• Water

Under the Pavement, the Streams!

• rivers
• streams
• urban renewal

By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Washington D.C. is wedged between the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, and their tributaries once ran through the city as well. Silver Spring was once an actual stream, and people swam in creeks in the city center. But as D.C. developed, about 70% of those waterways stopped existing as natural bodies of […]

• Sustainability

Reimagining Our Greener Cites Post COVID-19

• cities
• green infrastructure
• green jobs
• nature
• urban renewal
• urbanization

by Zoey Shipley How Cities Will Change in the Future after COVID-19 In densely-populated, car-centric cities around the world, COVID-19 is a nightmare. The virus has been able to spread rapidly and quarantined city dwellers are desperate to enjoy the outdoors–creating added danger by congregating. What’s become most evident is that modern cities are part […]

• Sustainability

From Highway to High Rise — Rebuilding Inner Cities By Removing Roads

• highways
• urban renewal

Numerous cities around the country are increasingly removing rather than building highways as a way to spur urban renewal.  American cities, such as Portland, Oregon, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chattanooga, Tennessee have removed highways in recent years and others, such as Detroit, Michigan, Tampa, Florida and Baltimore, Maryland, are seriously considering it, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Why This Matters:  In doing so, they are regaining prime real estate which is creating a boom in the development of downtown, pedestrian-friendly spaces and “knitting” neighborhoods back together again.  And soon it may be possible to use federal highway “construction” funds to actually remove them.