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  • Why your favorite bench might be there to thwart a terrorist attack

    August 27, 2018 |

    The Washington Post |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

    How do you make a public space inviting so people will gather, but also safe from the growing danger of attackers using vehicles to ram large numbers of people? Many cities have responded to such attacks with concrete bollards and other barriers. But designers and architects are increasingly innovating other options that protect people via planters, fountains, trees, bike racks, steps and traffic calming designs to stop or slow down vehicles.

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  • The Other Side of “Broken Windows”

    August 23, 2018 |

    The New Yorker |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    By cleaning up thousands of abandoned buildings and vacant lots, the city of Philadelphia caused sharp declines in violence and other crime in a program that has become a model for cities nationwide. The cleanup program became the subject of two long-term experiments comparing the "treated" buildings and lots to those that remained signs of blight. In one study, gun violence dropped 39% in and around cleaned-up buildings. The 5% decline associated with cleaned-up vacant lots was much smaller but still meaningful. Neighbors praised the sense of safety they gained in the improved areas.

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  • How Trees Can Cool Dallas's Concrete Jungle

    August 20, 2018 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

    In a Dallas neighborhood, environmental organizations are teaming up to plant a tree canopy that will address multiple environmental and public health concerns, while also cooling down the city's urban heat island effect. The solution is focused on helping those who are most vulnerable: seniors, minority residents, and students.

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  • Giving new life to vacant buildings can boost struggling towns

    August 15, 2018 |

    FastCompany |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: United States, Newburgh, New York

    In New York, an intentional form of housing development is keeping affordability in mind. Neighbors for Neighborhoods provides funding for locals to redevelop blighted property from land banks and rent it out as affordable housing. The parameters ensure local impact: there is a limit to how many properties an individual can rent out, and the properties must be rented to people making below 80% the median income in the region. The program has $4 million in funding so far.

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  • Transforming Tulsa, Starting with a Park

    August 10, 2018 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Tulsa, Oklahoma

    Gathering Place is the name of a new park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a large-scale creative park project that, rather than receiving funding from the local government, was funded entirely through a local philanthropic foundation. One goal of the park is to bring different areas of the city together--though it remains to be seen if this will work as well as if privately-funded public spaces are effective in the future.

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  • What's Behind Buffalo's Public Art Boom?

    August 09, 2018 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Buffalo, New York

    Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery created the position of public art curator in 2014. Since then, a combination of public and private funding has created site-specific public art across the city bringing prominent artists to Buffalo as well as involving local artists and community members.

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  • Trinidad seizes artist pursuits as economic development strategy

    August 02, 2018 |

    Glenwood Springs Post Independent |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Trinidad, Colorado

    One small town in Colorado has spurred economic development by implementing a strategy that focused on the revitalization of creative industries. As a result, Trinidad, CO, has seen a twofold increase in lodging tax income and restaurant sales tax as well as a drastic increase in profits from commercial building permits. Local artists recognized the potential Trindad could have as a creative district and brought the plan to city officials who were eventually able to take advantage of state programs and collaborate with a nonprofit to generate creative business, revitalizing the local economy as a result.

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  • Can Green Space Be a New Mental Health Treatment?

    July 30, 2018 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    In Philadelphia, a study has found that turning vacant lots into parks and green spaces helped reduce rates of depression in the poorest neighborhoods. These findings complement previous evidence that providing access to nature and greenery can impact mental health.

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  • A new 'floating park' made out of recycled plastic waste has popped up in the Netherlands

    July 28, 2018 |

    Business Insider |

    Multi-Media |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: Netherlands, Rotterdam

    Rotterdam’s new Floating Park showcases how recycling can be put to use. Litter traps collect plastic from the river to prevent it from going into the ocean. Then, the plastic is recycled into hexagonal pods that are used as building materials for the floating park - creating spaces to sit, walk, and grow plants. Supported by the Recycled Island Foundation, this floating park is ideally going to be the first of many.

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  • Feeding—and healing—the hood

    July 20, 2018 |

    The NM Political Report |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

    Project Feed the Hood, a community effort to increase food access and security for lower-income families, has established gardens and pilot programs at ten schools in Albuquerque. The program originally aimed to convert lawns into gardens while giving youth an alternative to military recruitment. Now, it is run by community volunteers and also offers paid internships for youth. “We’re here to resist, to reclaim our food systems, our community spaces,” explains one of the project's dedicated staff members.

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