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.
NatureSacred.org Announces Inaugural Six Grantees of the National Nature Sacred Awards Program
The TKF Foundation’s National Nature Sacred Awards Program has named the first six projects of national significance to share $4.5 million in funding to study the integration of landscape design and empirical research. The collection of exceptional spaces will demonstrate how nearby nature in the city can provide sacred and spiritual experiences. Each project will combine the creation of tranquil, restorative spaces in urban environments with rigorous study of their impact on users’ well-being and resilience.
Can Urban Planning Rescue Detroit?: The Hopes, Fears and Possibilities of the Detroit Future City Plan
Any vision for far-reaching changes to Detroit is destined to meet considerable skepticism…This year marks the launch of perhaps the most ambitious of these plans — Detroit Future City, a 50-year, philanthropy-backed endeavor meant to align local decision-makers at all levels with a coherent vision for the city. The plan takes on all the hot-button issues, from the question of whether to divest from certain areas and shrink the city’s footprint to how to support the informal, unrecognized businesses that are the lifeblood of many of the city’s neighborhoods.”
CITY/STATE: What Makes A Great Community?
“Top ten lists and such are a staple of web sites. I am a data junkie and I myself frequently rank cities according to various criteria like job growth or incomes. But while many of these ranking articles describe their methodologies, what they seldom do is articulate the underlying concept of what makes a great city or community that informs the methodology.”
Experiencing Nature in Children’s Summer Camps: Affective, Cognitive and Behavioural Consequences
“The present study evaluates how a stay in a summer holiday camp changes children’s willingness to display ecological behaviour and the affective and cognitive factors that may be responsible for this change. The study included two types of nature camps, one with an Environmental Education (EE) program and one without it, with an urban camp without EE as an additional control group. Nature experiences increased children’s emotional affinity towards nature, their ecological beliefs, and willingness to display ecological behaviour. No differences were found between the nature camps with and without EE.”
River Restoration Projects Revitalize Ecologies, Economies
“Urban river restoration – the process of using already existing resources to improve local ecologies and economiesis — is a growing trend in waterfront cities. Cities such as Columbus, Ga., and Phenix City, Ala., have seen benefits from such projects, and Grand Rapids, Mich., recently announced its $2.7 million plan to restore rapids to the Grand River…As part of the “Green Grand Rapids” effort, the river restoration project aims to reshape the physical structure of the river and its banks and repair the natural habitats of various aquatic species including sturgeons, mussels, steelheads and salmon.”
