The neighbor who waved every single morning never gave a speech. She still made the street feel like home.

Places get their feeling from small repeated signals rather than from anyone in charge. One person acknowledging you every morning for years does more for how a street feels than any program, and she never had to organize a thing. Consistency is the entire mechanism. It works because it tells everybody within range that they are seen by somebody, on a schedule.

Be that for one place you pass through often: a bus stop, a locker row, the back of a shop. Greet the same people the same way every day for a month and expect nothing back. You will be surprised how fast the place changes temperature.