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The 10 Most Popular Blog Posts on Architecture + Sustainability of 2011

December 30, 2011 by This Big City
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What a year this has been for This Big City! 2011′s 30th most popular post got more hits than 2010′s most popular post, so we’re going to run through the year’s 30 most popular articles, starting here with 30-21. Check back later today for 20-11 and the top ten. 30. Five Controversial Pieces of Urban Architecture Is it even possible to... [read more]

How "Pocket Parks" Make Cities Safer and Healthier

November 23, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
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     A research team has found that distressed neighborhoods where vacant lots have been converted into small parks and community green spaces are associated with reduced crime when compared to neighborhoods with unimproved vacant lots.  The study was conducted by a group from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman... [read more]

Produce Trucks At Transportation Hubs = Urban Food Solution

September 21, 2011 by Grown in the City
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There’s been much talk about food access – much of this involves bringing food to the people, like the produce trucks in Baltimore, or locating new food stores in communities that don’t have them, like in Philadelphia.  Among the many things I have come to admire during my short stay in Helsinki is the access to fresh food –... [read more]

Urban Hurricane

August 29, 2011 by Geoff Manaugh
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[Image: Photo by Chris Woebken, from his Flickr account].I'm sitting out the winds of Hurricane Irene in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where the basement of this house is starting to flood, a siren is going off somewhere, and the power has flickered off—and on, and off, and on—for the last hour, though the full brunt of the storm has... [read more]

How To Implement Sustainable Practices on Key Urban Issues

August 15, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 185 views
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  NRDC’s work for sustainable communities at the neighborhood scale and on regional planning is designed to address multiple environmental issues simultaneously.  But, at the same time, moving toward sustainability requires work on selected individual issues in a focused way, bringing significant resources to bear on a limited... [read more]

Philadelphia Takes a Revolutionary Approach to Stormwater

August 9, 2011 by This Big City
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‘Green City, Clean Waters’ will not only reduce water pollution but transform much of the city’s infrastructure, making it something of a sustainable idyll. The $2 billion, 25-year project was agreed by the Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in June. [read more]

The Neighborhood-Based Health Network

June 16, 2011 by Next American City
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uGO 5K Credit: by uGOWhen Karyntha Cadogan and Erin Trent, both West Philadelphia residents, began running together to train for the 2009 10 mile Broad Street run, they didn’t realize their teamwork would eventually lead to the creation of uGO, a community wellness venture centered around a 5K race that is designed to promote community... [read more]

UPDATE: re Philadelphia Social Service Agency CSA

May 30, 2011 by Grown in the City
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Back in April, I interviewed Anaiis Sales, the founder and Executive Director of Green Sanctuary Earth Institute of Pennsylvania.  Anaiis is running what she describes as “a scaled-up-CSA for the social service sector.”  To learn more about the model, check out the interview. She recently provided an update on the endeavor,... [read more]

Soil Kitchen: An Invitation to a Greener Future

April 14, 2011 by Next American City
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Something sprang up in northern Philadelphia last week that had never been there before. By April 1st, the skyline of Northern Liberties was dominated by a twenty-five foot tall windmill, rising off the rooftop of an abandoned building at 2nd and Girard. People took notice. What had been a nondescript corner that city-goers hurried past... [read more]

Bringing the Process to the People: An Interview with Harris Steinberg

February 21, 2011 by Next American City
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A planning session for the Central Delaware development process. Credit: Courtesy of PennPraxisHarris Steinberg is looking slim, trim, and smiling in his 4th floor office on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The life-long Philadelphian has a lot to be happy about. As the executive director of PennPraxis, the clinical arm of... [read more]

Greening up business, one bicycle at a time

February 9, 2011 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 717 views
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A new wash-and-fold laundry service, Wash Cycle Laundry, avoids the three big (and not-so-sustainable) components of the delivery and manufacturing industry: trucks, parking lots and loading docks. As a result, the bike-centric delivery model is far less harmful to the environment than its conventional counterparts. [read more]

Philadelphia’s Cutting-edge Green Infrastructure Plan

May 10, 2010 by The Dirt ASLA
with 1,510 views
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More than a hundred years ago, Philadelphia set the standard for water and sanitation, creating one of the world’s first modern water management systems. To this day, tourists are still coming to view the more than 3,000 miles of underground water works. Now, Philadelphia may be leading the next generation of innovation... [read more]