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Plan to beautify 50 vacant lots falls short nearly two years later

Manny Ramos

February 07, 2021 |

Chicago Sun-Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Since June 2019, Chicago's Grounds for Peace pilot project has begun cleaning up vacant, city-owned lots using an approach to urban beautification that has been shown in other cities, and in one Chicago neighborhood, to reduce crime and boost residents' feelings of safety. While the city and its contractors consider the project a success in the making, thus far only two of the original 50 targeted lots show signs of improvement. Project leaders blame funding shortfalls, disruptions due to the pandemic, and difficulties in removing abandoned vehicles.

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The Next Best Thing

Ilyne Junuén Castellanos

February 05, 2021 |

Voices of Monterey Bay |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Monterey Bay, California

Efforts aimed at recruiting student poll workers, some of whom aren’t yet eligible to vote, increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Monterey County ran registration drives, spoke in classrooms and other student-oriented events, and participated in California’s High School Voter Education Weeks, ultimately recruiting 107 students. The Georgia Youth Poll Worker Project used social media to recruit 1,000 young poll workers across the state. The organization is compiling “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Starting a Poll Worker Project” to help other organizations similarly recruit and train young poll workers.

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An Architecture Firm's Push to Build Net-Zero Apartments—on a Budget

Russell Gold

February 05, 2021 |

Wall Street Journal |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Apartments at Front Flats, a new residential building in Philadelphia, is powered by 492 solar panels that are wrapped around the building. The point: to demonstrate that developers can design buildings that are energy-efficient and be built at an affordable cost. It’s not clear yet if the building is “net zero” in terms of producing as much energy as it consumes, but residents are paying only $40 a month for utilities.

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Nature calling: how can Sweden's success story help rewild London?

Matthew Ponsford

February 05, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Malmö

As London starts to implement its plan for boroughs to implement sustainable urban greening strategies, officials look to Malmö as a guide after the Swedish city used a green space factor (GSF) as a way of calculating green space requirements for new developments. The GSF system allows governments to integrate biodiversity-focused incentives into their urban planning, while allowing designers and architects to respond to local needs.

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St. Louisans Mapped Monuments of Their City, and Uncovered Surprising Connections

Lyndsay Knecht

January 27, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Louis, Missouri

When the Public Iconographies project asked people in St. Louis "how would you map the monuments of St. Louis?", it got 750 hand-drawn maps telling stories of often-overlooked sites throughout the city. By letting people from the community determine what is important, the project ended up with a data-filled report channeling freeform responses. They included the spot where a Ferguson police officer killed Michael Brown, the site of a 1917 race riot, and Cahokia Mounds, a pre-Columbian site in the city. The project formed a counterpoint to efforts to remove problematic symbols, like a Columbus statue.

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How residents are working to make Ramapuram a better place to live in

Bhavani Prabhakar

January 27, 2021 |

Citizen Matters |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Ramapuram

Active civic participation by residents and associations, such as the Ramapuram Social Welfare Federation, supports the identification of civic problems and escalation to the appropriate authorities. When the local lake, key to the city’s groundwater supply, was developed and polluted, the federation got local authorities to intervene and stop building on the lake bed. They also filed a lawsuit demanding the lake be restored and all people evicted from the area. The federation worked through official channels to covert land into a public use park and established an urban forest with rich biodiversity.

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Is D.C. Finally on the Brink of Statehood?

Nora Caplan-Bricker

January 27, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

51 for 51 is an advocacy group fighting for DC statehood by educating people about DC residents’ taxation without representation and training advocates in other states, mostly young people, to lobby their senators to support a statehood bill. Organizers also bird-dogged democratic presidential candidates for a public pledge of support for statehood, which 18 did. The group has also gained new support for ending the filibuster, which is needed to pass a statehood bill in the Senate. Support for statehood is at its highest, with a bill passing the House of Representatives for the first time in June 2020.

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Edmonton Is Making Its Alleyways a Great Place to Live

Cailynn Klingbeil

January 22, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Edmonton, Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta, is issuing an increasing number of building permits to create more housing options in already developed areas of the city. The Canadian city is squeezing in living spaces above garages, in backyards, and even alleyways to contain urban sprawl despite having the space to build outward. The environmental benefits are coupled with the ease and affordability granted by smaller living spaces.

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In pursuit of self-determined development, Borneo's indigenous tribes turn to homegrown renewables

Tim Ha

January 21, 2021 |

Eco-Business |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Malaysia, Kampung Buayan, Borneo

An indigenous-led nonprofit group called Tonibung installed a micro-hydro electrical system for a village deep in Borneo’s rainforests. The project not only supplied much-needed energy for the villagers of Kampung Buayan, but it is also protecting the surrounding ecosystems, creating jobs for people, and encouraging youth to get involved. “We want to advocate for native rights to self-determination and empower indigenous groups to choose the kind of development that meets the aspirations of their people,” says the founder of the organization.

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Mutual aid networks find roots in communities of color

Christine Fernando

January 21, 2021 |

Associated Press |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Although many mutual aid networks have formed to serve a need during the coronavirus pandemic, the concept has been in practice for centuries and has "deep roots in communities of color." While these grassroots community efforts aren't always referred to as mutual aid, they have nonetheless come into existence to provide economic stability for communities and individuals when governmental structures have failed to do so.

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