The Flagpole Vol. 9: Forty-One Flags, One City: Slow Work, Steady Progress
What 41 Neighborhoods Look Like Together
Until now, the Flags of Denver project has focused on one neighborhood at a time: one story, one symbol, one flag, repeated over seven plus years.
Recently, I overlaid all 41 completed flags onto a single map of Denver’s neighborhoods. Half to see what it would look like, half to exercise some GIS muscles that had atrophied over the years. Forty-one flags. One city. And suddenly the project felt different.
Neighborhoods, places, and communities do not exist in isolation. They touch, overlap, and influence one another. Put all the flags side by side, and they stop feeling like separate designs — they start to feel like parts of a living city.
The twelve-second video above, seven years in the making, also makes something else obvious: this kind of work takes time.
I keep telling myself this project is moving slowly on purpose, not because it’s precious, but because attention is a precious resource. Each neighborhood needs room to be understood before it can be drawn. Life also gets in the way. Kids’ birthday parties need planning, consulting projects take precedence, and that is okay. A quote from James Clear feels relevant here:
“Work is endless. Exercise is endless. Parenting is endless. Same with marriage, writing, investing, creating, and more. You get to choose the parts of your life, but many of the important things in life cannot be finished.”
Most meaningful work happens slower than we expect, slower than we would like, and slower than anyone watching from the outside might understand. Whether you are designing, writing, building, planning, or raising a family, progress often shows up quietly, visible only when you zoom out.
What I’m noticing so far
Neighborhoods I know best: I’ve focused on areas where I’ve lived or worked. The shapes and colors are informed by hours spent walking, biking, and existing in each place.
Complicated histories: I’ve either consciously or subconsciously avoided neighborhoods like Auraria, Globeville, and Elyria-Swansea. Some stories are layered or sensitive and require more context than a single flag can hold. For now, I’ve chosen to wait, giving these neighborhoods the attention they deserve.
Gaps to explore: Southeast Denver hasn’t received much attention yet. This is the area of town I know least about but empty spaces on the map are invitations to explore and understand a new story.
Simplicity as a guide: I’ve mostly followed NAVA’s guidelines to make the flags simple enough that a fourth grader could draw the them from memory. Occasionally, I’ve strayed (Sunny Side, the CBD, Rosedale), but clarity and simplicity remain central, both to this project, but also my daily life.
Forty-one of seventy-eight neighborhoods completed. Finishing will come eventually. For now, this map is proof that slow work accumulates.
If you’ve been following from the start, thanks for staying with the long view. If you’re new, welcome! You’ve arrived mid-build, usually where the most interesting things are happening.
The map grows one flag at a time. Is there a neighborhood or story you think belongs next? Tell me!
More soon.
—Steve
Explore all the Flags of Denver and learn the stories behind each design → View the collection