2009 Updated Concept: http://www.cities21.org/LMC/

The Low Miles Community (LMC) concept seeks to create and sustain low driving, green communities. 100% of residents in large residential complexes will pledge to reduce vehicle trips by using alternative modes of transportation, such as carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling, walking, telecommuting, or taking transit.  The residents' efforts will be electronically monitored to measure the impact of behavioral changes related to transportation. LMCs will use online groupware technology, social marketing, and neighborhood gatherings to facilitate the evolution of a dual physical/cyber culture within these communities.  This culture will provide positive social reinforcement and place a high value on a green lifestyle not centered on the private automobile. Each community will develop innovative auto-reducing solutions and will share these solutions with other LMCs.  The LMC concept draws upon theories found in: The Tipping Point, eBay's self-supporting communities, The Well, Community Building on the Web, Fostering Sustainable Behavior: an Introduction to Community Based Social Marketing,Textual Poachers, Supporting Communities of Practice: A Survey of Community-Oriented Technologies, The Different Drum, Augmented Social Network, "social entrepreneurship" as defined in How to Change the World, and Tragedy of the Commons. 

Old Stuff: Low Miles, Green Community Proposal

for "Live Near Work" Residents Using Personal Traffic Reduction Pledges

Initial Concept: June 2005

In cities where housing demand is strong, a local regulation may be adopted whereby incoming residents MUST sign a "Personal Traffic Reduction Pledge" as a pre-condition for occupying new, desirable housing. People will NOT be allowed to move in without first making a "low miles" commitment. For new housing developments where all residents have signed such pledges, a reinforcing community psychology will develop to increase driving reduction.

Policy Background & Goals	Community Psychology	Example Pledge	Implementation
Discussion	Call to Action	Similar Pledges	Community Theory

Policy Background & Goals

• "Workforce housing" is a term used to describe housing located near jobs. For instance, Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton, CA, has 1,500 housing units located at the edge of the business park, and a large percentage of these residents work in the business park. Such workforce housing eliminates time wasted in commute traffic, freeing up more time for resident workers to engage in more productive activities and spend more time with their families. In addition, cost of living is reduced. From a traffic reduction standpoint, such workforce housing profitably reduces congestion and automobile driving.
• DEFINITIONS: A precise term for automobile driving mileage is "total annual vehicle miles traveled" or VMT. Traffic reduction professionals work in a field called TDM, for Transportation Demand Management. TDM professionals often work for TMAs, Transportation Management Associations. The job of a TMA is to reduce traffic, often for an office park or portion of a city. "Trip alternatives" are alternatives to driving alone, such as carpooling, walking, biking, or using transit.
• The Urban Land Institute is a backer of rectifying jobs/housing imbalances by adding more in-fill housing next to jobs. See Geoffrey Booths' work, "Reinventing Suburban Business Districts",  http://www.smartgrowth.org/pdf/uli_Ten_Principles.pdf.  In addition, at the June 2005 Congress for New Urbanism Conference, Peter Calthorpe is giving a related talk on "Retrofitting Suburbs: Next Steps."
• In some areas, affordable housing choices are few and far between, so workforce housing experiences high demand. In such high demand circumstances, it is possible to extract some concessions from those lucky enough to obtain such housing.
• Thus, a city may pass a Traffic Reduction Regulation whereby incoming residents are required to sign "Personal Traffic Reduction Pledges," to commit to living a low-miles lifestyle, as a pre-condition for occupying desirable workforce housing. Residents moving to new housing developments (with a minimum number of dwelling units such as 20) will be required to sign such pledges. The benefits of reduced driving for cities is great, reducing the need for expensive traffic mitigation measures, and creating a "we're socially responsible" reputation that makes such cities more attractive.
• A Low Miles Community provides a new housing option, a new type of residential community where all have a shared, "green" vision. This housing choice allows residents to chose to join a new type of local culture - thus it's a housing choice combined with a cultural choice. Some of the nation's top housing policy analysts lament the lack of innovative housing choices, pointing the blame at what they characterize as the "stodgy" real-estate industry. Two related comments from Fannie Mae's Housing Policy Debate (Volume 12, Issue 4. 2001) illustrate this point: 1) Zimmerman / Volk. "The home industry is now led by a few lumbering giants that provide housing 'value' measured by size and novelty. Genuine housing innovations have been mostly limited to the areas of production efficiency and risk management, rather than any meaningful improvement of the product offered to the consumer." 2) Smart Growth America: "Homes are treated as generic commodities like pork bellies, which are all essentially the same, rather than as consumer products like cars or clothing, which vary greatly according to people's preferences. This tired approach tends to determine how many homes people want, but not what kind of homes or what type of residential neighborhoods people would select if given a choice." Will people want to live in community of green-minded do-gooders? Per the housing policy analysts, the problem is that this choice is not currently offered, so we can't find out. U.C. Researcher Susan Shaheen argues there is a latent psychic benefit from going green that serves to motivate. From personal experience, many people look back fondly on their college days, remembering the unique shared culture they participated in.

Community Psychology

• Personal Traffic Reduction Pledges DO NOT have to be legally enforceable. Rather, the goal is to create a "tipping point" (all of a sudden, sufficient momentum builds up behind an idea to make it very popular - http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html) of positive peer pressure within new residential developments, whereby all residents know that all other residents share a willingness to reduce solo driving. With such shared purpose (and more spare time because of reduced commute time) residents will share the expertise they develop in avoiding solo driving with other residents, creating a community that is much more aware of and supportive of auto alternatives. Such a transformed community will in turn be more in demand as people seek out the latent psychic benefit of living a "green" lifestyle. Thus, it can be argued that personal Traffic Reduction pledges are more of an amenity (because they bring together like-minded people to live together) than a burden.
• While a pledge serves as an "entry point" into a Low Miles Community, the larger goal is to create a thriving community, where being a community member adds meaning to people's lives. This is a very important point. The entire housing development is built around the low-driving philosophy. "Thriving" means there is: self-motivated community contribution; frequent electronic communication related to trip reduction; growth of innovative, home-grown solutions; voluntary participation in social events such as pot lucks; and deep-felt personal identification with the community.
• Organizations such as TravelSmart provide a very important service with their Individualized Marketing programs to educate individuals on trip alternatives. Whereas TravelSmart focuses on "the one," the Low Miles Community strategy emphasizes "the many." Once a critical mass is reached, the Low Miles Community should be self-supporting. Such a community might very well make TravelSmart services an integral part of their strategy; however, at the base level, the model is based on something like "EBay electronic communities crossed with church social groups." [TravelSmart papers: 1) Werner Brog, The Situational Approach – An Alternative Model Concept. Theoretical Foundations and Practical Applications. 7th Australian Transport Research Forum, March 17, 1982. 2) Bruce James, Werner Brog. Increasing Walking Trips through TravelSmart Individualized Marketing. World Transport Policy & Practice, Volume 7, Number 4, 2001. pages 61-66.]
• An inspiring vision and shared purpose can surmount obstacles.
• The Low Miles Community strategy attempts to change the shared value set of communities to produce large collective changes in behavior. Through shared culture, synergism arises. The U.S. has a car-loving culture reinforced by car-loving city design, thus a significant mindset change is required to reverse this auto-centricism. People acting alone don't make much of a Traffic Reduction impact, but an entire community can. Low Miles Communities change values so that reducing solo driving is cool. Shaheen argues that a "supportive culture" is a prerequisite to bring about significant change in behavior.
• Likewise, Berkeley's Robert Cervero (The Transit Metropolis) laments the "tragedy of the commons." If people take alternative modes to work (often incurring a loss of flexibility or a slower commute), then society benefits overall from reduced traffic congestion and reduced commute times. Unfortunately, those benefits are usually enjoyed by the people who continue to drive alone on the less crowded freeways. In essence, "do-gooders provide benefits to do-badders," and there's little motivation for do-gooders to do good. By creating an entire community with a different value set, do-gooders receive the proper motivation/reinforcement and the tragedy of the commons can be overcome.
• It is likely that Low Miles Communities will be naturally organized into a cohesive political unit, and thus, may be an effective at advocating for various driving-reduction programs.

Example Pledge

Let's say we have two new adjacent housing developments in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, the "Southdale Workforce Residential Towers" and the "Southdale High-Density, Low-Cost Condominiums." We'll call our Low Miles Community the "Southdale Live-Work Traffic Busters Community" (SLWTBC). All new residents would be required to sign the following pledge:

SLWTBC Mobility Independence Pledge

• I am enthusiastic about moving into a very unique, pioneering community where everyone has signed the SLWTBC Mobility Indepedence Pledge and where everyone is actively united behind a vision for a) better work/life balance and b) reduced greenhouse gas and airborne pollutants to make the world a better place for future generations.
• I am also enthusiastic about moving to the SLWTBC because I will reduce time spent commuting to work. I will use part of this time savings to reduce my solo driving trips.
• I will spend time reading web sites (such as http://www.494corridor.org/CommuteOptions.htm ) and talking to others to develop my understanding of alternatives to driving alone.
• I will attend one SLWTBC educational forum on driving alternatives.
• I will actively participate in the "SLWTBC SOV (Single Occupancy Vehicle) Alternatives Web Chat Board," logging in at least twice per month, and sharing my experiences with others, so that all of our collective brainpower may be used to reduce solo driving. Some local experts (such as members of the Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance) will also participate in the forum, sharing their ideas.
• I will undertake "adventures in driving alternatives," to experience how well alternatives work to accomplish certain trips, trying out carpooling, transit, biking, scootering, walking, etc. I understand that for some trips, driving alone may end up being the best option. However, I am willing to undertake some inconvenience, provided my personal sacrifice is not too great.
• I will explore the use of delivery services and web shopping to reduce my need to drive to purchase goods and services.
• For shopping, having a car trunk can be very handy. I am willing to try out various alternatives such as carrying my shopping bags on foot and/or using folding shopping carts.
• I am willing to help others in their attempts to reduce solo driving.
• I will stay positive about the attempts of SLWTBC to reduce driving. I will not denigrate other residents for their choices, even if I would personally choose differently.
• For my next car purchase, I will make a well-researched trade-off between buying a car with the least environmental impact versus meeting the needs of the different car trips I make. I will explore downsizing my vehicle needs and supplementing via carsharing or car rental when I need a larger vehicle.
• I will participate in at least once SLWTBC survey every year.
• Signature: ____________________________ , Date: ______________________
• [Per Eugene, OR, below, the pledge should also include SLWTBC responsibilities/services provided to residents: chat board support, TMA participation, bike coalition participation, point of contact, emergency ride home program, etc. The pledge should also include an inspirational statement of support from the City Council.]

Implementation

• A web-based community chat board must be set up with sufficient support staff time made available for monitoring. This will be a very important part of community building. Within suburbia, for specific trip alternatives to succeed, significant problem-solving expertise is often required. It's often not worth an individual's time to develop such problem solving expertise. Rather, we envision that the web community will develop and share expertise, reducing the learning curves of individuals. Once people solve a problem, they are often proud to share such knowledge and help others through similar situations. Typically, local bicycle advocacy groups are willing to volunteer problem-solving expertise, and may lead hands-on "defensive bike riding" tutorials.
• Ideally, a member of the TMA or an "electronic community expert" will reside within the Low Miles Community. Such people will provide leadership to create thriving communities.
• It is expected that communities will develop their own "home-grown" Traffic Reduction expertise. The fact that many trips share the same trip origination creates a distinct advantage. It is foreseeable that innovations such as "carpooling to the grocery store" and "carpooling to school to drop multiple kids off" may arise. Group scheduling of common activities should naturally arise, and, hopefully, residents will enjoy interaction with their fellow residents.
• We also envision that such communities will have sufficient scale to negotiate specialized services with outside vendors. For instance, a community might choose to arrange for weekly "house calls" by a bicycle repair shop. It may even become a badge of prestige for outside vendors to be associated with a Low Miles Community.
• We can't yet predict the impact a Low Miles Community will have will have on trip making, though some TravelSmart study results may provide a good first guess. Should a cultural Tipping Point truly be reached, results may go far beyond estimates. To being with, a conservative estimate of benefits should be made and converted into traffic mitigation savings. One example of the conversion of trip reductions into dollars follows: In cities with high traffic congestion, high housing costs, and jobs/housing imbalances, significant real-estate development mitigation fees are usually imposed by cities. For instance, in Palo Alto, CA, the traffic mitigation fee is roughly $2,200 for each new PM peak hour trip generated for both residential and office development. Residential dwelling units typically generate one such trip.
• Depending on how motivated the community is, additional "green elements" may be added. For instance, the community philosophy could expand to cover the concepts in "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists." See also this very aggressive Climate Change pledge: http://www.culturechange.org/global_warming_pledge.html. Such an expansion of scope could merge with concepts from the San Francisco Community Power Cooperative, a community education effort that focuses on reducing energy consumption: http://www.sfpower.org/

Discussion

Discussion Summary, 6/20/05

• Peggy H. suggests a brainstorming group at the September ACT Conference to discuss how to bring about a Tipping Point. This really must be what more than 50% of people on the transp-tdm list serve are all about: lasting change to how people think about transportation.
• Cities21 will pursue bringing about Low Miles Communities at a couple of suburban locations, but these efforts will not bear immediate fruit. (Please feel free to bring this about sooner!)
• More poking and prodding of the real-estate community about this the Low Miles Community concept is warranted. There are probably more objections and hurdles to clear lurking under the surface.
• Patricia M. pointed out that the Low Miles Community concept might be better applied in different environments beyond workforce housing.
• The example pledge deservedly drew criticism for unclear prose and messaging. It needs work.
• As is continually frustrating with new Traffic Reduction proposals, there does appear to be a "chicken and egg" problem. Developers may hesitate to adopt really new programs until they are proven. One strategy may be to go to private foundations to fund 24 month pilot projects where developers don't have to commit to delivering X number of trip reductions to their local city (IE eliminate as much risk as possible for developers). Likewise, this could be a topic for federal funding (the implementation shouldn't be very expensive, but it's always nice to fund work to quantify benefits with a scholarly report).
• The Low Miles Community proposal does NOT follow the prescribed "path to a Tipping Point" found in Gladwell's book. While Gladwell's book is very readable and highly recommended, it is directed towards simpler situations than "Traffic Reduction in a mature democracy with entrenched interests." An addition layer of complexity, covered in the academic field of "Innovation and Public Policy," is also involved.
• A section with reading on Community Theory has been added below.

Comments:

• Says 494 Commuter Service's Dave Van Hattum, "intriguing idea, makes a lot of sense."
• Janis Hom, EBay: You're talking about changing travel behavior in an auto-centric culture. This is very, very hard to achieve. The one thing that does work to change behavior is to create a great community. At EBay, we added meaning to people's lives. Some individuals previously had few friends, but, due to their participation in EBay on-line communities, they developed many friends. The Low Miles Community has to become "real." It should be very active. People working together should create a community that is rewarding to participate in. At EBay we rely on the goodness in people, and their latent desire to help others. Within the housing development, there should be community activities (potlucks twice per year, etc.) that people can voluntarily attend. The electronic chat board should become a repository of solutions. People will develop expertise and contribute their knowledge and experiences for the common good. At EBay, our communities become self-running. That's important. It's important to start the community with strong leadership, but the training wheels eventually need to come off. At EBay, it's very inexpensive to host thriving communities. Obviously, to make this work, there must be significant benefits granted to real-estate developers to ensure their going along with this community concept.
• Suburban Real-Estate and Traffic Reduction Expert #1:
  • Regarding real-estate developers, a minority would be enthusiastic about the community concept - many would be against it.
  • That being said, the recent group of developers I've worked with have been pro-TOD and pro-green construction standards. Thus, these types are probably compatible with Low Miles Communities.
  • all developers have a price. If they gain density bonuses or receive reduced traffic mitigation fees or reduced parking space requirements; or if this issue gains local approval of their project, then they will be motivated. (However, some cities refuse to reduce mitigation fees in exchange for Traffic Reduction programs. In addition, when a developer receives a fee waiver from a city, "prevailing wage laws" are triggered, increasing construction cost. Thus, reducing mitigation fees is often the wrong strategy.)
  • I do believe there is a market for "green communities." "Green" used to be a niche in real-estate, but is now a wider trend, and is on its way to becoming an "expectation." In my local county, there is a green construction ordinance for all new buildings.
  • Getting local cities to buy into the community concept may be nontrivial. One local city staff is very skeptical about the resultant trip reduction from Traffic Reduction programs.
  • As far as a TMA implementing the chat board and helping to build the community, this would be a natural role. In fact, we had considered adding a chat board as a way of building up our employee community. However, when we looked into putting together the chat board, designing the user interface and back end, and managing the effort, the budget came to something like $20,000. A $2,000 chat board is easy to budget, but more expensive is harder.
  • Also part of implementation, we are participating in regional 511 traveler information and ridematching programs. We would not want the community concept to compete with other efforts. Ideally, our regional partners would participate in the community building.
• Dan Sturges, CalStart / Intrago Mobility: The pledge should have a benefit-oriented name, such as the "DRIVE LIGHT PLEDGE" or "MOBILITY INDEPENDENCE PLEDGE." Promoting the benefits of reduced car-dependency from the economic and flexibility standpoint is key. The current U.S. administration has been good at developing benefit-oriented names for initiatives such as the "Clear Skies Initiative." Framing the "FREEDOM" aspects of not having to own a car is a promising approach. [We went with Modibility Independence.]
• Will people cheat on their pledge just to qualify for desirable housing? Cities21: A) communities are self-reinforcing, see Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of American Cities, first 100 pages. The shared low-Miles culture will create peer pressure to conform. B) EBay is one of the nation's more respected companies. Their business philosophy assumes people are good. Only a few fraudulent auction transactions occur.
• Will the scheme create self-selected enclaves of people who were already very "green?" Cities21: Berkeley's Robert Cervero did find some evidence of self-selection by transit-loving citizens to live in transit-oriented-development. With the Low Miles Community scheme, the hope is that the housing is so very desirable that people who have less of green mindset are sucked into the culture and become savvy users of SOV alternatives.
• Paul McLoughlin, General Manager Europe, Vipre. I can give you a perspective on projects that we have been involved in across the UK and Australia. A) We have used this kind of idea before through some of the travel behaviour change projects we have been involved with. The intention is to gain a commitment from a target audience to change their travel behaviour. The change can be of any scale. The commitment can take the form of a formal or informal 'contract' to do something differently. This contract can be verbal, written or even symbolic (e.g. wearing a badge or t-shirt saying something like "I'm a cyclist" - through an image or words or both). B) Whist I've seen this kind of contract applied across a mass market as a generic tool, I tend to think that - in terms of travel behaviour change - contracts are much more likely to be effective when they have been 'tailored' to each person's specific circumstances. (NB Behavioural contracts can also be successfully applied to small, coherent groups.) C) For example, rather than using a contract that talks about agreeing "to use more sustainable modes more often" it would be better to talk through what the most appropriate options might be for each person, and to then prepare a contract (which can also double as a kind of action plan) that meets their particular needs. [This comment led to a number of changes above.]
• Amanda Jones, City of Palo Alto: A) It seems like too many "I will" comments and it seems daunting (even though it is all good stuff). B) How about a checklist where the person will do two or three things that are MOST important and then a menu of several things where the person can opt into the majority of them and make it a checklist for completion rather than some sort of "blood pact" like thing? C) The way I read it now seems to be sort of overwhelming and it does not make me feel excited. This needs to be marketed more effectively and the people getting involved need to be excited about the prospect of the changes they are making that will improve their own work/life balance and make a difference in their community. D) This needs to be "spun" and I am not a marketing person, but what I see needs massaging. [Some improvements were made above in response to Amanda's comments.]
• EPA BWC's Steve Offutt made a number of comments that resulted in changes above.
• Susan Shaheen, U.C. Researcher (noted for sociologically based research, carsharing, new mobility, etc), 6/7: "I really like this idea. I would modify the pledge to provide more flexibility to the individual signing it and in creating which options might work best for them personally."
• Karen Bakar, RIDES, 6/6: A) I think all the components of the pledge are great, but I think for the average person, they will be overwhelming. My suggestion would be to have fewer components of the pledge (perhaps a checklist of choices as Amanda Jones of Palo Alto suggested) and use more inviting, down-to-earth language. Even the title "Mobility Independence Pledge" is daunting. Most people won't know what that means. Maybe put the pledge on a card so it has more substance. B) I like your reference to "Tipping Points." I just read the book by Malcolm Gladwell and spent a lot of time thinking about how "tipping point" principles could be applied to ridesharing and other alternative modes.
• Peggy Hetherington, Parsons Brinckerhoff, 6/6: A) I'm not sure that using a pledge supports Gladwell's premise; his three rules of the Tipping Point are the Law of the Few (identifying and engaging the connectors, mavens and salesmen within a community); the Stickiness Factor (packaging information in a way that makes it attractive); and the Power of Context (basically, environmental factors). A pledge artificially imposes a "context" on a community to circumvent the emergence of a movement. B) I would like to see (and help) the industry follow a path that leads to a lasting change in how people think about transportation. I am pleased to see the idea of seizing the tipping point that exists now in our society (longer commutes, greater commuter frustration, high gasoline and housing prices, a societal interest in being part of a community) being raised by Cities21 but believe that the focus should be on the implementation part of your Low Miles Community proposal rather than the pledge. I encourage anyone with an interest in this to read Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point"; perhaps we can put together a brainstorming group at the September ACT Conference in Anaheim to move the idea forward.
• Amanda Jones, Palo Alto, 6/7: A) Many folks who get recruited into Traffic Reduction are connectors and salesmen. They have to be. This is behavior change. The phenomenon of casual carpooling and things outside the realm of "monitoring" and reporting are the things we should be looking at. Individualized marketing seems to be effective as well, same concepts as "selling". B) I don't think that I would sign a cumbersome Traffic Reduction pledge and neither would a lot of the folks that I have worked with as an ETC. They do it because it is convenient. Some folks figure it out on their own and others can be sold on the concept because of money savings, reduced stress, etc.
• Patricia L Mokhtarian, U.C. Davis Transportation Professor, 6/10. Noted researcher in travel behavior, telework, etc.
  "I read the proposal. It's well-thought-out. I admit to being pessimistic about the effectiveness of the approach, but I'm a pessimist about such things by nature, and that doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried and evaluated. The comments about the self-selection bias and the likelihood of cheating (or even a well-intended but only weak commitment to the concept that crumbles at the slightest inconvenience or just never gets executed) resonated with me. It also struck me as ironic to try to implement it in the context of "workforce housing" -- by definition, people living in such developments will ALREADY be substantially reducing their travel by virtually eliminating the commute. So it almost seems like those are the *last* people you'd need or want to tap for such a program -- tackle people who are traveling more to start with, in order to get a serious reduction in travel. Those are my initial thoughts. It would be very interesting to have a demonstration project and evaluate it."
• Suburban Real-Estate and Traffic Reduction Expert #2, 6/12: "Traffic Reduction contracts that require active enforcement are very problematic. I'm also concerned that some residents, regardless of their acceptance of any conditions initially, may feel harassed if they are singled out in any negative way on the chat board. Finally, each development is so unique that it is really hard to say that a traffic mitigation concession on one project would work equally as well on another." Cities21 response: A) Regarding harassment, real-estate developers might feel compelled to budget significant paid staff time to monitor the web board. But, in a community of 200 residents, there isn't the same dynamic of anonymous flaming (discourteous electric messages) that is experience on the worldwide web. Residents will tend to bump into the person that they flame when they empty the trash. Such a Low Miles Community would be expected to voluntarily police it's own chat. The pledge and educational activities and monitoring posts could all reinforce the idea to the community that civil discourse is essential. Another point is that, for this community to work, the EBay principle "people are good, we can trust them" has to exist. B) For the current EBay community, do members voluntarily stop uncivil discourse? Yes. Members make comments such as "It's totally inappropriate to use this chat board for that kind of comment." C) But, a developer might still say, "That's all well and good, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with a 20 year real-estate investment on a community scheme that might disintegrate because of one or two bad apples in the community."
• Cities21: The Low Miles Community would fit in well in cohousing communities, developments whose residents share dining facilities, gardens, recreation space, and other amenities. Cohousing tries to reduce the isolation of individual households, encourage stronger local ties, and foster a resource-conserving lifestyle. See: http://www.newurbannews.com/CohousingInside.html
• Cities21: One can imagine low driving communities growing in popularity until there arise communities of low driving communities. Chat boards could allow further exchange of best practices between communities. The chat system could evolve to have "real names" displayed for communication within a local community, "professional monikers" displayed for communication between communities, and anonymous "screen names" for outsiders to view the chat.

Call to Action

• What would it take for your TMA to propose to your city council that Personal Traffic Reduction Pledges be required for desirable new housing developments? Is something missing? Do you foresee any objections? What concessions will real-estate developers insist on? What concessions will cities insist on?
• How would you change this proposal? What wording would you use for the Personal Traffic Reduction Pledge?
• If local Low Miles Community proposals are brought forward, then "lessons learned" should be collected to facilitate future efforts.

Community Theory

On-line Communities

A) Lessons from the Anthill: http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/anthill. A) "On their own, each ant's behavior is relatively useless, but when swarms of ants come together, the patterns optimize naturally and allow them to accomplish tasks that should be far beyond their reach." B) "The networks we have built allow us to profitably take a page from the playbook of the ants, with each taking a small chunk of the responsibility. These anthill communities are springing up all over the place, and they are creating a whole new concept of what people are capable of." C) Thus, CUTR's transp-tdm chat system allows traffic reduction "challenges" to be presented, and unleashes collective national (and international) brainpower to solve the challenge. Likewise, the low miles community's chat board would allow for collective problem solving.

B) Amy Jo Kim: Common Purpose, Uncommon Woman: http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/features/kim/. A) Her favorite online community ideas include EBay's reputation system and Slashdot's moderating system. B) She loves it when communities share collective wisdom. C) Electronic chat is somewhat useless unless a moderator keeps it, edits it, and publishes a transcript. IE a moderator should collect the "gems" into a knowledge base / FAQ. D) She discusses how people undergoing a job transition need lots of information and shared wisdom quickly and throughout the transition period. Cities21: this is really the same need that people switching away from SOV commuting face. E) We'll see more and more combined online and offline communities. Online groups will tend to spawn local chapters, for example. With a "dual community," you're a stronger group and a stronger offering. F) Amy Jo wrote an online community book, Community Building on the Web, that may be more relevant than Peck's book below. Her consultancy web can be found at http://www.naima.com/, but it appears she is focused on her young kids at the moment - she hasn't been very active since 2001.

C) The "inside EBay" book, "The Perfect Store," by Adam Cohen, http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780316150484-3,  is applicable reading for bringing about supportive community culture. It's a light, quick read. Only 10 or 20 percent of the book pertains to community buildings, as it tells the full story of EBay.

D) TEXTUAL POACHERS. Cities21: This is an obscure and dreadfully academic read with tortured prose. It explains phenomenons such as StarTrek fan culture. If you get a bunch of people together with the same passion, amazing things happen, such as fans writing their own StarTrek novels. And, there are subtleties, such as StarTrek fans embracing the StarTrek governmental philosophy as the ideal they hope the world can attain - there are bits of political movements waiting to come out of such cultures and there is true community formation. So, the next time you poke fun of people dressed as Klingons for a StarTrek conference, be aware that fan culture is a very complex phenomenon. As far as Low Miles Communities go, Textual Poachers provides examples of a) the unexpected creativity that flows from communities of people organized with a single focus, and b) the power of online communities.

Exemplary on-line professional communities:

• CUTR’s (Center for Urban Transportation Research) "transp-tdm" list serv, http://cutrlist.eng.usf.edu/read/all_forums/, is an on-line community of professionals in the field of "commute trip reduction / transportation demand management (TDM)." There are 870 members, mostly in the U.S., but some important international posts are made. The list serv has approximately 3 messages per day. Many of these professionals are "commute coordinators" working for a city or a corporation, and spending a portion of their time working on commute trip reduction. There are also important contributions from consultants and academic researchers. There is no competition between members on this list. Most posts build "good kharma." Newbies are encouraged to ask basic questions, and they often receive a set of helpful responses. Seasoned members answer some questions with research reference lists, often having undertaken the research themselves. Practical questions about how to implement and market programs are frequently asked, and these generate helpful responses. Often, when one questioner submits a question, others chime in that they would like to see the answer as well. Thus transp-tdm serves as a national think tank and supportive place for people working in the space. We also see RFPs (requests for proposals) and job announcements. At Cities21, we use the list serv to request brainstorms and personal opinions on new concepts or technologies. Transp-tdm provides a very productive way to conduct certain types of research. Transp-tdm have been invaluable for this "Low Miles Community" concept, as well as "grocery cart research:" http://www.cities21.org/tdm.htm#grocery.
• Other professional list servs:
  • New urbanism: http://www.listserv.uga.edu/archives/pro-urb.html was just cited by Congress for New Urbanism President John Norquist, so this appears to be an important forum. It has 741 subscribers. Traditional architecture list serv: Andres Duany posts to it: http://listserv.miami.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=tradarch&D=1&H=0&O=D&T=1
  • There is a well regarded Water Quality & hydrology list serv. Many water list servs can be found here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/lists.html. See also: http://listserv.wa.gov/archives/water-quality.html and http://hydrology.lsu.edu/listserv.html.
  • Social marketing - Georgetown social marketing: http://www.social-marketing.org/aboutus.html or Fostering Sustainable Behavior: http://www.cbsm.com/forums/search.lasso
  • Affordable housing & welfare reform: http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/housinginvite.htm
• Characteristics of a great professional on-line chat forum / list serv
  • 700 or more subscribers
  • 3 or more messages/posts per day
  • Limited commercial posts
  • Non-competitive, even consultants chirp in with helpful posts
  • Supportive of newbies, dumb questions, and brainstorming.
  • Staffed with a moderator who culls posts into a knowledge base. Without collecting a knowledge base, great posts just disappear.
  • Self-monitored by a small gang of dedicated professionals. It doesn’t take too much time, but there has to be some commitment.
  • "Good kharma" – these listservs can be amazingly helpful
  • In essence, chat forums for professionals foster a great community of like-minded people working in the same space.

"Intimate" Communities

A) Building Positive Communities: http://www.meaning.ca/articles/presidents_column/community_oct03.htm. By Dr. Paul Wong, Counselling Psychology Department, Trinity Western University, BC, Canada. A) Community characteristics: shared vision, common values, shared decision-making, conflict management, etc. B) Thus, authoritarian hierarchy hinders the development of such communities. Egotism/pride is a big part of the problem.

B) THE DIFFERENT DRUM: Community-Making and Peace by M. Scott Peck (Simon & Shuster, 1987). There are other "psychology books" on the subject out there, but Peck's book seems to have the best reputation.

• Book Review: http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Books005.htm. A) Successful community characteristics: inclusivity, commitment, feeling of safety in all members, the ability for members to experiment with new types of behaviors, the ability to fight gracefully, a place where all members are leaders. B) "Joy is a side effect of genuine community." C) Caution: this book provides some very useful community theory, but, some readers "might think Peck is a radical fanatic because he advocates, basically, the complete overhaul of this country, the presidency, and the Christian Church." IE, readers should be prepared to selectively obtain insights from this book.
• A short summary from Peck himself can be found at: http://communityx-roads.org/about/brief.html A) "I discovered 'rules' where I could lead unusally large groups into community in an unusally short time." Peck formed a national consulting practice in community building with a group of facilitators-for-hire. B) "Community is a group of two or more people who, regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds, have been able to accept and transcend their differences, enabling them to communicate openly and effectively, and to work together towards common goals, while having a sense of unusual safety with one another."
• A) "The great enemy of community is exclusivity. The boundaries between students and teachers, young and old, etc., must be soft." B) "The process of community-building begins with a commitment - a commitment of the members not to drop out, a commitment to hang in there through thick and thin." Cities21: Thus, this argues for a strong Personal Traffic Reduction Pledges, provinding a barrier to entry to bring in community members who are truly willing to work on reducing their driving. C) Alcoholics Anonymous is possibly the most successful "Peck-style" community in the world, a safe place to admit "I'm an alcoholic."
• Cities21: There's a discrepancy between the relatively low intensity of a successful online community and the high intensity of one of Peck's intimate, successful offline communities. The low driving community will be both online and offline, with neighbors as members. In Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American Cities, she explains how within healthy neighborhoods, there is social distance between people. Relations with neighbors are friendly, but not everyone drops by for dinner every night. (Jacobs' sociological observations about neighborhoods are amazingly astute.) Intense neighborhood intimacy is not to be desired for low driving communities. In Peck's examples, communities generally get together for only a couple of hours a week of intense community, then go back to living their normal lives. In an intense Peck community, people reveal their innermost vulnerabilities in a group therapy-style environment (often sobbing out their deepest secrets into an accepting and emotionally safe community). Peck's communities are formed via two-day intensive, painful retreats, where groups progress thru four complicated stages before they truly come together. Pecks's book has some psychological insights for low miles communities, but only bits and pieces of the Peck model are applicable. In addition, Peck's communities, unlike EBay's, are high maintenence. Intensity breeds instability (as well as many good things). An intense Peck community, if applied to a low miles neighborhood community, would lead to various unintended side effects: [page 105: "the danger of true community is ... group sexuality."].
• Cities21: Peck's book, written in 1987, missed the huge potential of the Internet for community building. Lessons from the Anthill, etc, are more applicable models for bringing about large-scale change. Peck would define EBay as a "psuedo-community," but that derogatory terminology reinforces how Peck never grappled intellectually with electronic communication. Peck glosses over how his intense communities would scale up to encompass large numbers of people, how communities of communities would grow to eventually bring about world peace. It appears that Peck's Foundation for Community Encouragement has lost steam, now that Peck has retired. Significant numbers of communities have not formed. Someone in Peck's movement should combine electronic community building with Peck-style communities into something more powerful and scalable.

Similar Pledges

1. (Provided by 494 Commuter Services) Minneapolis Metro Commute Services Commuter Challenge pledge form: http://www.metrocouncil.org/directions/transit/transit2006/CommuterChallengeApr06.htm. "By submitting this form, I pledge to use an alternative to driving alone to work (i.e. car/vanpool, bus, bike or walk) during the Commuter Challenge. I also agree to be contacted later in the year to complete a short survey about my commuting habits."

2. (Provided by 494 Commuter Services) St. Paul non-profit offers loaner bikes in return for a commitment to reduce solo driving.  Covered May 22, 2005, Minneapolis Star Tribune.

3. Pledge form from Aylene Quale, Transportation Solutions TMA, Denver, CO:

COMMUTE CLUB. DU Make a Difference?

I promise to make a difference by commuting to work at least once per week by a mode of transportation other than driving alone. I will reply to monthly emails to report my commute habits.
First name __________ Last name _________ DU ID:___________
Email Address _______________________ Phone Number ________________
DU Department ___________________________________________________
Home Address ___________________________________________________
I found out about the Commute Club by (select all that apply):
__ Newspaper advertisement, __ Flyer on campus, __ Received email, __ Referred by someone (If referred by somebody, please enter his or her name ____________)
Signature_________________, Date________________________________

4. (From Shelley Gesicki, ambag.org) Tri-county area of Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito, CA. Rideshare Week & Clean Air Month:

Rideshare Week is an annual October promotion designed to enhance awareness about the benefits of alternative transportation such as carpooling, vanpooling, riding the bus, bicycling, walking, and teleworking. Register online and make a commitment to use an alternative mode of transportation for commuting to work or running errands at least one day during Rideshare Week.  http://rideshareweek.com/. Prizes include a trip around the world. Registrants mark a check box for the commute alternative they pledge to take: {carpool, vanpool, bus, bike, walk, telework}

Clean Air Month is celebrated in May and helps to promote alternative transportation modes in the tri-county area of Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito, CA. Clean Air Month encourages commuters to try alternatives to driving alone at least four times during the month, for a chance to win $1,000.

5. (From Kelly Lindsey, King County Metro Transit Marketing, Seattle, WA) In our community based marketing program we have used two different pledges:

"I Pledge to reduce my driving alone in the car by at least two trips each week. Please send me ten Metro Free Ride Tickets to say thanks."

"Yes I can do more... I pledge to reduce two drive-alone trips each week for as long as I can. Program rewards will increase the longer I keep my pledge. Please send my ten Metro free ride tickets."

6. (From Cindy Clarke, Transportation Options Coordinator, City of Eugene - Public Works) We have an annual promotion, People Powered Fridays. The Registration Form includes a pledge that people make.  The pledge asks for registered participants to sign up making a commitment to a non-motorized method of transportation at least once a week. Prizes are provided for additional motivation. We also did a pilot project along a busy corridor in town working with businesses and their employees encouraging a change in mode choice. Like the TravelSmart projects, we offered individual consultations on transportation options and offered incentives to change modes from SOV.

Do the Ride Thing Pledge Form:

Do the Ride Thing!
Participant Agreement

This agreement outlines the tasks and responsibilities for individuals participating in the Do the Ride Thing, the City of Eugene's three-month pilot research project to reduce Country Club Road congestion. The goal is to introduce commuters to alternative ways of commuting with the logic that once users see how simple it is and how much money they can save, they will continue to use alternates to driving alone beyond the initial 3 month pilot project.

I. PARTICIPANTS RESPONSIBILTIES
Participants will be asked to do a few simple things:

1) Agree to track use of an alternative form of transportation other than a single occupancy vehicle for as many days possible to work during the three month project, May, June, July, 2004, and return to project officials.

2) Agree to fill out three additional surveys: at three months, six months, and one year from beginning the program. The surveys are simple and take only a few minutes per survey to complete.

3) Allow the City of Eugene staff to contact you at least three times during the project about the alternative mode chosen and troubleshoot any difficulty you may have with it. In addition, staff will update you on the points you have earned and the rewards you are eligible to receive. Contact will take place via phone, email, or in person, and will be at a time of your choice.

4) Fill out and drop off (in the Do the RIDE Thing data collection box) a monthly calendar of your commute activity.

II. CITY OF EUGENE'S RESPONSIBILITIES
By offering the program, the City of Eugene will:

1) Provide you with transportation information on all the commute options available to you. Route planning is also available.

2) Provide you with one-on-one assistance and support for the alternative mode you choose and information about the rewards available to you based on your use of alternative modes. Contact information:
XXXX, 682-xxxx or xxxxx@ci.eugene.or.us or YYYYY, 682-xxxx or xxxxx@ci.eugene.or.us.

3) An Emergency Ride Home in case of a family emergency or illness if you are without your car on that day. See back of agreement for information about using the program.

4) At the end of each month, staff will deliver the reward based on your choice and points earned.

III. SIGNATURE ___________________________________ Date ________________________

Bonus Items

1. Book: Worldwatch State of the World 2008.  Chapter 11. Engaging Communities for a Sustainable World, By Erik Assadourian, Worldwatch Institute.  "Citizens disempowered by economic decisions made far away are discovering that building local economies and sustainable communities offers viable alternatives to globalization. Case studies illuminate what’s possible in creating sustainability at the grassroots."

 Chapter 11 link (free download, 15 pages): http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/SOW08_chapter_11.pdf   

• "community-level programs may prove indispensable in providing better models and the leadership to drive global-level change."
• "sharing within a community helps to establish a different cultural norm, one based in cooperation instead of conspicuous consumption and competition." "Keeping up with the Joneses" translates into competition over who has the smallest ecological footprint.

 Topics include:

• Los Angeles Ecovillage & Phinney Ridge, Seattle. 
• Lydney (UK) Community Energy Club (115 members have introduced 550 efficiency measures to save 3,865 tons CO2/yr)
• Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland (half the ecological footprint of the rest of UK)
• Sieben Linden Ecovillage (Germany) has 28% of average German CO2
• Worldwide: 385 ecovillages + 500 cohousing projects
• Study of ecovillage/cohousing residents with $15K annual income found life satisfaction equal to Burlington VT residents with twice their income.
• Social capital theory per Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone)
• Sharing of cars, major appliances, tools.  Sharing of services: babysitting, etc. 
• Green Café Network has owners use their spaces to “mainstream sustainability” with educational programs, etc.  http://www.greencafenetwork.org/
• 4,300 farmers markets in the US.  Patrons have 10X more social interactions than “normal” grocery shopping.
• In WWII, US citizens set up 20M home and community gardens, producing 40% of civilian fresh veggies. 
• 21 Transition Towns in the UK, http://www.transitiontowns.org/ - mission: "Inspire and support communities as they respond to Peak Oil and Climate Change"
• http://www.gaiauniversity.org/
• Project Laundry List
• Smart Growth
• UK’s sustainable communities act.  http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/681480.pdf