• The magic of urban trees

    In a city like Seattle, more than 100,000 trees could be planted at intersections alone. These trees would provide enormous psychological, social, environmental, and economic benefit.
    We are hard-wired to love trees, ever since we looked out from their dappled light for predator and prey on the edge of the African Savanna millions of years ago. It’s now a timely love affair as we wage war against our greatest challenge – climate change. Here’s a list of the numerous benefits of...Read more

  • Riverfront visions transforming the Twin Cities

    The Mississippi River is an armature for economic development and public space in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The future of both cities, and the goal of equitable development, are tied to the riverfront.
    Both Saint Paul and Minneapolis are river cities, linked historically to mills and barge traffic on the Mississippi, and they are reclaiming a significant portion of the riverfront for public space and economic development. Most of the public space in both cities is on the Mississippi or waterways...Read more

  • Exhaust-free city centers by 2030!

    It’s time to harness technology for cleaner, healthier and safer cities.
    If you are a certain age, you will remember the days when passengers were allowed to smoke on airplanes. If you are not old enough to remember, be assured, it was not pleasant. The idea that one would be confined, for hours at a time, in a crowded tube breathing smoke-filled air is hard to fathom...Read more

  • Mitigation and adaptation: New urban response to climate change

    Urban planning has important contributions to a wide range of climate change responses, from mitigation to adaptation, notes CNU cofounder Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
    Nobody has been able to solve the problem of climate change, but there are many ways to respond, according to urban planner Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The two categories of response are mitigation (sustainability) and adaptation (resilience), explains Plater-Zyberk, a CNU cofounder who gave a...Read more