Down the Road

10/08/2012

How can neighbourhood support reach the new generation?

http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/news/fighting-crime-facebook/1289252/

Police climb into social media and discover communities are eager to ‘like’ them. And, as a result, crimes such as burglary are taking a tumble.

06/06/2012

Ever heard of the Big Lunch (UK)? 4 days ago over a million people in the UK took part, making 2011 the biggest Big Lunch yet.

It's like our Neighbours Day - one day where we all have a great excuse for neighbours from different generations and backgrounds to hear each other out and share stories, skills and interests.

The Big Lunch is based on a belief that the world can be a better place through people working together, with nature, optimism and common sense.

- We know that when people get together, we become more positive and start to sort out some serious stuff.

- By simply having some fun with our neighbours on one day in the summer, we can build new friendships that we can enjoy for the rest of the year.

Let's see if we can get our Neighbours Day in NZ to the same scale...

http://www.thebiglunch.com/

The homepage of The Big Lunch, the one day get-together for neighbours. Sign up for news about the event on Sunday 3 June 2012.

09/05/2012

Which is the most neighbourly city of them all?

If stats be believed, the closest neighbourhoods are not found in the South Island; in fact Invercargill is the least neighbourly major city.

I’ll admit, this is crude stat analysis to label “neighbourly” by just comparing neighbours day events with the relative populations, but it makes for interesting reading nonetheless...

The North Island takes all:
1) New Plymouth (1 ND event for every 4375 residents)
2) Wellington (but debatable with one suburb, Tawa, hosting 66% of the ND events in the city with an extraordinary "neighbourly ratio" of 1 : 268)
3) Auckland (1 : 6818 and 86 ND events in the central suburbs)

So - While you’re waiting for the next Neighbours day, what are you going to do today to future-proof your community?

20/04/2012

Nicole Foss, an international speaker on current issues in finance, energy and the environment, delivered a fascinating talk about the shambles the world economy is still in - last Monday at the Grey Lynn RSC.

Pretty much, if it all turns to custard you are really going to want to know and trust your neighbours. Hard to argue with that... It's a lot cheaper, easier and better to start those relationships now rather than in the middle of a crisis don't you think?

16/04/2012

It's actually a lot of fun to explore your own "backyard". You discover that there are amazing places, people and ... even cool street art - all around the place.

Using Down the Road can be like collecting the best "gems" of your neighbourhood.

I found all sorts of hidden spots, street art, beaches around Herne Bay/ Westmere that I'd always seemed to pass before.

If you're keen to collect for your own neighbourhood - try it out on www.downtheroad.co.nz.

13/04/2012

There's a great summary of why social "connectedness" in a community's important.

There's apparently six indicators to measure it: telephone and internet access in the home, contact with family and friends, contact between young people and their parents, trust in others, loneliness, and voluntary work.

The benefits are clear:

- "Local communities, including neighbourhoods, play a significant role in wellbeing and our daily connections with others."
- 'Doing neighbourly acts help us live longer'
- For the 'positive mental health of populations.'
- Sense of 'belonging' and 'wellbeing'
- Good neighbourhoods are safer

We're confident we can help. What do you think?

http://neighboursday.org.nz/node/137

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that neighbourliness helps to build positive social capital and contribute to the improved wellbeing of communities, whanau and individuals (Hothi, Bacon, Brophy & Mulgan, 2011). The Mental Health Foundation is interested in the links between social cap...

09/04/2012

How cool is this for an idea to bring the neighbourhood together?

During Neighbours "Day" weekend - each household in Arch Hill that signed up was allocated another house nearby to randomly treat over the weekend...

http://gatherandhunt.co.nz/Stories/arch-hill-awesomeness

So you may remember I told you a story a while ago about a girl called Victoria, who started the Arch Hill Newsletter and the Love Thy Neighbour project in my happy little suburb. If you don’t remembe

02/04/2012

Grey Lynn should be looking just that little bit better today. Yesterday, we joined Souala who did an incredible job of organising 20+ local volunteers to clean up around the shops. You always feel better when you can see what a difference it makes...

27/03/2012

Even city councils are realising that they need to redesign cities to encourage, not block, local interaction.

We hope that Down the Road can help bring the "community tide" back in and Neighbours Day showed us last Saturday that we're not alone after all.

LONELINESS is rising - Melburnians have fewer friends and good neighbours than they did 20 years ago.

27/03/2012

We launched Down the Road at the epic Neighbours Day event held last Saturday at the Meadowood Community Centre in Unsworth Heights.

It was brilliant to get to meet so many of you from the local community and was really encouraging to see everyone getting out there and supporting a really "Amazing Place".

27/03/2012

20/03/2012

Want to read a great story about Meadowood? 'Roanna’s enthusiasm for local community is infectious... Neighbour's Day is the perfect opportunity for kick-starting such efforts...it’s easy, it’s fun and it’s well worth the effort.' Go Roanna!

'Friendly' and 'welcoming' are the terms used by 22-year-old migrant Roanna in describing New Zealanders upon her arrival in NZ more than four years ago. Such descriptors are a true testament to the NDA campaign belief that neighbourliness is simply a part of the kiwi DNA. For Roanna, Auckland’s mul...