It's a good idea to ask your readers for suggestion for several reasons, including the following:
* They know things you don't know about the things you often write about.
* If they respond once, they're more likely to respond in the future, so long as you treat their response thoughtfully and with respect. This leads to more conversations, and conversations are at the heart of the New Media.
Here's a post I did some time ago soliciting input on Original Green places:
I'm starting a series of posts on the Original Green blog that I'm calling Original Green Places. The first one is on South Main in Buena Vista, Colorado, planned by Dover-Kohl. If you like the idea of a series like this, what other places should be candidates? Here are the criteria:
Sustainable places are:
Nourishable: Requires an agricultural component; ideally Agricultural Urbanism which is embedded into and probably also around the neighborhood.
Accessible: All real New Urbanist places do this well.
Serviceable: All real New Urbanist places do this to some degree. The best allow many people to "make a living where you're living."
Securable: New Urbanism typically sets the stage for securability to some degree. Places like Alys Beach are best, because they have easily-securable blocks.
While the prime focus is on the place, the buildings are important, too... sustainable buildings must be:
Lovable: New Urbanist places have long focused on lovable buildings, with varying degrees of success. Does it have a pattern book? A Town Architect? These two things are normally a head-start.
Durable: Buildings must have strategy for lasting significantly longer than usual. Better materials, shutters in a hurricane zone, etc.
Flexible: If a building is lovable and durable, it needs to be many things over centuries of life. What's the strategy for doing so?
Frugal: Green building strategy must be broader than Gizmo Green. Do the natural stuff first, then bridge the gap with highly-efficient gizmos.
Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
