Cityblog features daily posts from the Smarter Cities team and NRDC's Switchboard Blog.
Citizen participation in the design of sustainable communities
(Illustration courtesy of Julie Stuart, Making Ideas Visible) Today’s post is guest-authored by my friend and frequent collaborator, Lee Epstein. Lee is an attorney and land use planner working for sustainability in the mid-Atlantic region. First, a confession: I... Kaid Benfield
May 16, 2012
Taming the sound of the city: dealing with noise pollution
About two decades ago, my friend Bob – a mover and shaker of sorts in the art world – took me to an artist’s studio in a (then, at least) scruffy area of lower Manhattan. The artist we were... Kaid Benfield
May 15, 2012
'Baseball-oriented development' hits a home run in DC
The neighborhood near Nationals Park, the baseball stadium in southeastern Washington, DC, is undergoing an amazing transformation. A decade ago, the federal Department of Transportation had made a hopeful commitment to the area with plans for a new headquarters,... Kaid Benfield
May 14, 2012
Shipping container "cities" bring creative, funky approach to green construction
This started out as an article on prefabricated modular housing, which can bring the construction price of new homes down considerably and lends itself well to use of green materials and straightforward replication. There’s a multi-part series on green... Kaid Benfield
May 11, 2012
The right approach to green, inclusive revitalization
When it is done well - with inclusion, affordability, environmental and cultural sensitivity, and attention to great placemaking - few things are as good for our communities as reinvestment in aging neighborhoods. It’s the ultimate win-win-win: improving environmental quality... Kaid Benfield
May 10, 2012
These news posts are brought to us, thanks to Planetizen, a public-interest information exchange provided by Urban Insight.
Cities Fight Over Shrinking Convention Pie
Despite a dramatic decline in the number of, and attendance at, conventions nationwide, cities across America are investing their limited resources in building and upgrading convention centers. Fred A. Bernstein explores the irony.
May 16, 2012
What Are (Realistic) Options For Federal Transportation Funding?
With the unlikely possibility of the Congressional conference committee agreeing to a new transportation bill, much less an agreement to address the decreasing gas tax revenues to the Highway Trust Fund, Kathryn Wolfe looks at the remaining options.
May 16, 2012
The Dangers of Walking While Poor
Low income people are more likely to get hit by cars. Kate Hinds reports on the social and infrastructural factors responsible for the disparity.
May 16, 2012
Sprucing Things Up on the Wrong Side of the Tracks
Will French takes a look at the success of Birmingham's downtown revitalization, which – in the absence of a waterfront – embraced its historic railroads, instead.
May 16, 2012
New York's Killer Trees
It sounds like the plot out of a bad B movie, but to the families of those killed and injured by falling limbs and branches from trees in New York's parks and public spaces, it's a real-life horror story that raises questions of municipal liability.
May 16, 2012
These posts are yours, our street beat reporters, filled with news, images and ideas from your city.
A Climate Conference that Ends in Real Action
One of the more frustrating aspects of our engagement with global climate change is that the crisis is manifesting itself in various ways right now, whereas the proposed solutions always seem to be gradual and incremental "works in progress." Take the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has been assembling for 15 years, with -- let’s be honest -- precious little to show for it. The ramifications of a warmer world are already upon us; but it's not always easy to find agencies,...
March 12, 2012
Digital Dining: The Best Online Guides for Ethical Food
The IFC sketch-comedy show Portlandia once featured a scene embarrassingly familiar to those of us trying to eat local and sustainable food. The show's star hipsters (played by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) grill their restaurant server about the origins of the chicken they're contemplating ordering. Even after examining its dossier -- and learning that Colin (the chicken) ate local hazelnuts and sheep's...
February 28, 2012
Warmer Winters Uproot Garden Planting Map. Could It Be ... Climate Change?
Last week, for the first time since 1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, one of the tools we gardeners use to decide what will thrive, and what won't, in our personal plots of earth.
The map divides the U.S. into zones based on average extreme low temperatures, and the big news for many gardeners is that they've been promoted -- that...
January 30, 2012
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