9 Geniuses, About David Engwicht

The big turning point in David's life came in September 1987. David sat in a public meeting listening to plans to upgrade Route 20 through his home suburb in Brisbane, Australia. Until that evening David had no interest in traffic or city planning. He left the meeting a founding member of CART - Citizens Against Route 20. A week later he was elected spokesperson.

Early in the campaign, David argued that CART should not try and push the problem into someone else's backyard, but instead should search for city-wide and long-term solutions.

Twelve months later, David authored the now influential Traffic Calming: The Solution to Route 20 and a New Vision for Brisbane. This booklet is widely recognized as having triggered the Traffic Calming revolution in many cities in Australia and North America.

This book pushed David into the national and international debate on the future of our cities and their transport. What began to fascinate David was how the design of cities and towns impacts on community life, particularly issues of equity.

In 1992, disappointed with the way cities were implementing the concepts in Traffic Calming, David wrote Reclaiming our Cities and Towns (also published under the title Towards an Eco-City: Calming the Traffic) which went on to become a text in university courses. It was in this book that David proposed the idea of the Walking School Bus - an invention which has now swept the world.

David then worked as a consultant in the UK, Italy, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia. In 1992 David was invited to be a member of the CEAD Committee (Community, Environment, Art & Design) of the Australia Council, the Australian Government arts funding body.

In 1994, David undertook work for Brisbane City Council which was the first study in the world to make a connection between rubbish (trash) reduction and traffic reduction. David went on to codify the 5Rs of Traffic Reduction and is considered a world authority in using resource management techniques to reduce traffic.

In 1995 David began experimenting with ways of enabling residents to solve their own traffic problems. In 1999 these ideas were published in Street Reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities. It proposed a radical new design process for our streets so they once again become places for community building, places that feed the creative wealth of the city, and places that are the engine-room of a robust local economy.

To explain these new approaches and techniques, David has run instant street reclaiming experiments in many cities. Using just the contents of a suitcase and what residents can gather, he works with residents in reclaiming their street over a one or two hour period.

In 1997, David did a presentation for Edinburgh's top city officials. At the end of the dinner David Begg (now Minister of Transport for the UK) asked David for the secret of his creativity. David Begg invited David to travel with him to Copenhagen for a conference and during this trip David Begg, a keen student of creativity, continued to pump David for the secret of his creativity. But David Engwicht had not even considered that he was 'creative'. This encounter caused David to do some major research into the nature of creativity and to explore the source of his own creativity. His conclusions turned current thinking about creativity on its head.

David wrote the first draft of Nine Geniuses Within: Unlock your creative genius and ran a number of creativity workshops. This work on creativity began to merge with his traffic and city-design work and increasingly cities asked him to work with staff to teach them more creative ways of problem-solving. In Boise Idaho, this creative process resulted in another invention that is being adopted world wide: the Neighborhood Pace Car.

In 2001 David conceived and implemented Red Sneaker Week in Brisbane, Australia - a program that encourages kids to walk to school. This has now been developed into the Traffic Tamers program.

After observing the political and community-participation process in dozens of cities, David sees his next great challenge as working with cities to overcome the limitations imposed on creative decision-making by adversarial forms of politics and flawed community consultation and participation processes.

The greatest contributor to David's thinking and work has been his best friend Ingrid Burkett. It was therefore only natural that in 2001 they joined forces to launch Creative Communities International - an incubator for social innovations.

David is the eldest son of an itinerant gospel preacher. After dropping out of high-school, he trained as a telephone technician. He then moved through a range of jobs including freelance youth-worker, furniture craftsman, and marketing manager for a magazine. He was a window cleaner at the time of getting involved in the Route 20 battle. He devoted the next three years of his life to this battle.

David is an artist, street philosopher, communicator, inventor and keen observer of life. He counts his lack of formal education and his marginal experiences as a child as two of his greatest assets.

+61 7 3366 7746 info@9geniuses.com
	In summary (full story below) David Engwicht is a social inventor, artist, 'street philosopher', storyteller, mask-maker and award-winning author. David is considered one of the world's most innovative thinkers about traffic and urban design. He is inventor of the Walking School Bus, the Neighborhood Pace Car, and Traffic Tamers. David first began thinking about the nature of creativity when a leading Scottish politician asked him the secret of his creativity. David's conclusions turned conventional wisdom about creativity on its head. David is cofounder of Creative Communities International, an incubator for social innovations based in Brisbane, Australia. The big turning point in David's life came in September 1987. David sat in a public meeting listening to plans to upgrade Route 20 through his home suburb in Brisbane, Australia. Until that evening David had no interest in traffic or city planning. He left the meeting a founding member of CART - Citizens Against Route 20. A week later he was elected spokesperson. Early in the campaign, David argued that CART should not try and push the problem into someone else's backyard, but instead should search for city-wide and long-term solutions. Twelve months later, David authored the now influential Traffic Calming: The Solution to Route 20 and a New Vision for Brisbane. This booklet is widely recognized as having triggered the Traffic Calming revolution in many cities in Australia and North America. This book pushed David into the national and international debate on the future of our cities and their transport. What began to fascinate David was how the design of cities and towns impacts on community life, particularly issues of equity. In 1992, disappointed with the way cities were implementing the concepts in Traffic Calming, David wrote Reclaiming our Cities and Towns (also published under the title Towards an Eco-City: Calming the Traffic) which went on to become a text in university courses. It was in this book that David proposed the idea of the Walking School Bus - an invention which has now swept the world. David then worked as a consultant in the UK, Italy, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia. In 1992 David was invited to be a member of the CEAD Committee (Community, Environment, Art & Design) of the Australia Council, the Australian Government arts funding body. In 1994, David undertook work for Brisbane City Council which was the first study in the world to make a connection between rubbish (trash) reduction and traffic reduction. David went on to codify the 5Rs of Traffic Reduction and is considered a world authority in using resource management techniques to reduce traffic. In 1995 David began experimenting with ways of enabling residents to solve their own traffic problems. In 1999 these ideas were published in Street Reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities. It proposed a radical new design process for our streets so they once again become places for community building, places that feed the creative wealth of the city, and places that are the engine-room of a robust local economy. To explain these new approaches and techniques, David has run instant street reclaiming experiments in many cities. Using just the contents of a suitcase and what residents can gather, he works with residents in reclaiming their street over a one or two hour period. In 1997, David did a presentation for Edinburgh's top city officials. At the end of the dinner David Begg (now Minister of Transport for the UK) asked David for the secret of his creativity. David Begg invited David to travel with him to Copenhagen for a conference and during this trip David Begg, a keen student of creativity, continued to pump David for the secret of his creativity. But David Engwicht had not even considered that he was 'creative'. This encounter caused David to do some major research into the nature of creativity and to explore the source of his own creativity. His conclusions turned current thinking about creativity on its head. David wrote the first draft of Nine Geniuses Within: Unlock your creative genius and ran a number of creativity workshops. This work on creativity began to merge with his traffic and city-design work and increasingly cities asked him to work with staff to teach them more creative ways of problem-solving. In Boise Idaho, this creative process resulted in another invention that is being adopted world wide: the Neighborhood Pace Car. In 2001 David conceived and implemented Red Sneaker Week in Brisbane, Australia - a program that encourages kids to walk to school. This has now been developed into the Traffic Tamers program. After observing the political and community-participation process in dozens of cities, David sees his next great challenge as working with cities to overcome the limitations imposed on creative decision-making by adversarial forms of politics and flawed community consultation and participation processes. The greatest contributor to David's thinking and work has been his best friend Ingrid Burkett. It was therefore only natural that in 2001 they joined forces to launch Creative Communities International - an incubator for social innovations. David is the eldest son of an itinerant gospel preacher. After dropping out of high-school, he trained as a telephone technician. He then moved through a range of jobs including freelance youth-worker, furniture craftsman, and marketing manager for a magazine. He was a window cleaner at the time of getting involved in the Route 20 battle. He devoted the next three years of his life to this battle. David is an artist, street philosopher, communicator, inventor and keen observer of life. He counts his lack of formal education and his marginal experiences as a child as two of his greatest assets.

In summary (full story below)