivery.
For many years, practitioners have talked about the beneficial secondary effects of good democratic process, and rightly so. But placing people’s experience at the heart of our work calls on us to be explicit about the experience of democracy and how it can and should contribute to human flourishing.
