For centuries people have migrated to cities to find community; but for the last several decades in North America we have abandoned many of our common spaces - parks and public squares - leaving them to drug dealers and the desperate.
But all it takes is a few brave souls who refuse to give up on community to inspire their neighbors to take back public spaces. In Oakland, they've built a community garden in Lillie Lucket's backyard; and in Toronto's West Side the neighbors fixed up a community center in a big downtown recreational park and began a whole series of programs run by a wide range of community groups.
Other titles in the series are:
Community Animals - Leading thinkers explore community, work, time, values, and change.
Virtually Intentional - Finding community in the cloister, a commune, and in cyberspace.
Community by Design - Good design of houses and neighborhoods builds community.
Making Shelter - My Home with Others - Co-ops and co-housing provide new models for building community.
Ageing with Community - The search for community and independence as we grow old.
The Boundaries of Change - Cities cope with changing demographics.
Finding Us and Them - Physically and mentally challenged people find community.
On the Road - RV owners leave their home towns and build their own communities.
Maps with Teeth - Bioregional mapping by locals communicates a sense of place and regional identity.
Grade Level: 7-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 1997
Copyright Date: 1997
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-504-0
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-695-X
Reviews
"You can't keep community down. Give people a little encouragement and a few tools, and they'll recreate the sense of community spirit in any available cracks and crannies in our otherwise alienated culture...These stories...are upbeat, encouraging - and replicable." Communities
"This is not an indulgent journey into nostalgia, but an exploration of the people we have become, touching on our diversity as well as our similarities." Orion Afield
"What (the producers) found was a growing belief and faith in the community as the cure for social ills like poverty, crime and estrangement from other people...It is precisely because WAYS WE LIVE is politically astute, without being partisan, that it is so compelling." Alex Strachan, Vancouver Sun
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