How to build a better block: Jason Roberts at TEDxOU

Opposite to the 'top down' concept of urban design is BETTER BLOCK, founded in Dallas' Oak Cliff by Jason Roberts and Andrew Howard. The Better Block project is a demonstration tool that temporarily re-visions an area to show the potential to create a walkable, vibrant, neighborhood center. The idea and the charrettes to realize it have quickly spread to cities like Memphis, St. Louis, New York, and Boston. National media coverage includes NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@BrentCBarnes]

This is what the professionals call 'unscripted participation'. As a professional, I LOVE it! The bit about finding all of the rules and then trying to break all of them at once really resonates! I hope your (breathless) enthusiasm infects many other communities! Keep up the great work!

[@Loren_Law]

I like his ideas on starting something in a short time frame. So many projects dissolve because people wait around too long.

[@TheTacoVision]

This guy seriously kicks ass

[@stephentrepreneur]

Inspiring to say the least. The last few minutes say it all: Show up, be present/available, give it a name, set a date, publish it, commit to your project.

[@chevy02deuce]

What an encouraging talk! Gotta save this to show all the doubters.

[@MichaelScott-ht8oo]

Very inspiring Jason! I am a Landscape Architecture student and this is exactly what I want to be doing to make cities more community driven and inhabitable. What you are doing is truly making a difference - and makes me want to get out there in my own community!

[@PS7334]

This talk was so fun to watch! Great humor and extremely inspiring!

[@atlantaunderground]

Love, love, love it. This is so up my alley

[@FatCapsAndChrome]

"We told people, oh yeah, this is the bike part of town, and they believed it." LOL

[@kdaveson]

Glad to see William H Whyte getting a shoutout - much of his seminal work may be 40+ years old, but it's still more relevant than ever, and his 'Project for Public Spaces' still does fantastic work around the US. Jan Gehl is also another pioneer in this area and is worth researching for anyone interested in this kind of improvement at a top-down level, but it really is inspiring to see someone take on these huge challenges from a grass-roots level. Well done Mr Roberts!

[@guydauncey]

Way to go! We all need to have the courage to dream it, invent it, and then do it.

[@jonokenyon]

So inspiring. Be what you want your community to be! The naming thing is also such an important point.

[@ShaudaySmith]

I appreciate his initiative and proactive nature for his community. Many of the things he participated in did not change the entire city but helped out the local neighborhoods. I'm all about guerrilla-style community enrichment and revitalization. Because it's from people who live there and care about where they live. Putting forth local change can be way more impactful than state level or higher.

[@JohnZWetmore]

Great idea breaking the rules to show how silly they are. Several years ago, I interviewed Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson on P4P 108. He described their regulations, which he was trying to change: "It was like somebody had decided they were going to make this as bland and as boring a place as possible for pedestrians."

[@carriesagel]

Castleberry Hill in Atlanta could easily be part of the Better Block group! A few years ago we built the Railside Dog Park and if anything it's the old time rules of Atlanta that are stopping folks from moving forward, we need to take it back!

[@andy4an]

Inspiring.

[@ricp]

man...! this guy is amazing.!!

[@JudeHannah]

Love the passion. @ReNewtonNation wants to retrofit the King George corridor in south Newton ( Surrey) BC and these are fabulous ideas. Thank you for your enthusiasm. It's contagious!

[@mcpro1245]

This is AWESOME!

[@MegaMoose1989]

this is a response to neutalix? Who wondered if building better block participants are trespassing on building owners rights. Many of the building owners have been willing participants in these events, It shows potential for otherwise empty buildings, which increases chances for them to be used and not sitting empty.

[@apexscape]

'every reform movement has its fringe lunatic' great job

[@sarahtabassum6305]

you are so good!

[@kidd8291]

So cool!!!!!

[@opheliamoonstone]

This here is a real-life (male) Leslie Knope...

[@phantomsuccour]

Hero

[@vatnidd]

I now need to catch a breath.

[@SpecialTwat]

The way he speaks makes me feel really out of breath!

[@anablepophobia]

It's all about involvement and momentum. Dallas is hardly the epicenter for progressive movements, but it's hard, even for Scrooge McDuck, to say no to new business and a community that sees what could be.

[@emmanuelwamp3135]

awesome

[@Epianato]

What bold and intriguing ideas! Nice work. It would be nice if he didn't sound like he was running a marathon, though.

[@kyriacosstavrinides893]

When the rules are stupid, don't follow them.

[@geoman798]

This guy should be our president

[@ZackeryWilson]

Phew!

[@deezynar]

I always enjoy watching anyone exposing stupid laws. Government is rarely your friend, and is the cause of many of your problems, although you don't know it. Unintended consequences frequently cause more problems than the benefits the laws are supposed to fix.

[@neutralaxis1]

I guess this is an example of don't ask permission, ask forgiveness. I'm in favor of his motives, but I'm kinda trying to figure out how he doesn't get cited for trespassing, vandalism, etc. Is he buying these properties before doing things to them? Either the city, or an owner somewhere, still owns those abandoned buildings. Maybe it's simply a different city government culture than where I'm used to.

[@realsmith69]

How to Butterfly NZ Opunake Butterfly Club OBC Opunake Bike Club.

[@ZG22LDN]

If you want some European "flavor" in your initiatives and towns, beginning every sentence with "I" won't get you far. It starts with YOU perhaps but surely you have a whole team around you, not to mention the community.

[@SuperGman92]

I like what this guy is saying but holy shit. Take a breath and slow down.

[@elizabethbriel]

+SuperGman92 TEDx speakers are under pressure to keep talks to under 18mins or so. Looks like this guy condensed a 24-minute talk to fit the shorter timeframe.

[@GrantValdes]

Can confirm. Heard him give a 50-minute version of this talk at the Strong Towns summit in Tulsa.

[@SockPuppetSuperstar]

Hooray for patchouli fascism!

[@TIENxSHINHAN]

I hate how these hipsters run around talking about helping out Oak Cliff but don't. They only stay in North Oak Cliff, the gentrified, coffee shop side of town, but never touch South Oak Cliff, the place where the area gets its reputation from. Quit saying you're going to help Oak Cliff and Southern Dallas when you're really just helping out the Bishop Arts District.

[@archstevej]

+Juan Redcorn Maybe its your time to get hip and do this over there.

[@TIENxSHINHAN]

+Steven Archambault I really don't want all these hipsters down here. I would just prefer they stop acting like they're helping out a whole area instead of a couple of blocks, which weren't even that bad to begin with. It's like giving a homeless person a dollar and then bragging about all the community service you do.

[@TheTapeandscissors]

And comments like this are why south Oak Cliff will always be south Oak Cliff.

[@TIENxSHINHAN]

John Wayne south oak cliff will always be south oak cliff because no one cares about south oak cliff. Everyone wants to look good "Look at us! We're helping out the ghetto!" But they only stay in their little gentrified area.

[@TheTapeandscissors]

So instead you should belittle anyone who cares about any part of it..? I'm not sure I follow, because it seems like that the problem is not caring and acting like anyone who does is a hipster worthy of derision. I don't know exactly what's wrong with what the guy did. He's not God, he's a dude doing things in his part of the neighborhood because he wants to, not for charity.

[@kenweyrauch2325]

just keep the bullshit lines going until it has to happen?

[@andrewe3165]

Enthusiasm : 10. Execution : 4

[@wfran15]

Great to revitalize old dilapidated area's of the city, and I commend you for you work and community activism, but Knox street? Do we really need to drop it from four lanes to two so that a two way bike lane can go unused? Like one of the most trafficked retail areas of the city needs you to come in and revitalize it, what a joke.

[@electraloverloverlover8654]

hes so nervous. ted talks are less about learning and soapbox platforms and more about charging an audience to listen to some bloke stammer and think for half an hour

[@electraloverloverlover8654]

ugh

[@electraloverloverlover8654]

I absolutely detest watching this video.