Participatory [fill in the blank] involves and engages community members and other stakeholders in creating something they will use or benefit from or in making decisions about something that will impact them. Participation crowdsources from the community the design or execution of projects. It entails heavy collaboration among parties and requires radical transparency. Participatory democracy, management, and research are just a few examples.
The MotiveSpace Coalition, a Portland, Oregon-based community organization, applies the principles of participation in sustainable property development. The idea is for people to develop properties in their neighborhoods and communities.
“The MotiveSpace Coalition is a nonprofit group of progressive community leaders and neighbors in Portland, Oregon, working together to research and activate cooperative, inclusive, bottom-up, and non-speculative models for sustainable property development in Portland.”
A membership organization, MotiveSpace envisages a Portland
“where neighbors are given a true say in the future of their communities. By providing all Portlanders with tangible ways to become involved in their neighborhood’s development, every Portlander can be a catalyst for change.”
According to Executive Director Sara Garrett, “The excitement of design and the power of development should be tools for community building and transformation. In a way, we are really just doing our piece to make the old barn-raising concept possible, at a larger scale.”
MotiveSpace has three programs, which support participatory development: the Coalition Advisory Network, the Design Cooperate Program, and the Community Asset Funds Program. The primary project MotiveSpace is currently working on is “Hatch! An Innovation Incubation Lab”, which is currently in pre-development in collaboration with Springboard Innovation (another
of my favorite organizations and a past client). Hatch will be Portland’s first entirely cooperatively-owned and micro-financed space-share opportunity, and will utilize the Community Asset Funds Program to reach out to the broadest possible spectrum of all Portlanders.
MotiveSpace is a nonprofit startup, just over a year old, and I’m joining it as a member of the Board of Directors. I look forward to helping with marketing and communication, and to sharing more about our progress.
Contact Sara to get involved.
