Street showing urban alchemy, topic of this week's podcast episode with Molly Rose Kauffman and Majora Carter

Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in Our Cities

Original Air Date Wednesday, October 12, 2022 

With many US cities falling into disrepair following the pandemic, business downturns, and brain drains, the term ‘Hometown Proud’ has become almost non-existent. Young talent looks elsewhere for opportunities to make their mark leaving once vibrant towns uncared for. What will it take to empower inhabitants to restore our beautiful cities and rekindle once thriving communities?

To merge architecture, positive psychology, urban alchemy, and what it means to create a better and just life for all, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two women who invest their home and work life into their communities.

Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategist, and author who strives to inject joy back into the South Bronx and other established communities like it. She shares key concepts from her book, Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One, and her strategies for getting residents to reinvest in their communities.

Molly Rose Kauffman is the co-founder of the University of Orange, a free people’s university centered in Orange, New Jersey. She describes the major strides the university is taking to reignite people’s passion for enlivening public spaces and further enriching the existing culture.

Tune in:

Meet Our Guests:

Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in Our Cities with Majora Carter & Molly Rose Kauffman

Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow, and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation of numerous economic developments, technology inclusion, green infrastructure projects, policies, and job training and placement systems. She currently serves as Senior Program Director for Community Regeneration at Groundswell, Inc. Carter applies her corporate consulting practice focused on talent retention to reducing the Brain Drain in American low-status communities.

She has firsthand experience pioneering sustainable economic development in one of America’s most storied low-status communities: the South Bronx.

Book: Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One

Majora Carter — Restoring Joy in Our Cities:

  • Majora describes what inspired her to write Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One. {2:15}
  • Brain Drain affects low-status U.S. communities that have not yet begun to reinvest in themselves. {5:35}
  • Historically, development has created an architecture of hopelessness and has often had a predatory nature. {10:57}
  • How Majora is changing the game of real estate development to get a better return on investment. {16:59}
  • Reclaiming a community like the South Bronx offers value to not only the real estate but also to the families who call it home. {19:43}
  • Majora describes what she means by ‘Planning with Joy’. {23:20}

Follow Majora Carter :

Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in Our Cities with Majora Carter & Molly Rose Kauffman

Molly Rose Kaufman is director of the University of Orange, a free people’s university dedicated to education for equitable cities. She co-founded the organization in 2008 alongside her mother and grandmother.

Molly Rose Kauffman — Urban Alchemy:

  • Molly co-founded Orange University with her mother and grandmother in the city of Orange, NJ. {29:00}
  • There are four core urbanism principles at Orange University. {32:21} 
  • Molly describes how the organization is making new connections beyond the previous policies that left cities physically and socially fractured. {34:30} 
  • Some cities and experiences are glamorized but every town has a surprising story to tell. {43:20} 
  • Place-making is an event and a class at the University of Orange. {47:32}
  • Molly felt 100% called to do her work at the University of Orange. {51:58}

Follow Molly Rose Kauffman:

Shareables:

“Community is not just a place, it is an activity.” @majoracarter on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “I consider the work I do to be my personal ministry.” @majoracarter on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “One of our core urbanism principles is — everything we need is already here.” @uoforange on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “We have workshops on how to enliven public space.” @uoforange on @HHTalkRadio Share on X

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Grab More Joy Below:

Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life — A boot camp manual for greater emotional fitness. Happiness waits for no one and sometimes we all need support. What is getting in the way of your happiness right now?

H–Factor: Where is Your Heart? — Lisa’s documentary film explores the journey of human happiness. Emotions are contagious and happiness is a universally desired state. We tend to forget we all have the freedom to be happy or the liberty to be miserable each day.

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