Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back every week for new roundups and items.
The Need for Trees
“In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the need for more and larger trees in our cities and perhaps it’s only now that the benefits of mature urban trees are being fully recognised. Unfortunately, our existing urban tree cover is now under greater threat than ever before, whether from pests and disease, utilities companies, erratic water supply or insurance companies dealing with supposedly related subsidence claims.”
Without Nature, Children Suffer
“Most adults climbed trees and played outdoors when they were children. But today’s young people don’t play outdoors like their parents. It’s an omission with grave implications.”
A New Era for Urban Agriculture in Philly
“Until last August, urban agriculture — whether in the form of community gardens, farms, greenhouses or livestock — was not recognized as a land use by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. The Garden Justice Legal Initiative conservatively estimates 350 community gardens or farms across 753 parcels, a figure that does not include the hundreds of backyard gardens.”
A D.C. Canal Becomes a Park
“Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard has undergone an unbelievable transformation in the past few years. What was once an isolated naval base and seedy area made up of industrial buildings and strip clubs has become home to a real neighborhood — a mixed-use mecca composed of a new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Transportation and a residential and commercial complex, which is also a LEED-Neighborhood Development (ND) Gold project.”
