Mark Lakeman is an architect, placemaker, and urban planner.  He is the founder and design director of Communitecture, and the co-founder of both the City Repair Project and Village Building Convergence.  He believes that public spaces play a foundational role in human society. However with relatively recent colonial systems they have been subdued and replaced by a grid system that connects cars and commerce but not so much people. Now, he is working to revive them by breaking through the cultural inertia and bureaucracy that works to maintain the status quo.

Mark and show host Neal discuss the profound impact that Mark's parents had on him—one an urban planner and the other a researcher studying public spaces in ancient cities. After a few years working in traditional architecture firms, he became disillusioned with their values and traveled the world learning how contemporary indigenous villages were organized. Since then, he's been committed to turning Portland into a place full of lively communal spaces and town squares through placemaking activities—like Little Free Libraries, a concept that he helped create himself. For more on Mark's work, visit communitecture.net, cityrepair.org,  and villagebuildingconvergence.com.

And check out our Latitude spotlights highlighted at the top of the episode.

Latitude Change Agent spotlight: Mark Voss

Ecosystem Directory partner spotlight: EcoNest Architecture and Paula Baker Laport's new book "Prescriptions for a Healthy House"

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