A Green Lesson From the World’s Most Romantic Cities I’m not one to say that the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. was a mistake. Far from it, the system of highways we now take for granted made intercity travel much more convenient for many more people. When I-40 was built from Asheville to Hickory when I was a kid, it meant we could visit my grandmother after my parents got off work and come back on the same night. But, within cities, they did a lot of damage, building the transportation equivalent of the Berlin Wall through neighborhoods and parks, frequently displacing the poor from their homes while doing so. In our book Once There Were Greenfields, my friend and co-author Don Chen wrote: “Indeed, many urban freeways were deliberately planned to run through low-income neighborhoods. Their construction was viewed as a win-win-win strategy of employing demolition and highway construction workers, providing access to growing suburban areas, and eliminating ‘urban blight.’ In effect, highway agencies were practicing their own program of urban renewal.” via chialynn: Source: The Atlantic

A Green Lesson From the World’s Most Romantic Cities


I’m not one to say that the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. was a mistake. Far from it, the system of highways we now take for granted made intercity travel much more convenient for many more people. When I-40 was built from Asheville to Hickory when I was a kid, it meant we could visit my grandmother after my parents got off work and come back on the same night. But, within cities, they did a lot of damage, building the transportation equivalent of the Berlin Wall through neighborhoods and parks, frequently displacing the poor from their homes while doing so. In our book Once There Were Greenfields, my friend and co-author Don Chen wrote: “Indeed, many urban freeways were deliberately planned to run through low-income neighborhoods. Their construction was viewed as a win-win-win strategy of employing demolition and highway construction workers, providing access to growing suburban areas, and eliminating ‘urban blight.’ In effect, highway agencies were practicing their own program of urban renewal.”

via chialynn:

Source: The Atlantic

(via chialynn)

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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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