making massive small change
THE IDEA
The key to fixing our broken patterns of urban development does not lie in grand plans or giant projects; rather, it lies in the collective wisdom and energy of people harnessing the power of many small ideas and actions to make a big difference. We call this making “Massive Small” change.
In an increasingly complex and changing world where global problems are felt locally, the systems we use to plan, design, and build our urban neighbourhoods are failing. For three generations, governments the world over have tried to order and control the evolution of cities through rigid, top-down action. Yet, master plans lie unfulfilled, housing is in crisis, the environment is under threat, and the urban poor have become poorer.
The system is not broken: it was built this way. And governments alone cannot solve these problems. But there is another way—the Massive Small way—a concept developed by Kelvin Campbell, the innovative founder of Urban Initiatives, an internationally recognised urban design practice based in London, and curator of Massive Small [Building Urban Society], one of the largest LinkedIn communities in the field of online urbanism.
Making Massive Small Change, the first truly comprehensive sourcebook to come out of this work, showcases cities as they really are—deeply complex, adaptive systems. As such, it offers an alternative to our current highly mechanistic model of urban development. With roots in the work of great urban theorists such as Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and E. F. Schumacher, Making Massive Small Change integrates this thinking with complexity theory, systems thinking and a scientific understanding of resilience in cities. It sets out the enabling protocols, conditions, and behaviours that deliver Massive Small change in our neighbourhoods. It describes and illustrates the ideas, tools, and tactics being used to help engaged citizens, civic leaders, and urban professionals to work together to build viable urban society, and it will show how effective system change can be implemented.
Highly illustrated with stunning graphics and photographs of cityscapes and urban life, this essential toolkit for the future can be called the next Whole Earth Catalog for twenty-first century urban planning and development.
REVIEWS
“Bigness has grown out of control—in our cities, and in our life-critical systems. But here’s the good news: small actions are the best way to cut bigness down to size—and this compendium contains a thousand different ways to start.” —John Thackara, founder of Doors of Perception, author of How to Thrive in the Next Economy
“What a beautiful bastard this book is: a hybridised glossary, dictionary, manual, playbook, catalogue, manifesto, polemic and so much more. It is a stunningly curated Kama Sutra for city-making—inventive and seductive. If you have any connection with urban transformation, in any capacity, scale or setting, spend quality time with this book and engage with its many provocations.” — Professor Edgar Pieterse, Director: African Centre for Cities and author of New Urban Worlds
“An extremely valuable new handbook of urbanism; it’s the beauty of simplicity, small actions that can provoke a positive start. Wise urban acupuncture and co-responsibility for incremental change”—Jaime Lerner, architect, urbanist and author Urban Acupuncture
“Kelvin Campbell has done it again. Starting with a broad understanding of how urban change happens and needs to happen—less through top-down command-and-control methods, more through “massive small” interventions—he guides us through a rich compendium of tools and strategies. This delightful book deserves a spot on the bookshelf next to The Death and Life of Great American Cities, A Pattern Language, and other icons of fine-grained, process-based development.”—Michael Mehaffy, PhD, executive director Sustasis Foundation and coauthor of Design for a Living Planet
“An extremely valuable, new handbook for urbanism that brings together the most pertinent, current, tested ideas and strategies for a better future.” —Kristien Ring, founding director of the German Centre for Architecture and author of Selfmade City
“Jane Jacobs would be overjoyed to see a designer finally turning her recommendations about organised complexity—made over 50 years ago–into a practical framework and toolbox for transformative action. It is a timely and major achievement.”—NezHapi Dellé Odeleye, PhD, course leader for Engineering and the Built Environment, Anglia Ruskin University
“Finally, a book that offers abundant evidence that a built environment is an organism composed of living cells. Kelvin Campbell demonstrates that professionals can learn from such evidence and find ways to contribute to the organism’s health.”—John Habraken, author of Supports and The Structure of the Ordinary
“Kelvin’s comprehensive compendium is an ideal reference for all seeking patterns of sustainable and therefore bottom-up placemaking and management. The emerging paradigm, so clearly illustrated in this book, highlights the fact that only peoples’ local capacities can provide the vital variety of requirements for urban life.”—John FC Turner, architect and author of Freedom to Build and Housing By People
“The principles and approaches in Making Massive Small Change reflect how we can empower people to once again participate in shaping our communities whilst creating more successful places.”—Ben Derbyshire, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects
“This powerful and highly engaging book is an inspiring call for all of us to start making a difference tomorrow. I have always believed that more than hope driving action it is action that drives hope. Read this book, be inspired by its stories of change from modest beginnings and get working for a better world.”—Matthew Taylor, political strategist, writer and chief executive of the RSA
“This book has more than a touch of genius and is massively courageous. This is an essential book for anyone involved in systems thinking, complexity, and design“.—Ian Roderick, director of the Schumacher Institute
“Just as urbanists reclaimed the lost knowledge of traditional design, we must now rediscover the value of incrementalism, of many small projects by many hands, of enabling local residents and businesses to participate in community development. Making Massive Small Change is a valuable contribution to the movement.—Brian Falk, director, The Project for Lean Urbanism
“Change doesn’t have to take decades to realise or even to be gold-plated. This book shows us that small done well can actually be the most powerful change agent on the planet because it can mobilise a whole city or community allowing the goodness to creep up on the city. With cities, small can be mighty. Read this and make that change.—Ludo Campbell-Reid, urbanist, and design champion for Auckland, New Zealand