Happy first Friday of the year!

Every week, we round up some of the things we read, listened to, or watched that really caught our attention. Here are just a few things we think you should know this week:

This week's things to know:

25 simple resolutions you can make to improve your city

From Brent Toderian, here’s a nifty list of real things that can make a difference in your city this year. And they’re all things that regular, interested citizens can do to try to swing their city in a more equitable and people-friendly direction. (The list actually came out a year ago, but guess what, it all still applies!) – Jordan

Here Come the Electrics. Could E-Bikes Be the Electric Revolution Cities Need? & Bicycling Will Save Tomorrow’s Cities, Predicts Deloitte

One of the key strategies to making our communities more financially resilient, resource conscious and people friendly is to make it more comfortable to get around without a car. Many cities are working to expand and improve bike infrastructure, but there are still a lot of people who can't or won't choose to ride their bikes, citing reasons like heat and hilly terrain. These two articles discuss how bicycling is crucial to the future of cities and how e-bikes are emerging as an option a broader segment of users might indeed choose to make more of their local trips in lieu of their car. Of course, extra exertion isn’t the only reason most people don’t choose to bike. People also make transportation decisions based on the surrounding physical environment. It’s tempting to think that bikes (electric or not) will “save” our cities. But it’s really up to us to reshape our communities into places where bicycling—or walking, rollerblading, skateboarding—are viable ways to reach most daily needs. There is no substitution for complete, human-scale neighborhoods. – Kevin

The case for designing tech-free zones in urban parks

Since we are all (hopefully) taking a moment to re-focus moving into the new year, here's a timely discussion based on a study illustrating how important green spaces and quality of life are to our ability to focus and retain information. As author Eric Jaffe writes, "Preserving access to green space in dense urban neighborhoods is an ongoing battle, so it’s worth remembering just how essential parks are to our basic well-being." He's right. As we go about the business of laying out cities and neighborhoods, we would be better served to keep this in mind as we take on that work. – AJ

Step by step, metro Atlanta’s paths are linking to create a network

Atlanta has been at the front of bike infrastructure and transit oriented development in the South, especially with the the Beltline project encircling Atlanta's downtown and core neighborhoods. While the concern of gentrification has been well documented, this article summarizes another concern of the network: a lack of connectivity. Riders across the city, who would ride if they could, have trouble reaching the popular paths due to high speed roadways surrounding bike infrastructure, as well as bike routes that only extend for a few miles. As you can see from the map, there are a lot of gaps to fill, and municipalities across the city are attempting to connect the paths into a network that can become more useful for all. – Tim

Major advances in 2019 toward a more democratic economy

If you’re not already following The Next System Project (or any other projects from Democracy Collaborative), then 2020 is your chance to dive deep into some of the ways we can make our communities—and our society at large—more humane. This piece highlights some big wins for public banks, worker co-ops, and community land trusts. There’s so much work to be done (sometimes it can seem insurmountable) to address systemic crises of economic inequality, racial injustice, ecological degradation, and more—but it’s important to step back now and again to recognize advances in the fight for a better future. After you read this short write-up, then go on and learn more about the kinds of work they cover. I’m a big fan of their podcast. Check out the double episode they did with Clark Arrington and the great discussion they had on participatory budgeting. – Jordan

Do you enjoy these weekly roundups? (Why wouldn’t you?) You can get them sent straight to your email inbox every Friday, if you’re into that.

Your Best Year Ever & Full Focus Planner

It's a new year, which means many of us are in goal setting mode. If you struggle with setting goals and prioritizing your time effectively to achieve them, check out these two resources from leadership and productivity guru Michael Hyatt. His book Your Best Year Ever lays out an easy to follow framework for setting goals and a plan to achieve them, and the Full Focus Planner is a 90-day planner structured specifically to help implement the framework described in the book. Whether you try these resources or not, I hope 2020 is indeed your best year ever! – Kevin

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Hey, friends in local government:

Have thoughts on any of the links above? Think we missed something essential? We’re discussing these topics and more over on our brand-new online community, exclusively for local government employees.* Sign up for the Community Cultivators Network and join the discussion!

* The network is currently only for those wonderful folks out there who work in local government. If you’re not currently working for a city, town, or county, we still love you (and are sure many of you would add value to the community), but we want to keep our commitment to making this a community focused specifically on our friends working in local government. Thanks for understanding!