Read the full story at FastCo.Exist.
From participatory budgets to civic engagement games, cities are coming up with all kinds of new ways to bring citizens into the planning process. And here’s another nice idea: a “housing simulator” from Auckland.
Watch the video at GreenBiz.
South Bronx educator Stephen Ritz tells how his students at the Green Bronx Machine are transforming their own local food systems, and elevating themselves from poverty into the mainstream economy in doing so.
Read the full story from Sustainable Communities E-News.
In 2012, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania adopted a landmark program that could change the direction of infrastructure investments made in CSO-affected communities across the country. Informed by years of watershed-based planning, the Philadelphia Water Department’s (PWD’s) Green City, Clean Waters program deploys green infrastructure strategies as the primary tool for addressing CSOs and spurring sustainable urban redevelopment.
Read the full story at ArchDaily.
Chicago is set to be the next U.S. city to park-ify on one of its abandoned rail-lines. First proposed back in 1997, the 2.7 mile, 13-acre Bloomingdale Trail and Park is proposed for a stretch of abandoned railway trestle dating from 1910, which has been lying unused since the turn of the century. And, even though it is already being compared to New-York’s High Line, the planners are adamant that the park will be an entirely different animal to its New York cousin.
Read the full story at Shareable.
If you’ve ever found yourself on the phone with a customer service representative telling you it would cost more to fix your electric tea kettle than to just buy a new one, you are well acquainted with the concept of “planned obsolescence.” The good news is that people across the world are getting wise to the intentional design flaws hoisted upon us by clever manufacturers eager to sell more products, and are coming up with new and creative ways to salvage perfectly usable things.
Repair Cafés are not only great events to get your vacuum, waffle iron, or lawn mower fixed, but the very nature of their collaborative and community-oriented learning spirit contains the antidote to our modern day throw-away mentality. Conceived by Martine Postma, a Dutch journalist who was no longer willing to just accept that she had to throw things out that could easily be salvaged, the first Repair Café debuted three years ago in Amsterdam.
Read the full post at Shareable.
Groups all over the world are resisting the status quo of profit maximization by putting society’s happiness, health and the Earth first. This work, though, is often overshadowed by big business with its bloated advertising budgets and economic monopolization, which makes alternatives seem insubstantial if not nonexistent.
New economy projects are mostly unconnected, so each one struggles alone rather than supporting each other. One result of this is that awareness remains low. The US Solidarity Economy Network (USSEN) and its international counterpart, RIPESS, are working to change this by implementing a mapping and economic integration tool to connect groups with one another to build a cooperative, just and sustainable economy.
Read the full story at Atlantic Cities.
A century ago, Buffalo’s Hydraulics District, a manufacturing and warehouse area one mile from downtown, was booming. This was thanks in a large part to the Larkin Company, one of the nation’s largest mail order retailers.
But competition with the department store eventually proved too much. Larkin went bust in the 1940s, and it brought the neighborhood down with it. Even the company’s famous administration building was demolished in 1950. The building, a progressive temple for the modern workplace designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (his first ever office building) was converted into surface parking.
But in the last few years, the neighborhood known as “Larkinville” has reemerged as a hub of economic activity. The once devastated neighborhood now posesses a growing collection of public space, mixed-use initiatives and offices. It’s the city’s most unexpected and perhaps most successful urban development initiative in decades.
Read the full post at GreenTech Efficiency.
Falling prices and changes to building codes are changing how the Big Apple thinks about office lighting.
New building codes are making New York a potential beacon for daylight harvesting (using daylight to offset electricity usage) according to a recent study from Green Light New York, a nonprofit that provides energy and lighting efficiency education and research.
A new roadway lighting demonstration project was initiated in late 2010, which was planned in conjunction with other upgrades to NE Cully Boulevard, a residential collector road in the northeast area of Portland, OR. With the NE Cully Boulevard project, the Portland Bureau of Transportation hoped to demonstrate different light source technologies and different luminaires side-by-side. This report documents the initial performance of six different newly installed luminaires, including three LED products, one induction product, one ceramic metal halide product, and one high-pressure sodium (HPS) product that represented the baseline solution. It includes reported, calculated, and measured performance; evaluates the economic feasibility of each of the alternative luminaires; and documents user feedback collected from a group of local Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) members that toured the site. This report does not contain any long-term performance evaluations or laboratory measurements of luminaire performance. Although not all of the installed products performed equally, the alternative luminaires generally offered higher efficacy, more appropriate luminous intensity distributions, and favorable color quality when compared to the baseline HPS luminaire. However, some products did not provide sufficient illumination to all areas—vehicular drive lanes, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks—or would likely fail to meet design criteria over the life of the installation due to expected depreciation in lumen output. While the overall performance of the alternative luminaires was generally better than the baseline HPS luminaire, cost remains a significant barrier to widespread adoption. Based on the cost of the small quantity of luminaires purchased for this demonstration, the shortest calculated payback period for one of the alternative luminaire types was 17.3 years. The luminaire prices were notably higher than typical prices for currently available luminaires purchased in larger quantities. At prices that are more typical, the payback would be less than 10 years. In addition to the demonstration luminaires, a networked control system was installed for additional evaluation and demonstration purposes. The capability of control system to measure luminaire input power was explored in this study. A more exhaustive demonstration and evaluation of the control system will be the subject of future GATEWAY report(s).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a first-of-its kind report showing how low-income, minority and tribal communities can apply smart growth land use and development strategies to create healthy communities, spur economic growth and protect the environment.
The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report describes how low-income, minority, and tribal communities can employ smart growth strategies to clean up and reinvest in existing neighborhoods; provide affordable housing and transportation; and improve access to jobs, parks and stores. The report also provides smart growth practitioners with concrete ideas on how they can better meet the needs of low-income residents as they promote development or redevelopment in underserved communities.
“The way communities are designed and built has an important influence on public health, the quality of our air and water, and economic vitality,” said Michael Goo, associate administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy. “EPA hopes this report will help smart growth and environmental justice advocates work together more effectively to achieve the best results possible for communities.”
“Historically, environmental justice and smart growth have been viewed as separate interests, yet communities across the U.S. are showing that they are actually complementary,” said Lisa Garcia, associate assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice. “Combining these principles and focusing on equitable development can help community-based organizations, local planners, and other stakeholders achieve healthy and sustainable communities for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status.”
The report also features case studies on seven communities across the country that have used the strategies described in the report. These strategies include:
The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report was developed by EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and Office of Sustainable Communities.
