In partnership with the City of Binghamton, NY State USA, and United Way of Broome County, Design Your Own Park (DYOP) is a friendly competition among Binghamton neighbourhoods to turn vacant lots and other neglected spaces into wonderful community places.  In the process of designing, implementing and maintaining their parks, the neighbourhoods become empowered to take charge of their own affairs in other respects.

The DYOP competition is one of 9 out of 450 entries to make the short list of the 2011 Philips Livable Cities Award, a global competition to support ideas that improve the quality of life within cities. The short-listed entries will be advertised nationally (in the US) on CNN and on the Livable Cities Award website. The final judging will be made by a distinguished panel, which will consider a public vote as part of their decision.

http://bnp.binghamton.edu/projects/dyop/

In the foot hills of the Waitakere ranges sits a diverse area of Waitakere eco city, a mix of residential and industrial space that had, until recently, been forgotten about. Following the dedication of a number of local residents, however, this forgotten land is now flourishing as the people of Henderson South maintain a thriving community garden, as well as joining the Waitakere-wide Project Twin Streams.

One of the themes that came out of the door knocking in the early days of the Great Start initiative in Taita was the strong desire for a park. However, people weren't talking to each other about the idea, there was little sense that it was possible and there was no clear idea of how to go about making it happen.

Through lots of conversations, and a level of perseverance, Great Start was able to connect the dots and grow the energy for getting things moving. The upshot was that a group of children, together with their parents, were given the opportunity to present their ideas at a Hutt City Council meeting.

The children's creativity, vision and openness broke down the formality of the process and led to significant generosity from the Council, both in terms of financial support and, just as importantly, the time, energy and enthusiasm to walk alongside the community to make a park happen – a joint venture was born.

The development of gardens and parks provides a focus for community building, as Great Start has already recognised. In particular, it offers opportunities for the participation of almost everyone in a community.

Young and old can come together for a common - and creative – purpose, and achieve everything from improving small plots of land to working miracles with the revegetation of a large area, as can be seen in the work done by Ceres in Melbourne.

Ceres (the Centre for Education and research in Environmental Strategies) in Melbourne undertook a complete rehaul of some nearby land. Originally a blue stone quarry and a rubbish tip, a radical transformation occurred after local people were granted long term stewardship of the site by the Local Brunswick Council. In response to emerging social and economic issues, the efforts of countless local residents, from newly arrived migrants, long term unemployed people, young people and volunteers have changed a bleak landscape to a lush community garden.

And after!

A permaculture plan for the site guided the early projects, which included revegetation, building, landscaping and community garden construction. Photos and further information are available from www.ceres.org.au.

Helen Wilson