{"id":1,"date":"2025-11-29T16:45:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T16:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2025-11-29T18:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T18:37:18","slug":"smog-santafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/11\/29\/smog-santafe\/","title":{"rendered":"From smog to Santa Fe \u2014 a lifelong quest for better places!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"648\" src=\"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/post-1-blog-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-45\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/post-1-blog-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/post-1-blog-1-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/post-1-blog-1-768x486.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m <strong>Brian Skeele<\/strong>, and I grew up in Southern California watching the last vacant lots disappear as the LA basin got paved over. When we went to the beach for the day, I\u2019d come home with the dreaded <em>\u201csmog breath\u201d<\/em>\u2014gagging and choking from being active in LA\u2019s polluted air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In college during the 1970s, I learned about global warming and instantly saw the connection: <strong>suburban sprawl and overconsumption<\/strong>. That realization launched a lifelong quest to figure out <em>\u201cwhat else can we do besides suburbia?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, I\u2019ve searched for ideas that work \u2014 for people <strong>and<\/strong> the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I discovered that places built before cars have something special: <strong>highly walkable lifestyles.<\/strong> Amazingly, I now live in one \u2014 <strong>Santa Fe, New Mexico\u2026well, sort of.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four hundred years of car-free evolution created this beautiful, human-scale, walkable adobe city..downtown. To this day, I\u2019m dumbfounded that we don\u2019t build more places like downtown Santa Fe \u2014 places with charm, connection, and purpose. Yet almost everything built here in the last 60 years has been car-dominated suburban sprawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past few years, I\u2019ve come to believe we now have the tools to create <strong>better choices<\/strong> and <strong>better outcomes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With <strong>Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)<\/strong> mapping, we can include the strengths, gifts, and desired outcomes of <em>every neighbor.<\/em> And with <strong>AI-backed 3D modeling tools<\/strong>, we can visualize and measure the social, economic, and ecological consequences of any proposed change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s what <strong>Our Thriving Futures<\/strong> is all about \u2014 a tool to help communities co-create thriving, walkable, mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhoods that work for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can help make this vision real by adding your unique perspective. It\u2019s like putting a puzzle of 1000 pieces together. We\u2019re building conversations and connections around the things we care about most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <strong>Question:<\/strong> What would <em>you<\/em> add to your favorite place to make it a truly great place to live?   <a href=\"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/surveys.php\">Click here for survey!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m Brian Skeele, and I grew up in Southern California watching the last vacant lots disappear as the LA basin got paved over. When we went to the beach for the day, I\u2019d come home with the dreaded \u201csmog breath\u201d\u2014gagging and choking from being active in LA\u2019s polluted air. In college during the 1970s, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,10,8,13,14,12,6,9,5,7],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abcdmapping","tag-aiforcommunities","tag-betterchoicesbetteroutcomes","tag-mixeduseliving","tag-peopleandplanet","tag-regenerativefuture","tag-santafe2050","tag-sustainablesantafe","tag-thrivingfutures","tag-walkableneighborhoods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourthrivingfutures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}