Posted by:
Steve Dubb
What if community wealth building were to sweep the nation?
The Project for Public Spaces’ newly released April Fool’s Issue goes ten years into the future to answer that question: April First 2017
If nothing else, The Project for Public Spaces faux-newsletter, Faking Places, is an entertaining read. In its fantasy universe, the cover of Time Magazine declares “Placemaking” to be its “Idea of the Year” and the attached article surveys the “quiet revolution” sweeping America—from the formation of the Vaclav Havel School of Civic Affairs at Notre Dame University to the creation of the new cabinet-level Secretary of Neighborhoods office. The threat of global warming disappears as Americans give up their ranch homes, gas-guzzlers, and long commutes in a flurry of sustainable development enthusiasm. And my personal favorite: Better Homes & Gardens changes the title and theme of its magazine to Better Homes & ‘Hoods.
One could get petty and critique the Project for Public Service’s April Fool’s fairy tale on a number of levels—to mention just two, there is an obvious underestimation of the “sunk costs” of our present economic and transportation structures, as well as a failure to consider the likely race, class, and gender impacts of the restructuring that its utopia would require. But this is probably not a terribly useful exercise.
In any event, it is nice to see a community wealth-building group that has a sense of humor. And, by the way, if you didn’t see it when it first came out, I would heartily recommend their inaugural 2004 April Fool’s issue, in which Wal-Mart, after hearing a speech on the value of community April First 2004 Feature throws in the towel and moves to abandon big box stores in favor of small downtown storefronts.