This document discusses planning for intercultural cities. It defines cultural competency as the ability to interact effectively with other cultures and an awareness of other cultures. Tools for developing cultural competency include listening, understanding other belief systems, embracing other cultures, developing conflict resolution skills, and diversity training. A case study describes issues that arose when the Massachusetts Audubon Society took over a community garden in Mattapan, MA that was primarily used by African American, Caribbean, and Haitian residents. Lessons learned include the importance of listening, getting to know the local community, and cultural competence being essential for well-planned diverse cities.

1. Planning for
the INTERcultural City
Practice + Visions
Tufts University Intercultural Planning Group
www.sites.tufts.edu/tuftsicp
October 22, 2010

2. David Queeley, President,
Community Sustainability Planning
Planning for the INTERcultural City

3. Presented at
Planning for the Intercultural City
Tufts University
October 22, 2010
David Queeley

4. Defining Cultural Competency
 Ability to interact effectively with people of
other cultures, and;
 An awareness of other cultures
 Cultures can be centered around race, ethnicity, identification
with a country or place of origin, neighborhood, ways of doing
or being, etc.

5. Tools
 Listening…
 Willingness to understand and/or embrace other
cultures
 Try to understand belief systems, habits, and typical
behaviors
 Embrace other cultures without trying to change them
 “Lean” into some of the discomfort that arises from cross
cultural difference
 Developing skill sets to interact with other cultures
 “Get to Yes”: develop conflict resolution and negotiation skills
 Facilitation training

6. Tools Cont’d
 Diversity training
o Should include study of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation, class, poverty, equity, age, ability/disability, social
justice, inclusion, and religion
o Understanding how you/your organizational culture can
impact individuals and groups

7. Case Study
 Boston Nature Center, Mattapan, MA 02126
Background
 Local Population: primarily African-American, Caribbean, and
Haitian, with a smaller mix of Latino, Caucasian, Indian and
Asian.
 Average Home Value: $148,000, lower than the Boston-
Cambridge-Quincy metro area as a whole.
 Median age is 34.4
 Average Income is $38,581
Study Area
• BNC and BNC Community Gardens
• Total site = 75 acres in heart of Mattapan
• Contains the largest community garden in US at one time: approx.
500 gardeners

8. Case Study cont’d
 Garden organization has been in place for over 20
years
 Board like structure with President, Treasurer, and
three other officers
 Gardeners paid annual fee of $20/year

9. Issues
 MAS as “outside” organization
 Lack of knowledge of MAS core mission and values
 MAS desire to have a truly urban site for all the right
reasons
 MAS as new landowner
 Uncertainty about where $$ from gardeners were
going; difficult for MAS not to understand this issue
on its newly acquired property
 Perceptions of me as a representative of MAS/outside
organization
 With gardeners approval, MAS made all plots 20 x 20
and added water service

10. Lessons Learned
 Even if you are ostensibly a member of a cultural group you are working
with, you may have something to learn
 Listen, listen, listen…
 Take the time to get to know those you’re working with: have meals
together, research something about their history and ask about it, learn
their language

11. Conclusion
If, as Jennifer Chin has noted, ‘planners have a “special
responsibility to plan for the needs of the
disadvantaged and to promote racial and economic
integration” ’, then moving toward cultural
competence is essential to well-planned cities and
suburbs of the future. This is especially true given the
current paradigm shift that more than half of all
persons of color residing in metro areas actually living
in suburbs, and that the country will become
Majority/Minority by 2042.