The Green Blocks Initiative is a community-based network created by Michael Iversen in April, 2007, as an outcome of the Green Tuesdays in the Village 2007 public environmental lecture series. The Green Blocks Initiative is a citizen-based, incremental block-by-block approach to achieving integrated and ecological neighborhoods throughout the Village of Oak Park.
It is the intent of the Green Blocks Initiative to effect incremental change with the use of community-based social networks, as reflected by the motto; “Building a Greener Oak Park, Block-by-Block”. User-created content and shared (distributed) knowledge networks allow citizens to participate via self-initiative and collective knowledge, rather than waiting for the traditional forms of leadership. Each of the 500 blocks in Oak Park is unique upon itself, and who better to address their path towards change than those who reside on these blocks.
Social change may occur via various methods, with one of them being community-based social networks. Social networks are based on the premise that; a) people who live in a particular place are the experts of that place, as derived from their collective experiences and wisdom; b) people are more likely to get involved and be committed to activities that affect their own block; and c) there are advantages that exist that may be better realized by the collective group relative to the individual.
Therefore, the Green Blocks Initiative is intended as an open source program, in that residents (users) are encouraged to contribute user-created content through incremental collaborative efforts. This is intended to embody and integrate the unique sense of place of village neighborhoods that can only be provided by village residents. Oak Park has historically been socially organized by neighborhood blocks, and therefore appears to be well-suited for effecting social change by way of social networking. The next step is to create a collaborative network that allows each green block their own autonomy while at the same time being connected to an overall network of green blocks.
For additional information, refer to the following paper, Green Blocks Initiative: Assessing a Residential Block Through the Frameworks of Urban Ecology and Social Change.
Michael Roy Iversen 