Short film by the Congress of New Urbanism, an advocacy group for more pedestrian friendly neighborhoods and diversity of housing types, highlighting instances where highways have decreased quality of life and property values for communities, and removing them vastly improved, well, everything.  I would say, they do have a point - unless you’re travelling interstate, highways don’t always speed things along.   

Fun fact from the video: Vancouver, BC doesn’t have ANY highways! And yet they get along just fine.

Extra: another video case study from the city of Portland, Oregon which also did away with certain stretches of freeway and filled in the areas with…parks. Leslie Knope would be proud.  

via hwysnbywys:

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Portland’s EcoDistricts Initiative

In 2009, the Portland Sustainability Institute, in partnership with the City of Portland, launched the EcoDistricts Initiative as part of the Portland region’s broadening commitment to sustainability.  The EcoDistricts Initiative is a comprehensive strategy to accelerate sustainable neighborhood development.  An EcoDistrict is a neighborhood or district with a broad commitment to accelerate neighborhood-scale sustainability.  EcoDistricts commit to achieving ambitious sustainability performance goals, guiding district investments and community action, and tracking the results over time.

EcoDistricts Road Map

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Learn about the new ways in which federal and municipal stakeholders are collaborating to promote the economic, physical, and social development of small- to mid-sized cities. Speakers will share their knowledge about successful strategies for economic and social development and discuss opportunities and challenges faced by their growing cities in these difficult economic times.

Conference topics will include economic development, the creative economy, sustainability, transportation, housing, education, etc. The conference will provide a forum for dialogue on these issues and offer participants a chance to contribute their thoughts toward concrete policy proposals. This is an opportunity to help shape an effective strategy for urban America.

Speakers from six cities will present best practices in use at each of their own municipalities:

  • Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Asheville, North Carolina
  • Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Lowell, Massachusetts
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Portland, Oregon

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