Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back each week for new roundups and items.
A Vision for a Greener Chinatown
To kick-off ASLA’s year of public service early, ASLA President Tom Tavella, FASLA, Fuss & O’Neill, led a process of re-envisioning the many blocks around ASLA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown as a green, livable neighborhood.
Take A Hike! Unplugging and Recharging In Nature Boosts Creativity
If you’re stuck in a creative rut, the best way out may be to just unplug and recharge. A new study, to be published in the journal PLOS One, shows that spending four nature-filled days, away from electronic devices, is linked with 50 percent higher scores on a test for creativity.
A Garden Fades Back into Nature
As part of the annual International Festival des Jardins de Metis in Quebec, Berlin-based landscape architect Thilo Folkerts, 100 Landschaftsarchitektur and Canadian artist Rodney LaTourelle created a fascinating 250-square-meter garden using about 40,000 books to show how “culture fades back into nature.â€
Our Unhealthy Fear of Vacant Land
Abandoned buildings and broken windows are bad for our bodies, because they’re bad for our minds. Research just published in the Journal of Urban found that empty buildings are bad for our physical health in ways well beyond common concerns (collapse, fire, aggressive transients) — it often comes down to a sense of loss of control that vacant properties impart.
As The Atlantic Cities looks back on the year that was, it honors some of the outstanding issues and accomplishments for community sustainability that came to light.
