Community Gardens
Harvesting Data Essential for Saving Urban Gardens
To preserve the spread of urban gardening, activists are beginning to map and document the many haphazard community gardens to gain recognition from landlords and city officials in hopes of warding off bulldozers.
Turning Vacant Lots from Eyesore to Opportunity
Vacant lots in American cities consume vast amounts of land, which many are now recognizing as places of opportunity. Some cities and citizens are transforming once empty urban spaces into vibrant community-fostering places.
The Community-Building Power of Communal Gardens
Planted to solve a perceived food desert problem, urban gardens are harvesting more than just fresh, nutritious food. Neighborhoods surrounding gardens are seeing surprising declines in violent crime.
Bringing Dead Space Back to Life in Brooklyn
Sarah Goodyear discovers a project to help Brooklynites reclaim land owned by the city, but long since abandoned, and building neighborhood bonds in the process.
Urban Parks Grew in 2011, as Employment Declines
The 100 largest U.S. cities added 120 new parks last year, but overall spending remained largely flat. Approximately half the cities experienced cuts in their parks budgets, forcing departments to defer maintenance costs even as usership grows.
A Tour of Three Detroit Community Gardens
Community gardens are popping up all over Detroit. This post from Model D takes a tour through three of them, and explores how they balance art and nature.
Can the Ultra-Ex Project Save Cleveland?
"Vacancy begets vacancy." With more than 1,000 vacant lots adding to the city's running total of 20,000 each year, Cleveland is on an Ultra-Ex mission to prepare these sites for tomorrow's housing renaissance.
A New Kind of Community Garden
It's common for community gardens today to be so popular there is a waiting list to get in, and the system favors those new to the neighborhood. A pair of farmers has set out to change all that.
Community Gardens and Farms as Detroit Renewal Tools
As the city of Detroit struggles with population loss and dwindling industrial jobs, farms and community gardens offer the city a positive nudge.
Bringing Gardens and Parks to a Neighborhood Near You!
The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust's mission is to bring parks and gardens to underserved communities in Los Angeles, where problems of obesity are bad enough that the city recently banned new fast food operations.
For Sale: Organic Farm Included
Developers are building more and more residential communities around organic farms, banking on increased resident demand for locally grown food, outdoor recreation space, and small-town charm.
Community Gardens in the Corporate World
A new community garden on the Intel corporate campus in Hillsboro, Oregon is just one of many such plots that have been added to corporate sites across the country.
2,029 Urban Gardens
Vancouver set a goal of creating 2,010 food gardens around the city by the time of the 2010 Olympics, and managed to reach that number (and a little more).
Broken Inner-City Freeway Reborn as Garden
Activists have turned the site of a former inner-city freeway in San Francisco into a community garden.
Community Gardens Sprout in Seattle
Activists in Seattle have created a community garden on empty land to help provide food for the city's needy.
City People Do-It-Themselves
This post from The New York Times' blog examines how city government's are increasingly relying on automated services to keep order and boost revenue, and how citizens are reacting.
Urban gardens provide food to Philadelphia residents
Mini-farms across the city boost neighborhood appearances, help low-income residents in tough economic times
Neighbors Team Up To Build Community Garden
Residents in an Oxnard neighborhood install a community garden which will provide them with fruits and vegetables.
wish you were here: liveblog from the Association for Community Design Annual Conference
I’m watching local Rochester-area advocates respond to presentations by three panelists on the subject of “Community Food Supply and Environmental Justice” at the Association for Community Design annual conference. We’re here hosted by the Rochester Regional Community Design Center.
Hooking Up Gardeners and Backyards
Wait times for a plot of land in one of Santa Monica's community gardens have grown so long that officials are instituting a new program to connect gardeners with homeowners willing to share their backyards.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
