We just participated in a workshop in Baltimore called the Humane Metropolis, based on work of Rutherford H. Platt of the Ecological Cities Project at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. A book on the subject of the same name, Humane Metropolis describes the elements of what the [...]
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Community forests are spreading across the U.S., as more cities and counties seek to rein in development and excessive logging by taking control of the woods themselves, reports the Wall Street Journal. In many cases, the communities allow limited logging to continue to help raise money to offset the costs of managing the forest as [...]
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Kansas City is the City of Fountains, and some of them are now being powered by the sun through a partnership with the company Grundfos. From the Parks and Recreation Department: Two of Kansas City’s historic fountains are being removed from the electric grid and switched to solar power. The Thomas H. Swope Memorial Fountain [...]
Filed under: facilities, green infrastructure, maintenance/management | 1 Comment »
In the Austin Business Journal, we learn of how a summer concert series in the city’s downtown Republic Square Park have gone solar. The Solar Powered Concert Series is a new, free music series created by Greg Henry, of Pro Show Live, and event production veteran Marsha Milam that places solar power on display. This [...]
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What is a prismatic electric fountain? It is the dancing, colorfully lighted fountain of Denver’s 317-acre City Park. An article in the Denver Post describes the fountain of the city’s biggest park, which can be seen for free at dusk each night this summer. After many years in disrepair, the fountain was restored by the [...]
Filed under: facilities, renewal | Tagged: denver, fountains | 3 Comments »
The EPA is looking into the risks of ground rubber tires that are typically used to cushion playing surfaces around playgrounds and the like. Story here.
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Kaid Benfield writes about the prospects for Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, and its Washington Park. (Switchboard) [Urban Cincy looked at the prospects of that park last year.] The High Line opens. (NY Times) The well integrated park system and parkways of Minneapolis is the one envy Portland may have for another city? (Oregonian) How Nashville’s historic [...]
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An article in Athletic Business gives an overview of state-run urban parks. An excerpt describes the different forms in which they come: From a functional planning perspective, urban state parks are as diverse as the cities that surround them. Some, such as Detroit’s Tri-Centennial State Park, follow a fairly traditional state park track by extolling [...]
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Andre Leroux of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance writes a great piece in Communities & Banking (pdf) on the potential of older, smaller cities in future growth, drawing from work in New England: While sprawl was continuing in many suburbs, smart growth developments nationwide were emulating the traditional patterns of small New England cities, with [...]
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Minneapolis commission decides to keep off the ballot a charter amendment that would eliminate quasi-independent Park Board; agencies will study the issue for another year. (Star Tribune) Public art getting closer to nature, a glimpse and review of some events around the country this summer. (Next American City) Baltimore gets the prize for best-named fundraiser/bike [...]
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