Climate Cities

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  • The Informal Economy: Michael Jackson Edition

      This article is part of a collaboration with Planetizen, the web’s leading resource for the urban planning, design, and development community. I couldn’t resist. I knew it was going to be a madhouse in downtown L.A. for Michael Jackson’s memorial service, but I had to go see what it was like — not because […]

    Nate Berg Cities

  • You and me and a billion tiny spores

    The older man with the Coke-bottle lenses at the Boston GreenFest had a simple table — just a poster with a few pictures taped to it, and a sprig of something green. He looked grim and earnest, and although all the other booths were more alluring, full of enticing pamphlets about new green nonprofits, I […]

    Andrée Collier Cities

  • Fourth of July musings on symbols, patriotism, and identity

    Sketches of ideas for the JP Green House exterior all include banners, signs, and flags at our request. This reflects our plan to unearth the former corner store that used to be housed in the “flatiron” triangular building. It’s also a means of advertising our demonstration project and a good fit with our civic purpose, […]

    Ken Ward Cities

  • Are developers making mis-LEED-ing claims?

    It seems more and more buildings boast LEED credentials these days -- but are they legit? Find out where and why the best known green-building certification term in the land is being excessively bandied about.

    Lisa Selin Davis Cities

  • Sears Tower to get eco-overhaul — again? Plus: new name!

    Greenovations at “The Big Willie,” nee Sears Tower.First the Empire State Building, now Sears Tower: America’s iconic buildings are going green! The press is all abuzz about yesterday’s announcement by the owners of Chicago’s 110-story landmark — North America’s tallest, and the third-tallest in the world — that they will cut energy use 80 percent […]

    Katharine Wroth Cities

  • Getting to know the neighborhood — through its trash

    Left behind.coldcolours via flickrIt’s Sunday on Bourne Street. I am weeding at the JP Green House, furious at the reappearance of the Dog Strangling Vine that we battled hard last summer. A pernicious creeping vine, it takes over any neglected area around here: East Coast kudzu. An abandoned house is not really vacant, but inhabited […]

    Andrée Collier Cities

  • One man’s plan to re-create suburbia, sans cars

    California’s East Bay — the collection of towns, cities, and suburbs across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco — has a lot to boast about. There’s the perpetually great weather, enlightened inhabitants, and a halfway decent, if in my opinion overpriced, public transit system in the form of BART. Yet despite BART’s 43 stations spanning […]

    Lisa Selin Davis Cities

  • How we found 133 Bourne St., and how we almost lost it

    In May of 2008, the property at 133 Bourne St., Boston, Massachusetts was purchased from HBHC Bank by myself and Ken Ward. Ninety-nine years old at the time, it had long served the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale as both a corner store and a family dwelling. At the time of purchase, the house […]

    Andrée Collier Cities

  • Fighting climate chaos with a hammer and a heart

    The intro question for the first gathering of 350.org activists in Massachusetts early this month was, “How do you feel, personally, about climate change?” Having worked on the agenda, I should have been prepared — but it still stumped me. When I spoke, it was a distillation of five years of hard thinking and writing; […]

    Ken Ward Cities

  • More riding tips and evolutionary insights

    Got some more riding tips to share. I’ve learned that nothing catches people’s attention like a hand wave. It has been hypothesized that our brains have literally evolved the ability to detect hand waves against a cluttered background. I always wave at drivers before crossing in front of them. Try it. They can’t seem to […]

    Biodiversivist Cities