There’s a lot of really exciting Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper innovation going on in public spaces in cities all over the world; some of it is officially-sanctioned, but a lot of it is citizen-generated, grassroots Placemaking. In fact, the current parklet trend has roots in Park(ing) Day, which started in San Francisco but now takes place once a year in hundreds of cities: http://parkingday.org/

If you’re on Twitter, we encourage you to check out the conversation happening around the #lighterquickercheaper hashtag, where you’ll find frequent updates on this kind of scrappy, social innovation.

Awesome post about “gazelles” and innovation with public spaces!  Creative thought leaders are key in current economic times…and social entrepreneurs that want to make our communities a better place have a lot to offer to the non-profit and for-profit arenas.  It seems to me any influence a company or organization has is related to getting people to notice what they are doing (in any aspect)…and what you are “doing differently”.  Just some food for thought: I do wonder, are movements like this happening on the east coast as well? Is there a different mentality in different “places” across the country?  Also, what other “out of the box” things can be done by for-profits and non-profits alike to incite change in our communities?  
Paula HuYoung
Innovative Non-Profit Magazine