Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has repeatedly referred to the “15-Minute City” concept as a way of recovering from COVID-19. In the September 19 Durkan Digest, the mayor said she had directed Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development to “explore the concept of a ’15 Minute City,’ as a potential framework for the next major Comprehensive Plan.”
Ten years after its founding and eight months into a pandemic, L.A’s bike-centric nonprofit reimagines public health in an urban landscape.
Cities around the world have reimagined public space throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to help residents get moments of exercise, fresh air and some sort of distanced social interaction. In Toronto, entire roads were closed to make way for cyclists and joggers as part of ActiveTO. Its sister program, CafeTO also closed roads so that restaurants could extend outdoor patios in lieu of indoor dining. Circles were painted on the grounds of Trinity Bellwoods park so that people could still gather while physical distancing.
The completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, with its new system of giant locks for ocean-going vessels on the other side of the river from Montreal, rendered the Lachine Canal largely redundant. Its final closure in 1970, fifty years ago this year, triggered a debate over its future as well as the future of the deindustrializing neighbourhoods that adjoin it. Who was the canal to be redeveloped for?
Klyde Warren Park announced that Jacobs has donated $8 million to the project that will expand the beloved greenspace 1.65 acres to the west over Woodall Rodgers Freeway toward Field Street.
These past six months have been more challenging to downtowns than any I remember – and I’ve been working on, investing in and living in downtowns for almost half a century. We are being asked to reconsider everything we believe about downtowns – why they are important, and how they work.
As coronavirus restrictions ease around the world, many consider a walk around their neighborhood for some fresh air to be a welcome break from confinement. However, socioeconomic status could greatly affect the landscapes people find on these strolls, particularly in how much green they are likely to see.
Groups such as the Bronx River Alliance and Transportation Alternatives have fought for years to build out bike infrastructure in the borough, but cyclists and pedestrians still must brave dangerous intersections in far too many places, potentially risking their lives.
The ways in which people use public space have shifted dramatically during the pandemic
In times of crisis, it is natural for a community to turn to trusted institutions and familiar places for support. Over the past 17 years, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has developed a close relationship with people throughout the Metro Detroit community.
