The Next 150 was a partnership between The Walrus Talks and CBC that asked young leaders across the country to give their vision for the future of Canada. There are 15 episodes and each is between 10-15 minutes. They are short, compact gems of insight and inspiration from the next generation of leaders in Canada.
In Episode 3 Jay Pitter, a city planner in Toronto, shared her vision. She shared what she sees as the most important tenets for building our cities of the future as learned from her Grade two teacher and practices in her career in Canada's largest city.
The principle that stuck out to me is making space rather than empowering. We talk a lot about empowering people to do things. That version of empowerment usually involves someone else needing to do something for someone we see as needing help. That makes the solution not a part of them, but rather a way that someone else wants them to do something. Jay posed that we should focus on making space for people to rise tall in their own way.
I don't want to give away too much as I think taking 6 minutes to listen to Jay's Next 150 talk is worthwhile. She reminds me of Jane Jacobs another Toronto-based city visionary and I'm excited to see where this ability to imagine our cities of the future will take her.
Being a Force for Good 