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The Challenge

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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

Inspiration 894 inspirations

Concepting 329 concepts

Applause 329 final concepts

Refinement 20 final concepts

Evaluation 20 final concepts

Winning Concepts Announced!

Realisation Ongoing

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Mission #1

Explore Vibrancy

Share your definition of what vibrancy looks like where you live. Find out more...

Mission #2

Share Stories

Tell us about the cities and communities you know are currently struggling or in the process of revitalising.

Mission #3

Get Active

Take some time to get active and explore your own community – then report back what you learned. Find out more...

Mission #4

Collect Insights

Interview someone living in a struggling city or region to learn more. Find out more...

Mission #5

Surprise Us

Got an Inspiration that doesn't fit the other Missions? Find out more...

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Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

MuralArts - Community, Connection & Art

MuralArts of Philadelphia uses murals to revitalize dying spaces, connect communities, provide jobs, and improve safety while empowering locals. This org is the largest of its kind in the world with results worth watching.

One of thousands of reclaimed spaces celebrating community

www.muralarts.org

Jane Golden began with a few art books and a handful of kids unquestionably headed for the prison system, most had been there already. The city of Philadelphia was plagued, among many things, by significant graffiti marring the walls of its buildings. In an effort to clean up the City and address crime of all kinds, Jane was charged with the mural program. She gathered these kids, discovered their love of art but lack of outlet, made them pledge never to "tag" anything again and only to use art and the mural program was born.

Before creating murals however, the design was created through conversation with the community immediately surrounding the space chosen for the mural. In several cases in Philadelphia blacks and whites were brought together for the first time in these community meetings. Neighbors were also called on to participate in the painting and site prep.

Today over 3000 murals have been painted throughout the City. in addition the organization now paints recycling trucks to draw attention to new programs. The prison system is involved by allowing inmates to contribute to paints. Afterschool programs have grown. A new project in the river creates art along the waterfront which is particularly spectacular at night. History is told through many of the murals - some including audio components that are operated by the viewer.

Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

Comments

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Meena Kadri

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November 09, 2011, 05:08AM

Love these guys! Especially the garbarge trucks they did to promote recycling – moveable awareness building. Tip: To activate the links in your post, hit the Update Entry button up there on the right, then follow the instructions here: http://bit.ly/oi_link (they need to be in the Description field rather than the Summary field) You might also like to check out our lowdown on the Inspiration phase: http://bit.ly/oi_inspire with some helpful tips, including unpacking insights to spark a conversation. Lots of great stuff to be discussed on this one!

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November 09, 2011, 04:59AM

Hi Colleen, interesting post! Any chance you could find an image to go along with it? Images help grab attention and tell a story with higher impact. We know occasionally people have issues uploading images so let us know if you face any problems. You should be able to use the 'Update entry' button on the right of your post and follow the instructions to add images from there. Looking forward to seeing more of your inspiring ideas on OpenIDEO.

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Amanda Drescher

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November 09, 2011, 04:16AM

I completely agree with Vincent, Colleen. This is a great inspiration. In addition to adding a picture, I might suggest adding a bit more detail into your inspiration. Addressing things like how MuralArts is able to connect communities, provide jobs, and improve safety more specifically will help to spur discussion here on your inspiration :)

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Vincent Cheng

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November 09, 2011, 03:44AM

Nice one Colleen! Concise & convincing. And following your link really made it come to life. Would be nice if you added a picture of an example mural here to illustrate as well ;).

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