Americans are loud. Amsterdam equals sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Mexicans are lazy and Germans are boring, but punctual. Paris is romantic, Wuhan infectious, Ukrainians heroic, and New Zealand untouched. This is the way people around the world think about cities, regions and countries and the communities that live there; through cliches and stereotypes. It can be frustrating and hindering trade, diplomacy, investment, tourism, or talent attraction. Many believe that such image problems can be resolved with advertising campaigns, but the classic tourism promotion model is broken and insufficient. This book explains what works and what doesn’t when it comes to improving the reputation of cities, regions, and countries. It does so without the use of jargon and with reference to numerous case-studies. The book primarily aims to inspire readers and offer them a broad overview of an issue in modern society that is of interest and relevance to all of us: the reputation of our communities.

What are the imagined communities that compel men to kill or to die for an idea of a nation? This notion of nationhood had its origins in the founding of the Americas, but was then adopted and transformed by populist movements in nineteenth-century Europe. It became the rallying cry for anti-Imperialism as well as the abiding explanation for colonialism. In this scintillating, groundbreaking work of intellectual history Anderson explores how ideas are formed and reformulated at every level, from high politics to popular culture, and the way that they can make people do extraordinary things. In the twenty-first century, these debates on the nature of the nation state are even more urgent. As new nations rise, vying for influence, and old empires decline, we must understand who we are as a community in the face of history, and change.

Urban and regional planners, elected officials, and other decisionmakers are increasingly focused on what makes places livable. Access to the arts inevitably appears high on that list, but knowledge about how culture and the arts can act as a tool of economic development is sadly lacking. This important sector must be considered not only as a source of amenities or pleasant diversions, but also as a wholly integrated part of local economies. Employing original data produced through both quantitative and qualitative research, Creative Communities provides a greater understanding of how art works as an engine for transforming communities. "Without good data and analysis—much of it grounded in economic theory—we cannot hope to strengthen communities through the arts or to achieve any of the other goals we set for the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest nationwide funder of the arts." —from the Foreword by Rocco Landesman Contributors: Hasan Bakhshi (Nesta UK), Elisa Barbour (University of California, Berkeley), Shiri M. Breznitz (Georgia Institute of Technology), Roland J. Kushner (Muhlenberg College), Rex LaMore (Michigan State University), James Lawton (Michigan State), Neil Lee (Nesta UK), Richard G. Maloney (Boston University), Ann Markusen (University of Minnesota), Juan Mateos-Garcia (Nesta UK), Anne Gadwa Nicodemus (Metris Arts Consulting), Douglas S. Noonan (Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis), Peter Pedroni (Williams College), Amber Peruski (Michigan State), Michele Root-Bernstein (Michigan State), Robert Root-Bernstein (Michigan State), Eileen Roraback (Michigan State), Michael Rushton (Indiana University), Lauren Schmitz (New School for Social Research), Jenny Schuetz (University of Southern California), John Schweitzer (Michigan State), Stephen Sheppard (Williams College), Megan VanDyke (Michigan State), Gregory H. Wassall (Northeastern University)

Investigating how people and places are connected into the creative economy, this volume takes a holistic view of the intersections between community, policy and practice and how they are co-constituted. The role of the creative economy and broader cultural policy within community development is problematised and, in a significant addition to work in this area, the concept of ‘place’ forms a key cross cutting theme. It brings together case studies from the European Union across urban, rural and coastal areas, along with examples from the developing world, to explore tensions in universal and regionally-specific issues.

Summary: "Creative Community Planning provides clear access to emerging innovations in artistic, narrative, embodied and technological methods, exploring the frontiers of community engagement within a fresh sustainability framework. Academics, professionals and community members increasingly acknowledge that multiple perspectives enrich planning outcomes. Furthermore, it's acknowledged that the engagement process itself can create imaginative forums and spaces to nurture understanding and empathy for ourselves and for our environments. Reflecting on the wide continuum of participatory practice, the authors of Creative Community Planning discuss the work of planning theorists, researchers and practitioners engaging a diversity of people living in ever changing communities. The authors discuss how engagement practices are enhanced using practices such as visioning and participatory research processes, poetry, theatre, film, websites and exercises to access the creative ideas of all ages, including children and young people."--Publisher description.

Community action is a vital strategy in the fight against climate change and has increasingly informed government policy, academic inquiry and grassroots action over the last decade. This timely and engaging volume explores both the promise of community-based action in tackling climate change and some of its limitations. On the one hand, community-based action offers a meaningful way to achieve global targets and an avenue for renewing social relations at the local level. On the other, it challenges fundamental aspects of social organization in the modern economy and sometimes comes into conflict with wider structures and constraints. This volume brings together theoretical and practical perspectives on community action to mobilize social change towards a sustainable, low carbon future. The opportunities and challenges are considered through a diverse range of models and case studies. Fresh conceptual insights are provided and new light is shed on the policy implications and practical ramifications of establishing effective community engagement in efforts to combat climate change locally.This book will prove a stimulating read for academic researchers in the fields of climate change science, local and national level policy analysis and governance research. Local authorities, development agencies and policymakers seeking to understand and to influence the behaviours and practices of 'energy consumers' and the communities in which they live will also find much to inspire them.

This book documents the rise in youth creativity, entrepreneurship, and collective strategies to address systemic barriers and discrimination in the creative industries and create an expanded, more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and caring field. Although the difficulties of entering and making a living in the creative industries—a field which can often perpetuate dominant patterns of social exclusion and economic inequality—are well documented, there is still an absence of guidance on how young creatives can navigate this environment. Foregrounding an intersectional approach, Reimagining the Creative Industries responds to this gap by documenting the work of contemporary youth collectives and organizations that are responding to these systemic barriers and related challenges by creating more caring and community-oriented alternatives. Mobilizing a care ethics framework, Miranda Campbell underscores forms of care that highlight relationality, recognize structural barriers, and propose new visions for the creative industries. This book posits a future where creativity, collaboration, and community are possible through increased avenues for co-creation, teaching and learning, and community engagement. Anyone interested in thinking critically about the creative industries, youth culture, community work, and creative employment will be drawn to Campbell's incisive work.

This book is written for readers who want to understand why some communities, cities, regions and countries are admired and others are not; for anyone who feels that the way in which their community is perceived is too negative, clichéd or stereotypical; and for those people who want to find out what can be done about it.

How to research, visit, evaluate, and join the ecovillage or sustainable community of your dreams. Finding community is as critical as obtaining food and shelter, since the need to belong is what makes us human. The isolation and loneliness of modern life have led many people to search for deeper connection, which has resulted in a renewed interest in intentional communities. These intentional communities or ecovillages are an appealing choice for like-minded people who seek to create a family-oriented and ecologically sustainable lifestyle—a lifestyle they are unlikely to find anywhere else. However, the notion of an intentional community can still be a tremendous leap for some—deterred perhaps by a misguided vision of eking out a hardscrabble existence with little reward. In fact, successful ecovillages thrive because of the combined skills and resources of their members. Finding Community presents a thorough overview of ecovillages and intentional communities and offers solid advice on how to research thoroughly, visit thoughtfully, evaluate intelligently, and join gracefully. Useful considerations include: Important questions to ask (of members and of yourself) Signs of a healthy (and not-so-healthy) community Cost of joining (and staying) Common blunders to avoid Finding Community provides intriguing possibilities to readers who are seeking a more cooperative, sustainable, and meaningful life. Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together and editor of Communities magazine. She lives at Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A delightful, compelling book that offers a dazzling array of practical, thoughtful exercises designed to spark creativity, help solve problems, foster connection, and make our lives better.”—Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author and host of the Happier podcast In an era of ambiguous, messy problems—as well as extraordinary opportunities for positive change—it’s vital to have both an inquisitive mind and the ability to act with intention. Creative Acts for Curious People is filled with ways to build those skills with resilience, care, and confidence. At Stanford University’s world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka “the d.school,” students and faculty, experts and seekers bring together diverse perspectives to tackle ambitious projects; this book contains the experiences designed to help them do it. A provocative and highly visual companion, it’s a definitive resource for people who aim to draw on their curiosity and creativity in the face of uncertainty. Teeming with ideas about discovery, learning, and leading the way through unknown creative territory, Creative Acts for Curious People includes memorable stories and more than eighty innovative exercises. Curated by executive director Sarah Stein Greenberg, after being honed in the classrooms of the d.school, these exercises originated in some of the world’s most inventive and unconventional minds, including those of d.school and IDEO founder David M. Kelley, ReadyMade magazine founder Grace Hawthorne, innovative choreographer Aleta Hayes, Google chief innovation evangelist Frederik G. Pferdt, and many more. To bring fresh approaches to any challenge–world changing or close to home–you can draw on exercises such as Expert Eyes to hone observation skills, How to Talk to Strangers to foster understanding, and Designing Tools for Teams to build creative leadership. The activities are at once lighthearted, surprising, tough, and impactful–and reveal how the hidden dynamics of design can drive more vibrant ways of making, feeling, exploring, experimenting, and collaborating at work and in life. This book will help you develop the behaviors and deepen the mindsets that can turn your curiosity into ideas, and your ideas into action.