James Corner of the landscape architecture firm Field Operations pens a piece for Forbes magazine urging a larger investment in city parks. Other than citing the environmental values and other benefits, Corner mentions the economic return they can have: Less well-known is the power of parks to generate revenue and stimulate local economic growth. New, [...]
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Forbes.com is out with its annual list of the “Best Cities for the Outdoors.” The list looks at a combination of issues from climate to parks, using TPL’s data on city parks. (Some cold-weather cities and their cross-country skiers may take issue with using measures such as snowfall.) The winner: San Francisco. Perhaps one wouldn’t [...]
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The Neighborhood Parks Council, a park advocacy group in San Francisco has developed an internet-based technology that allows citizens to give instant feedback and monitoring on the condition and maintenance of city parks. According to an article in the Oregonian: ParkScan is an interactive Web site that the public can use to share compliments or [...]
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Yesterday we learned of a new initiative proposed by the Obama administration to create a Social Innovation Fund of $50 million that would cultivate ideas and programs within the non-profit world. Though details on accessing the money were not immediately available, the Non-Profit Times reports on First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech unveiling the initiative last [...]
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How can states become more involved in funding environmental “cleaning and greening” efforts? A new report (pdf) by the Northeast-Midwest Institute addresses the question by looking at states that have issued bonds for brownfield redevelopment, park creation, conservation and clean water initiatives. The below table from the report provides a summary of these programs and [...]
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The City of Newark, New Jersey is set to create a new park the Passaic River. TPL is a partner in the project, which will give residents access to the river and act as a tool of new economic and community development in the city. A story in the Newark Star Ledger has the details [...]
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A new report on social indicators from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows some evidence that a positive relationship exists between countries with required holiday or vacation leave and higher rates of leisure. See chart below. Note that the U.S. is the only country studied by the OECD that does not have a [...]
Filed under: economics | Tagged: federal policy, leisure, required leave | 3 Comments »
