In Nigeria, documentary films spark social change

Cleveland has a list of lead-safe homes, a result of decades of cleaning up hazards with tens of millions of dollars in HUD grant money.

It's been a decade since the city of Rochester, New York, committed to tackling its lead poisoning problem head on. What resulted was a more than 80 percent drop in the number of children with high lead levels. It's a change leaders believe is sustainable.

Lead poisoning is not purely a problem of the poor - it can affect any child living in an older home, or playing on contaminated soil. New solutions journalism efforts aim to increase transparency about the risks and to help parents decide whether their children should be tested.

As a blight-reduction and urban-development effort, the city of Newark sold bare lots in a distressed area to families willing to build a house and live in it for five years.

Foreclosure affects millions of homeowners and millions more owe more on their mortgages than what their homes are worth, but Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP), offers assistance. As a free service to borrowers, ESOP holds lenders accountable with fair lending agreements, creates constructive communication, and ultimately saves homes.

In part, miscommunication between bankers, brokers and homeowners created the 2008 economic crisis. Protection laws mandating better labeling and trusted third-party intermediaries could improve communication and help prevent another crisis.

New York City suffered from fires that erupted in overcrowded, run-down apartments. Then the city sleuthed through residential records and found that landlords who foreclosed let their properties fall apart and ignored safety-code violations. Greater Toronto wants to expand upon New York City’s method by using transportation surveys, census data and computer data to build transit lines.

Alleys in Seattle were once places of illicit, illegal, and unsanitary activity. The International Sustainability Institute in Seattle began organizing music and art events to bring in people, which, in turn, cleaned-up the crime and garbage. As an urban development strategy, adjacent vacant storefronts re-opened for business and beautification could be seen in new gardens.

The Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas suffered from recession-closed businesses and crime. Then community members used placemaking, in which people shaped their own environment to improve the quality of life, and the concept of Build a Better Block, which was a pop-up event showcasing art, food, music, and local faire. The idea gives citizens a fresh look at the possibilities through which to transform the space in which they live, and it has attracted attention across the country and around the world.

To address the increasing unaffordability of housing in Berlin, the city introduced a new rent control law to prevent rates from exponential growth. The city has also outlawed vacation rentals in certain zones of the city and created a program that aims to have 30,000 new rental properties available over the next decade.