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An Unusual Way to Rescue a City From Blight—Bees

J. Gabriel Ware

May 17, 2018 |

Yes! Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit Hives has a twofold mission of reducing urban blight and protecting bees. The nonprofit organization purchases low-cost vacant lots and transforms them into farms for bee hives. Its creative partnerships with local businesses have provided honey for restaurants and flowerbeds to the farm, all while making Detroit more beautiful.

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Paint the Town with Data in Boston's New 3D Model

Sandra Larson

May 16, 2018 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

A newly developed 3D smart model of the city of Boston will be accessible to the public, allowing anyone to look at projects being built, areas prone to flooding, and even how shadows affect the city. Different map views also show zoning, public transportation lines, schools, and more. The openness of this model is providing groundbreaking access to information that will help both citizens and the local government plan better for Boston’s future.

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Treating violence like a disease helped cut Colombia's murder rate by 82%

Edward Siddons

May 15, 2018 |

Apolitical |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Cali

Colombia used a public health model of prevention to attack violent crime and has seen the homicide rate drop by 82 percent. The approach required the work of numerous public sectors, not just law enforcement, and a reliance on data to drive strategy. The country still has a higher-that-average murder rate, but the experience of several cities taking this approach offers key lessons for others to follow.

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Change on tap: Brewery reshapes the face of a Birmingham neighborhood

Brad Harper

May 11, 2018 |

The Montgomery Advertiser |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Birmingham, Alabama

A surprising anchor business in Birmingham helped bring growth to the city: Avondale Brewing Co. Since the brewery opened seven years ago, restaurants and bands have flocked to the city, and the population as well as home prices have increased. Montgomery just attracted its first brewery, and the city is looking to Birmingham as a model for the type of growth it hopes to see.

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These Citywide Behavioral Science Experiments Are Paying Off

Ben Paynter

May 08, 2018 |

FastCompany |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Ideas42, a nonprofit behavioral design firm, has advised cities such as New York and Chicago on creative ways to use behavioral design to improve the quality of city life. From helping students sign up for financial aid to decreasing traffic after a sporting event, these creative design tweaks are inexpensive and have clear benefits. If the cities can continue to improve their design successes, other cities will soon follow their lead.

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How Detroiters Are Shaping a Post-Industrial Riverfront Park

Serena Maria Daniels

May 02, 2018 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

In an effort to brainstorm ideas to revitalize Detroit's West Riverfront Park, the city sent community members around the country to see what's working in other cities. After coming back with ideas, the community members worked with world-class architects to draw up plans for community improvement in the riverfront development.

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Copenhagen Mastermind Jan Gehl Isn't Sold on 'Smart' Cities

Annette Becker, Lessano Negussie

April 30, 2018 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Denmark, Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a highly livable city, thanks to policies that focus on making streets safe and convenient to walk. The bigger the city, the worse it is to design urban spaces only with cars in mind, says planner and architect Jan Gehl. His top advice is to gather data about people and their movements, making pedestrians as visible in city planning as automobile traffic.

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Stuck in traffic? These folks found a solution by joining a vanpool

David Gutman, Michelle Baruchman

April 28, 2018 |

The Seattle Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

When public transportation is not an option and commuting alone is undesirable, vanpools are a great option for shared commuting. Seattle’s vanpool program is the largest in the country, with 1,469 vanpools, followed by Los Angeles and San Diego. Company buy-in helps, such as when Boeing and Microsoft offered subsidies to those using vanpools. The goal is to decrease costs and drive-alone rates in major cities.

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Real-world Minecraft mod: How the popular video game is transforming parks and other public spaces

Gregory Scruggs

April 19, 2018 |

GeekWire |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Serbia, Pristina

Popular video game Minecraft, an easy-to-use game where users construct the world around them, has been used by UN-Habitat in 40 projects across 35 cities in 25 countries to design public spaces. The accessible platform allows laypeople to quickly mockup what they would want in a public park or space, which is valuable community input for architects and urban designers.

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Is this the future of Seattle transit? A look at Vancouver, B.C. — a city that figured it out years ago

David Gutman

April 19, 2018 |

The Seattle Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

The mantra of public transit officials in Vancouver is: “The best transportation plan is a good land-use plan.” Their ideology, clearly manifested in public transit development over the last several decades, has led to construction that is intentionally centered around transit stops. By making public transit stops convenient along with providing a world-class transit system, it is easy for residents to use it. Seattle, with similar demographics and severe traffic challenges, can learn from this model.

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