Hoop Dreams for Safer Neighborhoods
January 19, 2017 10:25 AM Subscribe
this is the same woman who designed the Aqua Tower which means she is aces
posted by beerperson at 10:33 AM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by beerperson at 10:33 AM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
This is wonderful. So easy (at the basic level of "hey let's put up a basketball court as a gathering place for residents and cops" anyhow, the full Polis Station is a bit more complex), and the idea of making police stations into welcoming community centers is one of those things that makes so much sense it hurts. I hope this works, and it catches on. Any little bit of reaching out to make connections helps.
posted by Fig at 10:55 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by Fig at 10:55 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
(In an avuncular tone) Jump shots at the cop shop? Don't get pulled over for speeding when you drive the lane! Hey-ohhh!
posted by Bob Regular at 10:58 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Bob Regular at 10:58 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Man, I'd be nervous as hell to shoot hoops with a cop, but little things like this that tie the police to the communities they serve in concrete ways are sorely needed.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:21 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 11:21 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
Reminds me of the discussion the last few years about one of the best ways to improve police/community relations — getting cops out of their cars and walking around.
Police order officers out of cars to better engage residents
Improving Community-Police Relations Builds Better Communities
Greensboro police begin walk and talk efforts to stop crime, reach out
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
Police order officers out of cars to better engage residents
Improving Community-Police Relations Builds Better Communities
Greensboro police begin walk and talk efforts to stop crime, reach out
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
It's a really sad truth Americans have to find ways to properly socialize police officers. It's more than a little reminiscent of having volunteers at the ASPCA to socialize potential adoptable pets.
posted by grounded at 11:39 AM on January 19, 2017 [25 favorites]
posted by grounded at 11:39 AM on January 19, 2017 [25 favorites]
This story is about a grade school in North Lawndale, also from this week.
posted by garlic at 11:40 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by garlic at 11:40 AM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
This is very cool.
When we learn to design, as architects we pin up our drawing and learn how to defend our designs but we don’t actually learn how to engage with communities
City planners are taught to engage with communities, and in my experience the collegiate planning program is usually in the same department as the architecture program. My classes (when I got my MS in Community and Regional Planning) involved a lot of learning how to lead and/or participate in community forums, town halls, stakeholder meetings, etc. So the education is there, usually right next door. The architecture programs just need to incorporate it.
posted by misskaz at 12:14 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
When we learn to design, as architects we pin up our drawing and learn how to defend our designs but we don’t actually learn how to engage with communities
City planners are taught to engage with communities, and in my experience the collegiate planning program is usually in the same department as the architecture program. My classes (when I got my MS in Community and Regional Planning) involved a lot of learning how to lead and/or participate in community forums, town halls, stakeholder meetings, etc. So the education is there, usually right next door. The architecture programs just need to incorporate it.
posted by misskaz at 12:14 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
City planners are taught to engage with communities, and in my experience the collegiate planning program is usually in the same department as the architecture program. My classes (when I got my MS in Community and Regional Planning) involved a lot of learning how to lead and/or participate in community forums, town halls, stakeholder meetings, etc. So the education is there, usually right next door. The architecture programs just need to incorporate it.
I took a city planning class and a couple of anthropology classes which focused on built environments, and they all really reinforced the idea that the layout of cities completely reshapes the societies within those cities, and that thoughtlessly (or maliciously) planned environments can completely destroy communities.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:09 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
I took a city planning class and a couple of anthropology classes which focused on built environments, and they all really reinforced the idea that the layout of cities completely reshapes the societies within those cities, and that thoughtlessly (or maliciously) planned environments can completely destroy communities.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:09 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
I'd agree re the lack of planning/community engagement from architects. When I trained as a landscape architect, community was really the key node around which all else turned. This seems even more so with urban planners - architects imo seem stuck in their silos ( generally).
posted by unearthed at 2:02 PM on January 19, 2017
posted by unearthed at 2:02 PM on January 19, 2017
This seriously underestimates the mendacity of the Chicago PD. They'll just a arrest few kids on the court and then they will have a lovely cop playground and facility.
When they tried to get cops to live in the city so they had a connection to the community they clustered in a few almost all white neighborhoods on the farthest edges of the city so they could follow the letter of the law while evading its spirit.
Expect the same with this.
posted by srboisvert at 2:03 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
When they tried to get cops to live in the city so they had a connection to the community they clustered in a few almost all white neighborhoods on the farthest edges of the city so they could follow the letter of the law while evading its spirit.
Expect the same with this.
posted by srboisvert at 2:03 PM on January 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
That story garlic linked is worth a read (or a listen, if you can). It's a really in-depth story where a Chicago Public Radio reporter spent an entire year in a fourth-grade classroom in North Lawndale reporting on schools' ability (or lack thereof) to overcome poverty. It's bleak and utterly heart-wrenching but it's a really good perspective into the limitations of school reform.
It's a tiny bit of the story but I think what got me the most was listening to the teacher struggling to explain the word "ripe" to the kids - who had absolutely no concept of what that was, because no store in their neighborhood sells fruit.
posted by telepanda at 2:03 PM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's a tiny bit of the story but I think what got me the most was listening to the teacher struggling to explain the word "ripe" to the kids - who had absolutely no concept of what that was, because no store in their neighborhood sells fruit.
posted by telepanda at 2:03 PM on January 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
When they tried to get cops to live in the city so they had a connection to the community they clustered in a few almost all white neighborhoods on the farthest edges of the city so they could follow the letter of the law while evading its spirit.
Oooh, oooh, look at this map and then guess where all the cops live!
posted by tivalasvegas at 2:07 PM on January 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Oooh, oooh, look at this map and then guess where all the cops live!
posted by tivalasvegas at 2:07 PM on January 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
(But, snark aside, cops playing basketball with kids is good.)
posted by tivalasvegas at 2:08 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tivalasvegas at 2:08 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Reminded me of this passage I recently read:
There is nothing wrong (and, I would say, a lot right) with cops getting to know neighborhood teens in nonadversarial settings. But the problem arises when—as has happened too often over the past half-century—budget priorities mean that the only community-based youth programs to be found are those closely tied to law enforcement.
From here.
posted by shala at 2:14 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
There is nothing wrong (and, I would say, a lot right) with cops getting to know neighborhood teens in nonadversarial settings. But the problem arises when—as has happened too often over the past half-century—budget priorities mean that the only community-based youth programs to be found are those closely tied to law enforcement.
From here.
posted by shala at 2:14 PM on January 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
If it works, this is good for everybody. It's good for the police who will have a better relationship with the neighborhood, making their job easier, and it will be good for the neighborhood by allowing the cops to see the residents in a non-adversarial setting, which should cut down somewhat on profiling, etc.
To a lot of cops right now, most everyone is the enemy. If they get to know people, they will come to realize that the people they are socializing with and, to a lesser degree, their friends, are not. It increases the social capital of both groups, which should make life easier for everyone if only by cutting down on misunderstandings that currently escalate into arrests or even violence.
posted by wierdo at 3:22 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
To a lot of cops right now, most everyone is the enemy. If they get to know people, they will come to realize that the people they are socializing with and, to a lesser degree, their friends, are not. It increases the social capital of both groups, which should make life easier for everyone if only by cutting down on misunderstandings that currently escalate into arrests or even violence.
posted by wierdo at 3:22 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Cops should be social workers.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:45 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:45 PM on January 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
City planners are taught to engage with communities, and in my experience the collegiate planning program is usually in the same department as the architecture program.
I have a grad degree in planning from the University of Illinois at Chicago and did not take a single drawing class. Unfortunately, back in my day (~30 years ago), Planning and Architecture did not mix, because (so I was told*) the Dean of the latter (nameless here...Oh, what the hell, Stanley Tigerman) had no use for planners.
*Don't quote me. For all I know, he's had a change of heart. Or, maybe not.
posted by she's not there at 9:30 PM on January 19, 2017
I have a grad degree in planning from the University of Illinois at Chicago and did not take a single drawing class. Unfortunately, back in my day (~30 years ago), Planning and Architecture did not mix, because (so I was told*) the Dean of the latter (nameless here...Oh, what the hell, Stanley Tigerman) had no use for planners.
*Don't quote me. For all I know, he's had a change of heart. Or, maybe not.
posted by she's not there at 9:30 PM on January 19, 2017
Raindrops
Drop tops
Shootin' baskets with police at the cop shop
posted by themanwho at 3:23 PM on January 20, 2017
Drop tops
Shootin' baskets with police at the cop shop
posted by themanwho at 3:23 PM on January 20, 2017
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posted by Etrigan at 10:31 AM on January 19, 2017 [7 favorites]