Groundswell Video: Rojas On Planning – Imagine, Investigate, Construct, Reflect

There is a new video out this week from Groundswell, a project of multi-faceted bike activists Joe Biel and Elly Blue. Streetsblog USA profiled Groundswell last month. They’ve created a series of engaging and entertaining videos that explore the intersections of equity, community and cycling.

“The idea behind Groundswell was to recontextualize bicycling as a social movement and also to look at all the different people that have been excluded from that,” Biel told SBUSA. “It is often people at a ground level that are the ones that create social change around bicycling movements.”

This week’s short video focuses on Los Angeles’ James Rojas. Streetsblog Los Angeles readers are likely familiar with James Rojas as he has contributed numerous articles, and his interactive planning workshops have been chronicled at SBLA: from Pacoima to Highland Park to Boyle Heights.

Building Stories: City Planning With James Rojas profiles Rojas community planning sessions where participants use toys, games, sticks, and various doodads to create dioramas and tell what kind of community they would like to see. Using everyday objects, Rojas invites everyday people to participate in visioning and planning. Rojas’ simple techniques allow untrained non-experts – children, the elderly, and other overlooked peoples – to have a voice in community planning.

Watch Groundswell’s excellent earlier videos on Black Women Bike, Take Back the Streets, and Toward Equitable Bicycle Advocacy. Also check Groundswell’s website for additional videos coming soon.