How This Strong Towns Member Used a “Vision Block” to Celebrate Small Bets
Want to better your community but don’t know where to start? Enter It’s the Little Things: a weekly Strong Towns podcast that gives you the wisdom and encouragement you need to take the small yet powerful actions that can make your city or town stronger.
It’s the Little Things features Strong Towns Community Builder Jacob Moses in conversation with various guests who have taken action in their own places and in their own ways.
I hope we can continue to celebrate the small victories and, one day, celebrate a really big victory when this area transforms from our vision block to our vision road.
- Shawn Reilly, Strong Towns Member and founder at the Bardstown Road Improvement Group
Everyone has a vision for their neighborhood. We walk the blocks, creating a mental catalogue of intersections that need crosswalks; we peer inside vacant storefronts, envisioning a small grocery store or a coffee shop; we stand in empty parking lots, brainstorming more productive uses than car storage.
The imaginative outcome excites us, understandably so. Yet it may feel unachievable as we wonder how a neighborhood that perhaps has experienced little love may suddenly capture the attention of the usual players, such as developers and public officials.
Strong Towns member and Louisville resident Shawn Reilly faced a similar challenge as he brainstormed how he could demonstrate his vision for Bardstown Road: a major corridor in his neighborhood with the bones of a productive place—sidewalks, main street-style buildings, a handful of advocates—that, once oozing in activity, had since shown flashes of decline.
However, as he began creating the short list of investments he envisioned, Shawn discovered Bardstown Road didn’t need a major intervention. Instead, it needed a series of small bets: low-cost, low-lift interventions that would address immediate struggles.
Inspired by this revelation, Shawn and his peers at the Bardstown Road Improvement Group created a “Vision Block”: a one-day event where neighbors showcased the small bets, such as DIY crosswalks, pop-ups shops, and street trees planted in bourbon barrels (a nod to Kentucky’s heritage), that could create a more productive place.
In this episode, Shawn shares the story behind the vision block. You’ll learn why advocates must trust their observations, how to brainstorm small bets, and, most important, how to introduce a little bit of chaos on your block.
Show notes: