Rebecca Sanborn Stone

Our communities face a host of challenges -- climate change, economic decline, demographic change, natural hazards and more. We know how important strong *physical* infrastructure is to keeping our communities safe -- roads and bridges, power lines, communications networks and more. And luckily, communities increasingly see the value of investing in strong *green* infrastructure to become resilient -- rain gardens and swales, healthy soils and upland forests.

But very few communities are investing in *civic* infrastructure, which may be the most important area of all. Civic infrastructure is the social ties, communication and information channels, and local culture that allow people to work together to solve problems and create a thriving community.

I offer a keynote presentation that introduces the concept of civic infrastructure and shares inspiring examples of how communities are building it. I also offer planning workshops around this critical concept for communities today.

Community revitalization work doesn't have to take thousands of dollars and many years. It can start with something as simple as one person and a great idea.

In this fast-paced presentation, I introduce the concepts of placemaking and DIY community change. Then I share a number of customized examples and stories of how people and communities are doing big things with very limited resources. I tailor the examples and content to you and your group -- whether focused on sustainability, education, community development, resilience, creativity or economic development.

I also frequently adapt this talk to be an interactive workshop, where teams or participants work together to design their own DIY projects.

Traditional economic development strategies include recruiting big businesses, making big investments in infrastructure, and hoping for big growth in jobs.

But small, local, creative approaches are proving to have greater staying power and impact while also improving quality of life and growing local entrepreneurs. This talk highlights communities that are increasingly investing in "placemaking" -- building vibrant, distinctive places where people want to be -- as a way to support local businesses and grow the economy. We cover creative projects and tools that communities can use to start down this path, even with little funding, planning or staff time.