Boise
is rising
Civic writing for a city remembering what it's here to build
For those ready to participate in building what comes next.
Boise is not just growing.
It's unfolding — into complexity, tension, and potential.
This moment asks more of us than speed or opinion. It asks for coherence.
What if:
civic life could feel sacred again?
a city could be designed for human flourishing?
the way we organize ourselves could restore meaning, beauty, and genuine community?
Boise Rising begins with writing that helps our city think more clearly and lead more humanely.
But it's building toward something larger—new ways of creating the environments where people become who they're meant to be.
Essays that ask real questions. Reflections on leadership, space, rhythm, trust. Signals from the civic ground.
The Civic
Groundwork
The blog is the foundation.
But civic systems are more than words on a page
They’re the underlying structures that shape how we live together —
from the design of public spaces to the way decisions get made, from how we recognize contribution to how we create environments that inspire our best selves.
The writing published here is laying groundwork for innovations in governance, community building, and place-making that could transform how cities work.
Not through politics, but through demonstration.
Not by reforming what exists, but by building what's possible.
WHY NOW
Cities don't develop character by accident.
They become places worth inhabiting through thousands of daily choices made by citizens who understand that individual actions shape collective outcomes.
The old systems are too slow, too compromised, too disconnected from what people actually need. The future belongs to those who can build better alternatives—not through force, but through superior beauty, functionality, and meaning.
This is where it starts:
with citizens learning to think and act beyond the usual divides, creating the culture that makes everything else possible.
THE FIRST BUILDERS
Citizens ready to become leaders.
Anyone who senses that something deeper is possible in how we organize civic life—and that the current ways of doing things aren’t adequate to what’s trying to emerge.
Early adopters who want to participate in building new models. Citizens ready to become leaders.
People who believe that the way we live together can be fundamentally reimagined. Anyone willing to do the patient work of creating culture that lasts.
City council members balancing competing priorities.
Neighbors who know that community doesn't just happen.
Business owners building enterprises that serve both profit and place.
Technologists interested in governance innovation.
Teachers and parents creating environments where children thrive.
Designers thinking about sacred space.
The Practice
of Coherence
We publish 2–3 substantial essays each month that develop the intellectual and cultural foundation for more beautiful, coherent, and meaningful civic systems.
Each piece builds toward a larger vision:
communities organized around truth, goodness, and beauty as functional design principles.
Places where excellence becomes contagious and leadership emerges naturally from wisdom and service.
The goal is not just better ideas, but better infrastructure for how those ideas become reality
WHAT’S COMING
The blog is Stage One.
As this foundation solidifies, Boise Rising will expand into:
Community Labs
Testing new approaches
to neighborhood organization,
decision-making, and resource sharing
Design Initiatives
Creating spaces and systems
that support human flourishing
at every scale
Leadership Development
Cultivating the integrated civic intelligence our moment requires
Technology Integration
Exploring how emerging tools can enhance trust, coordination, and collective wisdom
We're not just writing about better civic systems. We're building them.
BOISE – IDAHO
SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES
This is an invitation to participate in something that starts with ideas but doesn’t end there.
To help build the cultural substrate for what Boise could become, and what other cities might learn from our experiment.
A new essay delivered every week, plus occasional updates on projects and initiatives as they develop.