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

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 340 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • A new lick of paint can be all it takes to make cities safer for pedestrians

    Redesigning streets to be more pedestrian-friendly can have big impacts on traffic safety and local business. A fast, easy and cheap way to weigh the pros and cons of such changes is to simply redraw street lines using paint or chalk, then measure public response. After a day-long pilot in Sao Paulo, 97 percent of locals supported making the proposed changes permanent.

    Read More

  • Thousands of poor young people are using Minecraft to redesign their cities

    Too often, poor community members are not included in public discourse over how public spaces should look-- rather, the urban planning is more top-down. To change that, the UN’s Block by Block project is using the computer game Minecraft to include locals in shaping the physical spaces in their own communities by teaching them digital design skills. The UN program has engaged over 17,000 people, and 20 crowdsourced designs have already been built in cities around the world.

    Read More

  • In Medellin, cable cars transformed slums—in Rio, they made them worse

    In the 20th century, Colombia’s city of Medellin was a center for drugs and violence. Then the city developed a cable car system that enabled cheap transportation for people to find employment. The cable car system revitalized the economy of the city and made it much safer. However, other cities have tried cable cars for revitalization and found less success, even failure.

    Read More

  • These Planners Stepped Away From the Spreadsheets and Into the Community

    The Regional Plan Association is a research and urban planning organization. They are deeply influential in the urban planning in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut metropolitan area. The regional planning process has historically represented the needs of mostly white, affluent people, so this time RPA partnered with eight grassroots organizations, and involved immigrants from Long Island to take part in the regional planning process through focus groups, surveys, and discussions. As many as 1,600 people were engaged.

    Read More

  • In a City Where 15 Percent of Voters Elected the Mayor, Downtown Is Claiming Power

    POWER Northeast is trying to fight against voter disenchantment and reach the parts of the community that usually feel excluded and disillusioned by politics. This organization goes all over Allentown, Pennsylvania speaking to the formally incarcerated and minorities, advocating to political leaders on behalf of the public, and helping make voter registration easier.

    Read More

  • From ‘hallway' to artery, a town rebuilds Main Street

    Small towns like Farmington, New Mexico take advantage of federal funds from Main Street America and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Act in order to revitalize their town centers and boost their local economies. Farmington, which saw an economic decline surrounding the coal & mining industry, has been able to use money to repair store fronts, replace water systems, and more.

    Read More

  • Chicago Designer Offers a Model for Repurposing Closed Public Schools

    In the aftermath of Chicago closing almost 50 public schools, urban designers are testing creative uses to keep the buildings functioning as community spaces. Overton Elementary is being transformed into the Overton Business and Technology Incubator, a space for local businesses. The developer is deliberately working with locals to involve the neighborhood in the building process and keep the space accessible to the community.

    Read More

  • Why Tearing Down Dams Could Help Save Endangered Killer Whales

    The population of Orca's is declining and a large portion of pregnancies are ending in miscarriage due to a decline in their food source- Chinook salmon. Taking down Hells Canyon dams, which disrupt the migration patterns of salmon, would help this problem as would decreasing detrimental human activity such as deforestation and boating.

    Read More

  • How good government can limit hurricane damage

    A look at how improved policies and procedures can help prevent the catastrophic amounts of property damage caused by the increasingly frequent "super storms" like hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Cities like New York and Philadelphia may offer creative development models that coastal cities in the path of future storms can emulate.

    Read More

  • The Social Wall: How one Berlin school integrated by segregating

    A progressive funding model has been a boon to schools in Berlin’s poorer neighborhoods, which receive a baseline of staff and resources. But schools in poorer neighborhoods face a myriad of struggles that additional resources haven’t been able to quell, due to the deep socioeconomic disparities between the home neighborhoods of wealthy and poor students. However, one elementary school seems to have succeeded in desegregating students by offering a choice of academic tracks.

    Read More