cities

Re-Occupy Main Street: Entrepreneurs revive down-and-out business districts

Designer Will Phillips (pictured) and John Bolster have opened Sandtown Millworks in a former bank with help from a Operation:Storefront grant.Photo: Elizabeth Evitts DickinsonLast week kicked off that special time of year when indulgence and guilt face off in the ultimate death match, prompting headlines like this one in the “healthy living” section of the […]

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson Technology

London fights air pollution with glue

If your house were infested with mosquitos, you might put up flypaper strips to trap them. London mayor Boris Johnson is taking roughly the same approach to air pollution — he's having street sweepers spray a calcium-based adhesive onto the ground to trap particulate air pollution. It sounds like a stupid idea, and maybe it […]

Jess Zimmerman Health

Turning vacant lots into parks reduces violent crime

A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology analyzes a 10-year project in Philadelphia to turn abandoned lots into public parks. As it turns out, the project hasn’t just eliminated eyesores — it’s also reduced crime. Gun-related assaults, vandalism ,and criminal mischief all dropped off significantly in the reclaimed spaces. The researchers theorize […]

Christopher Mims Buildings

Global warming to swamp one-third of NYC’s streets

Right about the time Miami has turned into a barrier island, a single flood supercharged by higher sea levels and rowdier storms will overwhelm New York City's low-lying infrastructure, including its iconic subway system. It will cost $80 billion to clean up … and then it will cost another $80 billion to clean up again […]

Christopher Mims Buildings

Report: Homeownership is keeping unemployment high

The U.S. is suffering crushing unemployment, yet workers can't move to where the jobs are because they are trapped in underwater mortgages, explains a new report from Brookings. This, it turns out, is the ultimate fate of the "ownership society" that our government has been pushing for so long through Fannie, Freddy, and tax policy: […]

Christopher Mims Technology

House’s collaboration cart puts community planning on the street

Grist is proud to present the Change Gang — profiles of people who are leading change on the ground toward a more sustainable society and a greener planet. Some we’ve written about before; some are new to our pages. Some you’ll have heard of; most you probably won’t. Know someone we should add to the […]

Andrew Leonard Cities

Occupy Wall Street can shake up a city — but can it create lasting change?

Photo: Lauren DeCicca via weeklydig“Mike check! “MIKE CHECK!” “Mike check!” “MIKE CHECK!” This call-and-response has become a familiar refrain for those who have attended Occupy Wall Street protests or followed the movement from afar. When police banned sound systems in many encampments, protesters responded by creating human amplifiers: Anyone who has something to say to […]

Greg Hanscom Cities

America’s 20 dirtiest cities

California may have the nation's first cap-and-trade program, but it also has seven of the 10 most polluted cities, according to Forbes. Here are the rest of the 20 dirtiest metropolitan areas: 20. Cleveland, Ohio 19. Indianapolis, Ind. 18. Houston, Texas 17. Salt Lake City, Utah 16. Washington, D.C. 15. Knoxville, Tenn. 14. New York, […]