0°Recent Blog Posts - Nest City Blog
8 strategies to navigate power patterns
How much of me do I insert while hosting a community in conversation with itself? This is a question I often explore in my work with cities and I’ve noticed two patterns in which hosts and community relate to each other: the host-attractor pattern and the host-on-the-rim pattern. These tw...
Published at Nest City Blog
How much of me do I insert while hosting a community in conversation with itself? This is a question I often explore in my work with cities and I’ve noticed two patterns in which hosts and community relate to each other: the host-attractor pattern and the host-on-the-rim pattern. These tw...
Published at Nest City Blog
Accommodate or exclude
There’s a regular event my kids and I attend, a bit of an annual celebration organized by another family. The invitation is always preceded with a bit of communication to confirm the date and time, to make sure we can all attend and the necessary adjustments are made to make sure everyone...
Published at Nest City Blog
There’s a regular event my kids and I attend, a bit of an annual celebration organized by another family. The invitation is always preceded with a bit of communication to confirm the date and time, to make sure we can all attend and the necessary adjustments are made to make sure everyone...
Published at Nest City Blog
It takes cities to save a city
It is the nature of cities to share beauty and horror. Waterton, a small town at the edge of one of Canada’s national parks, was threatened by wildfire this fall, a reminder of the real threat faced last year. It was also a reminder of how towns, communities and cities are intrinsically r...
Published at Nest City Blog
It is the nature of cities to share beauty and horror. Waterton, a small town at the edge of one of Canada’s national parks, was threatened by wildfire this fall, a reminder of the real threat faced last year. It was also a reminder of how towns, communities and cities are intrinsically r...
Published at Nest City Blog
Can a city heal itself?
With some planner colleagues, we have been testing the idea of “the healing city”, or a “city that heals itself”. Some people get it, and some people don’t. I think our response to this idea depends on our relationship to trauma and discomfort. In a bar on Thursday...
Published at Nest City Blog
With some planner colleagues, we have been testing the idea of “the healing city”, or a “city that heals itself”. Some people get it, and some people don’t. I think our response to this idea depends on our relationship to trauma and discomfort. In a bar on Thursday...
Published at Nest City Blog
Roles and challenges for the host-attractor / host-on-the-rim
I’ve met 12 fabulous new people over the course of the last several months in an online learning environment. We have gathered around a host-attractor, in the host-attractor pattern, and we would not have met if we were not attracted to our teacher and his offering. As a host-attractor, our tea...
Published at Nest City Blog
I’ve met 12 fabulous new people over the course of the last several months in an online learning environment. We have gathered around a host-attractor, in the host-attractor pattern, and we would not have met if we were not attracted to our teacher and his offering. As a host-attractor, our tea...
Published at Nest City Blog
Host-attractor / host-on-the-rim
How much of me do I insert while hosting a community in conversation with itself? In sitting with this question for years, I’ve noticed two patterns in which hosts and community relate to each other: the host-attractor and the host-on-the-rim. These two patterns are distinct in their energetic ...
Published at Nest City Blog
How much of me do I insert while hosting a community in conversation with itself? In sitting with this question for years, I’ve noticed two patterns in which hosts and community relate to each other: the host-attractor and the host-on-the-rim. These two patterns are distinct in their energetic ...
Published at Nest City Blog
A castle’s not made for everyone – is a city?
After a delectable Turkish meal in Inverness Scotland, I found myself contemplating eras of old: a visit to 4000-year-old Bronze Age Corrimony Cairn, the ruins of medieval Urquart Castle and a boat ride on Loch Ness. While no humans today know why the cairn has 11 standing stones, rather than 1...
Published at Nest City Blog
After a delectable Turkish meal in Inverness Scotland, I found myself contemplating eras of old: a visit to 4000-year-old Bronze Age Corrimony Cairn, the ruins of medieval Urquart Castle and a boat ride on Loch Ness. While no humans today know why the cairn has 11 standing stones, rather than 1...
Published at Nest City Blog
Sovereignty is necessarily disruptive
I watched two men well into their 60s get into a physical fight at the ski hill yesterday. I’d taken a break to sit in the sunshine and give my knee a moment to tell me if skiing was a good or bad thing to be doing. I watched a family of three ski up … Continue reading Sovereignty is nece...
Published at Nest City Blog
I watched two men well into their 60s get into a physical fight at the ski hill yesterday. I’d taken a break to sit in the sunshine and give my knee a moment to tell me if skiing was a good or bad thing to be doing. I watched a family of three ski up … Continue reading Sovereignty is nece...
Published at Nest City Blog
7 tips for generative check ins
The generative quality of a check in can be eroded when the holding space we create for ourselves is weakened or collapsed. Two things do this: fear of empty space and discomfort in listening. Below are 6 tips to amplify the generative quality of a check in. (Of course these 2 things affect mor...
Published at Nest City Blog
The generative quality of a check in can be eroded when the holding space we create for ourselves is weakened or collapsed. Two things do this: fear of empty space and discomfort in listening. Below are 6 tips to amplify the generative quality of a check in. (Of course these 2 things affect mor...
Published at Nest City Blog
Welcoming outsiders
At a conference welcome reception last fall in Canada, I stepped in to join a conversation in progress. The room was full of people I did not know, so I chose a group where there was one person I had met a few hours ago, and three others new to me. I did not interject … Continue reading W...
Published at Nest City Blog
At a conference welcome reception last fall in Canada, I stepped in to join a conversation in progress. The room was full of people I did not know, so I chose a group where there was one person I had met a few hours ago, and three others new to me. I did not interject … Continue reading W...
Published at Nest City Blog
The unspoken
They were the unheard holding the unspoken the taboo and they told you so what do you do? The unspoken just because unspoken does not leave the room it remains unsaid so what do you do? What do you do with what is both known and unknown not wanted and wanted? Do … Con...
Published at Nest City Blog
They were the unheard holding the unspoken the taboo and they told you so what do you do? The unspoken just because unspoken does not leave the room it remains unsaid so what do you do? What do you do with what is both known and unknown not wanted and wanted? Do … Con...
Published at Nest City Blog
Colonial blind spot
2018 begins with a contemplation of the settler / colonizer story in me and my European cultural lineage on the Canadian Prairies. My understanding of this story and its implications has been growing over many years, most recently with a trip to Germany last fall. It was one of those trips wher...
Published at Nest City Blog
2018 begins with a contemplation of the settler / colonizer story in me and my European cultural lineage on the Canadian Prairies. My understanding of this story and its implications has been growing over many years, most recently with a trip to Germany last fall. It was one of those trips wher...
Published at Nest City Blog
Care out in the open
In cities we each pursue our passions in diverse work, and in doing so we end up looking after each other. Laura looks after our teeth. Arundeep moves gravel to construction sites. Rob looks after teaching our kids. Thor looks after our bodies. Vicki helps me pay for my groceries. Nancy looks a...
Published at Nest City Blog
In cities we each pursue our passions in diverse work, and in doing so we end up looking after each other. Laura looks after our teeth. Arundeep moves gravel to construction sites. Rob looks after teaching our kids. Thor looks after our bodies. Vicki helps me pay for my groceries. Nancy looks a...
Published at Nest City Blog
Harm happens, intended or not
Not intending to cause harm does not mean that harm is not caused. For those of us causing harm, we use this ‘lack of intention’ as a defence mechanism, to distance ourselves from the discomfort of knowing that we did cause harm. It’s a defence mechanism that makes learning un...
Published at Nest City Blog
Not intending to cause harm does not mean that harm is not caused. For those of us causing harm, we use this ‘lack of intention’ as a defence mechanism, to distance ourselves from the discomfort of knowing that we did cause harm. It’s a defence mechanism that makes learning un...
Published at Nest City Blog
A welcoming city has transportation choices
It doesn’t feel good when people in your city scream at you. Last month I was on my bike, on a downtown street, making my way to the new bike lanes a few blocks away. A truck driver yelled at the top of his lungs: USE THE F$&#ING BIKE LANES!!! Only three days before this … Conti...
Published at Nest City Blog
It doesn’t feel good when people in your city scream at you. Last month I was on my bike, on a downtown street, making my way to the new bike lanes a few blocks away. A truck driver yelled at the top of his lungs: USE THE F$&#ING BIKE LANES!!! Only three days before this … Conti...
Published at Nest City Blog
