The Ecopolitan

Farewell but not Good-bye

Last year out of the blue, Green Guide founder Wendy Gordon contacted me about writing for the website. She had read my recently published Great Neighborhood Book, and inquired whether I'd like to chronicle what's new with green city projects. My task was to write about initiatives all over the world that make urban communities more sustainable and livable.

I jumped at the chance. Together with Green Guide's Seth Bauer and Paul McRandle, we came up with the idea for the Ecopolitan blog you now see before you. There could not have been a more opportune moment in history to start tracking this subject, as rising gas prices and mounting concerns about global warming prodded people across North America to think more seriously about how to help save the planet in their own communities.

Since December, it's been my pleasure to share exciting news: shopping malls being revamped into suburban downtowns; the hot new trend in transportation (your own two feet); small towns in England, Wisconsin and Missouri taking aim at global warming; urban rivers in Korea, Denmark and L.A. being liberated from their culverts; high-speed rail being introduced to the Americas (in Argentina).

I've divulged my own tips for bicycling in freezing weather learned through many winters of commuting here in Minneapolis, and demanded that every lake and river in America ought to offer local folks a place to swim--which is not just a nice idea, it's federal law as set down in the 1972 Clean Water Act.

This is the last installment of the Ecopolitan on the Green Guide--but it's not the end of my writing. I'll continue to advocate and crusade on this important topic. The Ecopolitan opened up a wonderful world of uplifting and important innovation to me, which I will continue to write about on my own website as well as on The Huffington Post, On the Commons, Project for Public Spaces--and, I hope in the near future, new sites here at National Geographic.

Stay in touch: Jay@JayWalljasper.com.

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog

Pedestrian Space a New Broadway Hit

Several years ago in New York I sat down to a brown bag lunch in Washington Square Park with Enrique Penalosa--the visionary mayor who made Bogota, Colombia, an unlikely leader in green urbanism. We ate sandwiches from a Caribbean deli and talked about how to improve urban life around the world.

At the time, Penalosa was a visiting professor at NYU. But he had left behind an impressive legacy of accomplishments in Bogota that included a world-class bus rapid transit system, the world's longest pedestrian street (17 kilometers), 300 kilometers of bike paths and dozens of new parks.

Between bites of spicy pork, I asked him how we could improve life for citizens in an American city like New York. Without hesitation he said, "Turn Broadway into a pedestrian street."

A wonderful idea, I thought, even though it would never happen here. American planners steadfastly refuse to ban vehicle traffic on any city streets, despite decades of evidence from Europe and Asia showing that pedestrian zones dramatically enliven the public life of towns large and small.

Some of my fondest memories hark back to wonderful strolls in car-free centers of Helsinki, Athens, Prague, Strasbourg and tiny Nerja, Spain. But I abandoned hope experiencing anything like it at home, except in the rare case of free-thinking college towns like Charlottesville, Virginia; Burlington, Vermont; Ithaca, New York; and Iowa City, Iowa.

But Enrique Penalosa may turn out to be more of a prophet than I expected.

Taxis and trucks still race down Broadway today, but in one lane between 35th and 42nd streets people chat at café tables or stroll down the middle of one of the world's most famous and busiest streets. This mini-pedestrian zone, made secure by half-ton planters strategically located between vehicles and humans, is an experiment launched by New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan who has set out to reclaim the city as a place for people, not just for vehicles.

This thin slice of Broadway may not be the Stroget--the charming lane in central Copenhagen that launched the modern idea of pedestrian streets--but it's a start. And it could lead to a flowering of pedestrian zones across North America. Because as the old song "New York, New York" tells us, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog

Green Dreams

Protecting the environment is the work of dreamers just as much as scientists, activists, public officials and business leaders. We can never create a sustainable future until we imagined it in the first place.

So what would a green community look like if we unleashed the full power of our ingenuity and idealism? Monocle magazine--a savvy British publication with a refreshingly smart perspective on culture and global issues--threw that question at architectural design guru Alejandro Gutierrez in its July/August issue.

Gutierrez, who is based in London, has overseen plans for several large-scale green communities, including Dongtan, a 33-square mile eco-city under development near Shanghai that is being closely watched around the world.

Some of his recommendations for "the perfect community" are as familiar to environmental enthusiasts as they are sensible and essential: green spaces of many varieties; state-of-the-art trams circulating through the area; an array of locally owned businesses; plentiful pedestrian and bike paths that serve as the social bloodstream of this town or neighborhood.

But he tosses in some genuine surprises--removing all stoplights and traffic signs so that motorists and pedestrians must work things out equitably among themselves; establishing a local resource center "where everything from mattresses to plastic is turned into building materials"; transforming rooftops into community gardens; and making certain all windows open to the outside so that we are not cut off from fresh air at work or home.

Gutierrez's vivid description of a green tomorrow is very attractive and should inspire us to put our own imaginations to work. Actually, I envisioned something similar for the website for the Project for Public Spaces, describing an inner city neighborhood that sprang back from urban decay to become a lively, lovely community famous for its great parks, friendly pubs and fun-filled neighborhood festivals.

Now it's your turn. Dream up some big improvements for the community you call home.

© The Green Guide, 2008

| Email this post | Discuss this blog