It’s amazing how much joy you can get from adding just a small thing to your street. I walk past a corner on my street every day now and smile. I see others smiling too, a daily dose of optimism in a time when we need it more than ever.
Back in April, I was struggling to come up with how to respond to an Earth Day event, a challenge issued by Placemakingx, an exciting network of global “placemakers” I had joined. How to connect with others in this time of separation, how to create a reminder of Mother Earth, of the hope and regeneration that lies beneath our feet?
I decided to order a bag of wildflower seeds and plant the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street in front of my house. I imagined neighbors continuing it, creating a street long garden, tended by each of us, a kind of community flower garden we co-created.
My flowers failed. There was too much shade, but my neighbors had loads of sun... I asked for permission to plant small sections of their strips and hoped I wouldn’t be embarrassed, that something, anything, would come up in the bare, muddy patches I had dug up in front of their houses.
Summer came and so did the flowers. Each time I walk by them, my spirits lift. They change every day. New growth, new color, new shapes. My neighbors are happy too! Some have even come to ask if I have any seeds left to share. Maybe next year we can spread them down the street a bit more. Now I have partners!
Making your walk down the street just a little bit better is a small thing, but such a worthwhile thing, and that’s how it starts, a little bit at a time. Small steps. It may feel awkward or risky at first, but this little bit of placemaking reminded me again of how rewarding it can be to improve where you live, in any small way. It matters, even if it's very small, and you never know how it might grow, what you might set in motion.
It connects us with neighbors and gives us hope, hope that we can make our world better. We are all “placemakers.” It’s wonderful to feel the warmth, the good feeling of giving, of venturing out of your comfort zone to offer something, to bring a smile. We can all “plant seeds that flower on our streets.”
Postscript: Thank you to PlacemakingUS, Placemaking Europe, and others in the network who are providing a space to contribute and lighting the spark of placemaking in all kinds of people around the world.