The weekend before last, I shared a “Cooperative Living and Sharing Brainstorm Booth” with Regenerative Real Estate at the incredible Bioneers Conference. Our booth featured a coffee table and chairs in a circle, and we invited passers by to come in, have a cup of tea, and brainstorm with us on huge poster boards. It’s safe to say that was the most idea-stimulating three days of my life! Bioneers brings together some amazing thinkers and activists, and they shared a lot of thoughts.

In my next few blog posts, I’ll list some of the ideas that we brought home on post-it notes attached to out brainstorm boards. First, here are some of the ideas we collected in answer to the question: “How do we create STRONG COMMUNITY in our neighborhoods?”

* Remodel the suburbs
* Reclaim your suburban neighborhood!
* Set up a barter system, produce share, and clothing swap
* Neighborhood kiosks and bulletin boards
* See what City Repair did
* Draft ethics and agreements that the whole group creates and supports, creating a sense of ownership/accountability to the community
* Front yard and safe active common space
* Connect food and home. Agriculture where we live.
* Collaboration between landlords and tenants.
* Create unity among tenants of rental housing.
* Get out from under the hypnosis of consumerist society and realize a new world is possible.
* Foster multigenerational communities: children and elders together!
* Map the skill base of your neighobrs (find out who are the painters, builders, doctors, lawyers, gardeners, massage therapists, etc.)
* Regular annual food-based house parties
* It’s all about architecture
* Foster compassion toward yourself and extend it to others.
* Imagine you’re an ecosystem nurtured by “THANKS!!!!” from the future. (We thank Paul Horan of Young Ecosystem Scholars Support Services for sharing that piece of wisdom.)
* Bring together a community and ask: What are we going to do that is EXTRAORDINARY?
* Feast together!