New Book Explores Role of Love in the Context of City Making
St. Petersburg, Fla. (PRWEB) January 13, 2015 -- Peter Kageyama, author of the internationally acclaimed For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair between People and Their Places, today announced the release of his long awaited follow up book, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places. The book builds upon the central premise that love matters in the context of city and place making. A “how to” manual for community leaders, both official and unofficial, Love Where You Live offers guidance on how to be intentional about building more emotionally engaging places.
“There are lots of best practices and playbooks for how to build roads, develop downtown retail or encourage more mixed use development, said Kageyama, a renowned community development consultant. “But there is no playbook for love. “Love Where You Live is not prescriptive, but it does give leaders and concerned citizens some places that they might start, some tactics and some things to be considered moving forward.”
Love Where You Live delves further into the role of love of place in building sustainable, successful cities that appeal to residents, entrepreneurs, and corporations alike. Kageyama spent the past three years speaking across the globe on the topic of city making and working with dozens of city leaders and citizens on creating positive change in everything from struggling to rural and suburban communities to cities and downtowns in the throes of reinvention. He provides copious examples from cities and towns all over the world and practical steps that community leaders might use to start the engine of change in their city.
“When we love something, we go above and beyond for it. When more of us fall in love with our cities, we can make amazing things happen,” Kageyama continued.
The book explains how to build networks of co-creators, allay community fears, deal with naysayers and bad news, and find your city’s authentic identity. Having worked with many communities that are cash strapped but still committed to making positive changes, Kageyama shares stories from several creative municipalities that leveraged small amounts of funding to produce significant transformations.
Some highlights of Love Where You Live include the importance of fun in projects, the value of small things and the importance of occasionally breaking some rules. Kageyama showcases projects from all over the United States and abroad, including game-changing public art from Greenville, South Carolina and Denver, Colorado and temporary creative spaces in Salt Lake City, Utah and Christchurch, New Zealand. He even proclaims the current “It” City in America. Spoiler alert: It’s Denver!
Kageyama also examines the successes and failures of his hometown, St. Petersburg, Florida, and the entire Tampa Bay region of which it is a part. He discusses the “self-inflicted wound” that is the downtown St. Petersburg Pier, the self-fulfilling declaration of St. Petersburg as a City of the Arts, and the transformation of City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn into one of the coolest mayors in America.
Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places is published by Creative Cities Productions. The book’s forward is written by Charles Landry, author of The Art of City Making, and is illustrated by Michelle Royal of RIDG.
Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places can be purchased on Amazon.com.
About the Author
Peter Kageyama is the author of the award winning For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair Between People and Their Places and the follow up, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places. He is an internationally sought-after community development consultant and grassroots engagement strategist who speaks all over the world about bottom-up community development and the amazing people who are making change happen.
To learn more about Peter Kageyama and his work, visit http://fortheloveofcities.com/.
Peter Kageyama, http://fortheloveofcities.com/, +1 7275102524, [email protected]
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