While You Wait: 3 Ways To Make Your City More Joyful, Hopeful and Active This Advent

At church a few weeks ago, we heard an unconventional reminder: even though Thanksgiving was over and many of us had set up our trees and lights, even though the stores were decked out in red and green ornaments…it is not Christmas yet. It’s the season of Advent.

In the traditional church calendar, Advent is the season of waiting, reflection and anticipation in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s a season during which Christians are encouraged to practice penance and reflection as they think about Christ’s arrival as celebrated in the traditional Christmas story. But it’s also a joyful, active season. Advent waiting is not like waiting at the doctor’s office for your name to be called. It doesn’t look like sitting passively and thumbing through magazines, staving off boredom.

It’s more like the kind of waiting we embody when we’re eager for a friend to show up for dinner. We don’t know exactly what time they’ll arrive, but until then, there’s lots of bustling about, making the home lovely, cooking a meal, tidying up. In a similar vein, Advent waiting is full of actions that communicate hope. It’s why we decorate and plan special meals. It’s why we put up lights and buy gifts. It’s why we sing.

One could argue there could be no real Christmas if there wasn’t Advent first — if we didn’t have a chance to build up the anticipation. One could also argue that Christmas is magical, but all the ways we prepare for that special day are also meaningful. Look at the mode of being that it puts us in: hopeful, active and joyful.

So here’s a question: What might it look like to apply this Advent attitude to our cities and neighborhoods? Here are three ideas:

#1. Meet Your Neighbors

I know, I know. This is so cliché. But hear me out. Advent is about waiting joyfully, and part of bringing an Advent attitude to our communities is finding small ways we can bring joy to those around us. If you haven’t met your neighbors, this is a perfect season to do so. It’s the perfect reason to bake Christmas cookies and a clever excuse for “intruding” on people’s privacy.

But beyond all that, it’s a chance to remember the main reason that good urbanism matters: Good urbanism connects people. While better-designed cities would be nice and would help us achieve this connection more easily, we don’t have to wait for good urbanism to arrive to do our part. We can cross that overly wide street and knock on the door of that single-family home with three cars parked in the driveway while we wait for safer streets, multifamily homes and better public transit.

Not just that, but you don’t know who needs the sight of a friendly face and the gift of attention. In my new neighborhood, I’ve discovered we are surrounded by a surprising number of older adults who have lived here for decades, many of whom are living alone. Taking a dozen or so steps to cross the street and speak to them with my small son waving from his perch on my hip is often a highlight of their day — and of mine.

#2. Make Your Corner Beautiful

One of my favorite signs that Advent has arrived are the twinkling lights piercing the darkness of our neighborhood street. Such a small change totally transforms the area, bringing a spirit of cheer and hospitality. Christmas decorations, no matter how simple, remind us that Advent is about waiting with joyful anticipation. We decorate as a way of celebrating the anticipated guest and to remind ourselves of the spirit of the season.

We can transfer this hospitable attitude to our neighborhoods by making something beautiful, even if it’s just our own homes: investing in nice landscaping, putting decorations up, or adding a participatory placemaking feature like a free little library or a bench. Look around you and look for something you can spruce up, for something you can make beautiful.

#3. Speak Hopefully

When we’re joyfully waiting for an anticipated guest to arrive, people around us know it. Usually that’s because we are always talking about it. In other words, people know what we are hoping for because we are always sharing our hope.

As a citizen, perhaps this is a good time to speak hopefully with neighbors, elected officials and people who can make change happen. Maybe this is a good time to get coffee and share your hopes for your neighborhood, to hear their hopes and dreams, to talk about the potential you see, and perhaps to celebrate some progress that’s been made at your next council meeting. What a change in the status quo that would be for people used to hearing complaints and critiques on the regular!

Why It Matters

You’re probably here on the Strong Towns site because you love cities and are acutely aware of the dozens of ways our towns can be better. If you’re like me, you have a perpetually running list of ideas in the back of your head that never stops growing. Just the other day, I found myself daydreaming about how a stroad in our town would look better if we planted trees down the median.

Such daydreams can be exhausting, though, because they remind you of how desperately you hope things will get better and how impossible it sometimes feels to make that “better” a reality. Many of us are busy working on ideas and fostering conversations in our towns, but the pace of change is slow and that slowness can wear down the most fervent among us. Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, Advent can serve as a reminder to make the most of the seemingly infinite waiting that characterizes our hope for better cities.

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