John and Peter talked with social innovator Margery Spinney on May 2, 2019 about how the dividend housing system she invented provides permanent housing affordability and allows residents to add value and receive an economic return on their housing choice....

At a recent meeting with city managers, I was struck by how universally the focus of relationships with community was “problems.” Certainly, problems are one way of defining a part of the kinds of relationships government or any institution...

Building strong communities is not easy. In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam documents the decline of community life in North America. He blames poverty, suburbanization, television, and more time spent at work. Others have added fear, mobility, globalization and increased...

You Are the Guest Conversation with Peter and John December 12, 2016 – Chat Room   About every six weeks, for the last five years, John and Peter have hosted online / dial-up conversations with community-building pioneers as their guests. For their December...

John and Peter talk with their special guest Edd Conboy, Director of Social Services and the Counseling Center at Broad Street Ministry and Senior Staff Therapist at the Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, about different ways people and communities can shift from a scarcity,...

Ed. Note: John and Peter’s online/dial-up conversation with Edd Conboy on August 4 inspired a thought-provoking email exchange with Jeannie Masterson on scarcity, gifts, joy and abundance. Enjoy!   Peter, John, Edd – I listened to your conversation today, enjoying and being...

What does a one-room schoolhouse in Michigan have to do with Greece, Europe, Democracy and the now floundering economic globalization experiment? On January 25, 2015 the far-left Syriza Party won 149 seats out of 300 in Greece’s parliamentary elections and formed...

We did a piece some time ago about Joan Horwitt and her idea to teach school kids how to grow lettuce. Then she gave them all packs of seeds to take home and teach their parents how to do...

The Highlands neighbourhood lies in northeast Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, overlooking the North Saskatchewan River valley. It’s a mature neighbourhood of Foursquare and various Arts and Crafts style homes, large lots, big trees and beautiful river views, all close by central Edmonton. Annexed by Edmonton in 1912,...