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How Sweden is taking back parking spaces to improve urban living

Richard Orange

February 08, 2021 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Gothenburg

A pop-up public space was installed in Gothenburg, the latest in a Swedish experiment that’s looking at how to transform parking spaces on city streets into community areas. Previous installations of the experiment, known as the “one-minute city,” in Stockholm were received positively and other cities have expressed interest in the project.

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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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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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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 South Bend, Pete Buttigieg challenged a decades-old assumption that streets are for cars above all else

Ian Duncan

January 16, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, South Bend, Indiana

Reconfiguring streets to slow automobile traffic through its downtown business district and encourage pedestrians and bicycling enlivened South Bend's street life and proved a boon to its restaurants and other businesses. Then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg pushed for the $25 million plan to make the streets safer and encourage people to spend more time and money in the area. Drivers complained about increased travel time, as they have about other cities’ “complete streets” programs. But Buttigieg and his supporters hope to push the concept when he runs the federal Transportation Department.

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The Sausage-Making to Revive a Black-owned Sausage Factory in New Orleans

Oscar Perry Abello

January 14, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Community land trusts typically provide affordable housing but now one is responsible for the revival of a family business in New Orleans. Commercial community land trusts are emerging as viable solutions for tenants being displaced by higher rents as well as the revitalization of historically Black centers of commerce. Commercial land trusts are an avenue for the Black community to have “economic self-determination.”

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Make Way for the ‘One-Minute City'

Feargus O'Sullivan

January 05, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Stockholm

The Street Moves initiative in Sweden is pushing local communities to become the designers of their own streets’ layouts and look at urban planning through the lens of the “one-minute city.” Through a public-private partnership, residents in four sites in Stockholm can help determine how much street space is used for parking, outdoor dining, and children’s play spaces. The goal is to increase participation in the community, address climate resilience, and create a more livable city.

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These Cities Tried to Tackle Disinvestment. Here Are Lessons From What Happened.

Tony Briscoe Haru Coryne

December 30, 2020 |

ProPublica |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Various government policies and programs have been implemented in Black communities facing urban decline but not all of them have been completely successful. Initiatives included: Expanding public transportation, refining tax codes, providing incentives for corporations, and supporting small businesses. The ideas yielded some results but also led to unintended negative consequences.

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