Knight Foundation

The first day of Doable Cities included a neighborhood walkability tour. Photos: Emily Munroe. Innovation can be a lonely task. But not this week in Chicago, where more than 150 civic innovators are gathering for the “8-80 Cities Forum: The Doable City” through Wednesday. “Doable doesn’t mean easy. It means possible,” said urban expert Gil Penalosa, executive director of 8-80 Cities. Participants, including artists, city planners, community activists, community foundation executives, mayors, parks officials, philanthropists and traffic engineers, are meeting to exchange practical experiences on what works—and doesn’t—to make cities more livable. But during the opening session Monday afternoon, there was a palpable sense of building a movement, by connecting those who are trying to re-center cities around human needs—including the need to engage in various ways.

Photo: East Houston Street, New York City. People reported feeling significantly happier on this gritty, but active tenement block edge (above) than they did alongside the modern, pristine, but inactive block edge (below). Credit: Charles Montgomery (above) and Alexandra Bolinder-Gibsand (below). Charles Montgomery is the author of “Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design” and a keynote speaker at “8-80 Cities Forum: The Doable City,” a Knight Foundation-sponsored conference on fostering livable cities happening today through June 18 in Chicago.   Architects and urban designers have long claimed the power to influence human well-being through form and aesthetics. None were so confident as the modernists, whose insistence on functional and aesthetic simplicity changed the course of architectural history. Now that our cities have been transformed by the modern aesthetic, we are discovering that architects are right in their belief in the power of design—but they are frequently wrong in their methods. Indeed, while researching “Happy City,” I found that our cities influence the ways we feel and behave in ways most of us never realize.  It’s time to start paying attention.