On October 11, Lansing is hosting its third annual Creative Placemaking Summit. I’m honored to be one of the presenters and will be sharing the stage with two of my favorite creative placemakers, Rebekah Kik and Danielle Lewinski. Our assignment is to tackle a tough topic: the cultural conflict between the anything-goes experimentation at the heart of the placemaking movement and the sometimes stifling, but usually well-intentioned bureaucracies of private and public landowners that often have to approve or enable placemaking projects. Put more simply, what happens when a wild & crazy idea runs into the “culture of no”?

Danielle, Rebekah and I have experienced this issue from many perspectives, so we hope to share our experiences with the Summit attendees and identify opportunities for empathy and problem-solving. But this is a tricky and evolving issue, so I’d love to hear from you about how you’ve addressed it. Email me or tweet at me with bright ideas. Better yet, join me at the Summit and we can discuss in person. Conference organizers have lined up an impressive group of leaders from around the country as presenters.