Sense.LA
Sense.LA
Sense of Self, Sense of Community, Sense of City
 

Connect your community, connect your city

Sense LA


A program to creatively harness the power of collective-intelligence through public participation, Sense LA works to build social cohesion and foster dialogue for the betterment of cities and their communities.

 
 
 

a systems view of people and their issues

Just like nature, people operate within dynamic and interconnected systems; But our senses, our culture, and our habits tend to hide this simple fact. If we are part of a system, a neighborhood, a city, so, too, are the daily issues we face.

 
 

What is Sense LA

A program that aims to change the way government and society communicate with each other by helping people understand their place within their community, how communities can build a stronger voice, and how governments can become more inclusive and flexible.

 
main System Map - ITA workshop.png
 
 
5BhwmrQ5QuqoJtCE+HcKAQ.jpg
 

How we work

Sense LA works with government agencies and residents to convene gatherings called creative assemblies, drawing on individual experience to facilitate explorations of local issues and their interdependencies. This methodology enables individuals to identify and address problems of mutual interest, and visualize them in ways that facilitate new understandings of the intertwined relationship between individual and collective. The program’s methodology, called PREPARE, was created by Gabriel Kahan and mechanical engineering professor Alexander Slocum at MIT.

 
 

Developed at MIT, Tested in Cities and Schools

Learn to use a leading-edge method developed at MIT to help random groups of people build high-precision tools, like robots and turbines, adapted and enhanced for use in understanding everyday problems and situations of mutual interest in our neighborhoods.

 

Benefits

  • Attract new people to your Neighborhood Council or Organization

  • Tackle root causes and interconnect neighborhood experiences and problems

  • Guide longer-term decision making

  • Anticipate, explore big issues

  • Break entrenched thought patterns, behaviors, and inspire dialogue

  • Learn to use art and deep thinking to understand complex problems

 

Contact us for more information or to register your Neighborhood Council or Organization to host a creative assembly

Please complete the form below