Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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

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

    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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  • Edmonton Is Making Its Alleyways a Great Place to Live

    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

    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

    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'

    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.

    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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  • New York's Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings

    A housing project in Brooklyn is taking nine apartment buildings and retrofitting them to be more sustainable and cut carbon emissions. Casa Pasiva is a $20 million project that aims to reduce heating and cooling costs because of updated machinery and thick exteriors that will improve air quality. Funding for these types of initiatives is not always certain, but a collaboration between a developer and a nonprofit, with some city financing, made this first-of-a-kind green building renovation in New York possible.

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  • Momentum for ADUs as Caregiving Needs Grow

    In parts of California and New York, caregivers are constructing a small, free-standing building on their residential property to better care for loved ones. These structures, known as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), have proved to be a popular option, but the costs to implement the small dwelling are not always accessible to all who are interested. To offset the cost, however, a company in San Jose offers prefabricated modular ADUs.

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  • Children as Catalysts for Change

    Ukraine ranked No.9 on the list of countries with the highest amount of trash per capita. In Mykolayiv, the city partnered with a nonprofit to sort waste at public schools. “A total of 20,000 students took part last year, collecting, sorting, and recycling 119 tons of waste.” The program has proven successful, students compete for a top prize. Children are “our agents of change.” Other towns want to adopt the program in their own schools.

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