Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: sfpublicworks.org/pitstop
San Francisco Public Works operates the Pit Stop program, which provides clean and safe public toilets, sinks, used needle receptacles and dog waste stations in San Francisco's most impacted neighborhoods.
The program utilizes both portable toilets, which are trucked to and from the sites daily after overnight servicing at a remote location, and the semi-permanent JCDecaux self-cleaning toilets.
All the Pit Stop facilities are staffed by paid attendants who help ensure that the toilets are well maintained and used for their intended purpose. The program, which began in July 2014, now operates at 11 locations, providing an alternative to using our streets and sidewalks as a toilet. Not only do the people who need a bathroom benefit, but so do the neighborhoods.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Resiliant Landscape Guide
Location: International
Website:asla.org/resilientdesign.aspx
Working with nature -- instead of in opposition to it -- helps communities become more resilient and come back stronger after disruptive natural events. Long-term resilience is about continuously bouncing back and regenerating. It's about learning how to cope with the ever-changing “new normal.”
As events become more frequent and intense due to climate change, communities must adapt and redevelop to reduce risks and improve ecological and human health. It's also time to stop putting communities and infrastructure in high-risk places. And we need to reduce sprawl, which further exacerbates the risks.
Resilient landscape planning and design offers a way forward for communities. We can now use multi-layered systems of protection, with diverse, scalable elements, any one of which can fail safely in the event of a catastrophe.
Many communities have attempted to find a single solution to disasters through heavy-handed infrastructure projects: walls to keep out water, power plants to cool cities. But working with nature to create multi-layered defenses provides several co-benefits.
For example, constructed coastal buffers, made of reefs and sand, can also provide wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities; urban forests made up of diverse species clean the air while reducing the urban heat island effect; and green infrastructure designed to control flooding also provides needed community space and creates jobs.
The goal of resilient landscape planning and design is to retrofit our communities to recover more quickly from extreme events, now and in the future. In an era when disasters can cause traditional, built systems to fail, adaptive, multi-layered systems can maintain their vital functions and are often the more cost-effective and practical solutions.
In an age of rising waters and temperatures and diminishing budgets, the best defenses are adaptive, like nature.
This guide is organized around disruptive events that communities now experience: drought, extreme heat, fire, flooding, landslides, and, importantly, biodiversity loss, which subverts our ability to work with nature.
The guide includes numerous case studies and resources demonstrating multi-benefit systems as well as the small-scale solutions that fit within those. The guide also explains landscape architects’ role in the planning and design teams helping to make communities more resilient.
Website:asla.org/resilientdesign.aspx
Working with nature -- instead of in opposition to it -- helps communities become more resilient and come back stronger after disruptive natural events. Long-term resilience is about continuously bouncing back and regenerating. It's about learning how to cope with the ever-changing “new normal.”
As events become more frequent and intense due to climate change, communities must adapt and redevelop to reduce risks and improve ecological and human health. It's also time to stop putting communities and infrastructure in high-risk places. And we need to reduce sprawl, which further exacerbates the risks.
Resilient landscape planning and design offers a way forward for communities. We can now use multi-layered systems of protection, with diverse, scalable elements, any one of which can fail safely in the event of a catastrophe.
Many communities have attempted to find a single solution to disasters through heavy-handed infrastructure projects: walls to keep out water, power plants to cool cities. But working with nature to create multi-layered defenses provides several co-benefits.
For example, constructed coastal buffers, made of reefs and sand, can also provide wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities; urban forests made up of diverse species clean the air while reducing the urban heat island effect; and green infrastructure designed to control flooding also provides needed community space and creates jobs.
The goal of resilient landscape planning and design is to retrofit our communities to recover more quickly from extreme events, now and in the future. In an era when disasters can cause traditional, built systems to fail, adaptive, multi-layered systems can maintain their vital functions and are often the more cost-effective and practical solutions.
In an age of rising waters and temperatures and diminishing budgets, the best defenses are adaptive, like nature.
This guide is organized around disruptive events that communities now experience: drought, extreme heat, fire, flooding, landslides, and, importantly, biodiversity loss, which subverts our ability to work with nature.
The guide includes numerous case studies and resources demonstrating multi-benefit systems as well as the small-scale solutions that fit within those. The guide also explains landscape architects’ role in the planning and design teams helping to make communities more resilient.
American Architectural Foundation
Location: Nationwide
arch Website: archfoundation.org
The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) is dedicated to the vibrant social, economic, and environmental future of cities. In the past decade alone, AAF has worked directly with local leaders through more than 500 city engagements. During this time, AAF has served every major metropolitan region and most second-tier cities in the United States. All told, it has provided design leadership training and technical assistance to hundreds of elected officials, public-private partnerships, education leaders, business leaders, and other key local decision makers in the design process.
These engagements are based on real-world challenges and opportunities from the participants’ cities, which provide the focus for intensive, collaborative design leadership programs. The overarching goal is to equip these leaders with the knowledge, inspiration, and resources that they need to lead their communities to transformative change through design.
To inform its efforts, AAF leverages its extensive network of city leaders and design innovators. Their collective experience and expertise is rich in depth and diversity, spanning such key sectors as building design and construction, urban planning, landscape, transportation, infrastructure, finance, and communications. Underlying all these concerns is a commitment to advancing the cause of sustainability.
The impact of AAF’s efforts is visible in the local design leadership behind hundreds of projects across the United States, ranging from brownfield remediation to waterfront redevelopment to downtown corridor revitalization.
arch Website: archfoundation.org
The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) is dedicated to the vibrant social, economic, and environmental future of cities. In the past decade alone, AAF has worked directly with local leaders through more than 500 city engagements. During this time, AAF has served every major metropolitan region and most second-tier cities in the United States. All told, it has provided design leadership training and technical assistance to hundreds of elected officials, public-private partnerships, education leaders, business leaders, and other key local decision makers in the design process.
These engagements are based on real-world challenges and opportunities from the participants’ cities, which provide the focus for intensive, collaborative design leadership programs. The overarching goal is to equip these leaders with the knowledge, inspiration, and resources that they need to lead their communities to transformative change through design.
To inform its efforts, AAF leverages its extensive network of city leaders and design innovators. Their collective experience and expertise is rich in depth and diversity, spanning such key sectors as building design and construction, urban planning, landscape, transportation, infrastructure, finance, and communications. Underlying all these concerns is a commitment to advancing the cause of sustainability.
The impact of AAF’s efforts is visible in the local design leadership behind hundreds of projects across the United States, ranging from brownfield remediation to waterfront redevelopment to downtown corridor revitalization.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Indego
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Website: www.rideindego.com
The City of Philadelphia launched Indego in 2015 as the newest form of public transportation. With more than 1000 self-service bikes and more than 105 stations, Indego offers 24/7 access to the City on your schedule. Indego is an initiative of the City of Philadelphia and sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
Indego was launched with a strategic focus on making a bike share that is accessible and equitable to all Philadelphians, and is the lead partner of the Better Bike Share Partnership, a collaboration funded by The JPB Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems.
The Better Bike Share partnership supported the City of Philadelphia’s equity goals for Indego when the system launched in April of 2015, including the placement of 19 Indego stations in underserved neighborhoods, the industry’s first integrated cash payment option, and outreach and education work in partnership with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
Earlier this year, the City of Philadelphia, with funding from the William Penn Foundation, added 30 additional stations to connect underserved communities with parks, waterways and resources throughout Philadelphia. This spring also marked the launch of the Indego30 Access pass.Since April, over 1,000 people have purchased an Access pass, taking more than 16,000 trips.
Website: www.rideindego.com
The City of Philadelphia launched Indego in 2015 as the newest form of public transportation. With more than 1000 self-service bikes and more than 105 stations, Indego offers 24/7 access to the City on your schedule. Indego is an initiative of the City of Philadelphia and sponsored by Independence Blue Cross.
Indego was launched with a strategic focus on making a bike share that is accessible and equitable to all Philadelphians, and is the lead partner of the Better Bike Share Partnership, a collaboration funded by The JPB Foundation to build equitable and replicable bike share systems.
The Better Bike Share partnership supported the City of Philadelphia’s equity goals for Indego when the system launched in April of 2015, including the placement of 19 Indego stations in underserved neighborhoods, the industry’s first integrated cash payment option, and outreach and education work in partnership with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
Earlier this year, the City of Philadelphia, with funding from the William Penn Foundation, added 30 additional stations to connect underserved communities with parks, waterways and resources throughout Philadelphia. This spring also marked the launch of the Indego30 Access pass.Since April, over 1,000 people have purchased an Access pass, taking more than 16,000 trips.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
UD/MH
Location: International
Website: urbandesignmentalhealth.com
The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health (UD/MH) is a start-up think tank focused on answering one question: how can we design better mental health into our cities?
More people are living and working in urban environments than ever before - and these environments affect how we feel. Urban design by architects, transport designers, city planners, developers, interior designers, urban gardeners, street artists, and many more impact our mental health as we move around our built environments.
The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health: Reviews the breadth of research on urban design and mental health, summarizes, and identifies gaps.
Catalyzes interdisciplinary dialogue on urban design and mental health in cities around the world.
Showcases successful projects and innovative ideas,
Develops practical, evidence-based recommendations to improve mental health and reduce mental illness through urban design.
Mission:
To help inform, motivate and empower policymakers, designers, planners, and public health professionals to build better mental health into their cities through smarter urban design.
Vision:
To be a central repository and global go-to resource for policymakers, architects, transport planners, urban planners, developers, designers, engineers, geographers, and others who want to design better mental health into cities, and drive integration of mental health into urban design as standard.
Approach:
Share knowledge -
UD/MH brings together useful research, ideas, experiences and intelligence from across the world and shares it on our platforms to increase its reach and make it more accessible to academics and diverse city makers. We also publish external op-eds and participate in conferences and other events to share knowledge and inspire new audiences into action.
Increase knowledge -
There is still much we need to learn about how urban design can improve mental health. UD/MH encourages research and sharing of ideas and experience by providing global platforms for publication - the Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health, and our Sanity and Urbanity blog.
We also encourage investment in research focused on this field.
Improve cross-sector communication -
We convene cross-sector dialogues in cities around the world, bringing together experts from architecture, urban planning, transport, geography, public health, psychiatry, and many more to identify opportunities and discuss potential collaborations.
Empower practical action
UD/MH works closely with those involved in policy-making and on-the-ground citymaking to understand the barriers to integrating better mental health into urban design, and tries to help address these barriers by inputting to consultations and producing practical, evidence-based advice.
UD/MH launched in July 2015.
Website: urbandesignmentalhealth.com
The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health (UD/MH) is a start-up think tank focused on answering one question: how can we design better mental health into our cities?
More people are living and working in urban environments than ever before - and these environments affect how we feel. Urban design by architects, transport designers, city planners, developers, interior designers, urban gardeners, street artists, and many more impact our mental health as we move around our built environments.
The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health: Reviews the breadth of research on urban design and mental health, summarizes, and identifies gaps.
Catalyzes interdisciplinary dialogue on urban design and mental health in cities around the world.
Showcases successful projects and innovative ideas,
Develops practical, evidence-based recommendations to improve mental health and reduce mental illness through urban design.
Mission:
To help inform, motivate and empower policymakers, designers, planners, and public health professionals to build better mental health into their cities through smarter urban design.
Vision:
To be a central repository and global go-to resource for policymakers, architects, transport planners, urban planners, developers, designers, engineers, geographers, and others who want to design better mental health into cities, and drive integration of mental health into urban design as standard.
Approach:
Share knowledge -
UD/MH brings together useful research, ideas, experiences and intelligence from across the world and shares it on our platforms to increase its reach and make it more accessible to academics and diverse city makers. We also publish external op-eds and participate in conferences and other events to share knowledge and inspire new audiences into action.
Increase knowledge -
There is still much we need to learn about how urban design can improve mental health. UD/MH encourages research and sharing of ideas and experience by providing global platforms for publication - the Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health, and our Sanity and Urbanity blog.
We also encourage investment in research focused on this field.
Improve cross-sector communication -
We convene cross-sector dialogues in cities around the world, bringing together experts from architecture, urban planning, transport, geography, public health, psychiatry, and many more to identify opportunities and discuss potential collaborations.
Empower practical action
UD/MH works closely with those involved in policy-making and on-the-ground citymaking to understand the barriers to integrating better mental health into urban design, and tries to help address these barriers by inputting to consultations and producing practical, evidence-based advice.
UD/MH launched in July 2015.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
S.O.A.R.
Location: Ventura County, California
Website:www.soarvc.org
SOAR is a series of voter initiatives that require a vote of the people before agricultural land or open space areas can be rezoned for development.
The first SOAR initiative was approved by the voters in the City of Ventura in 1995. Since 1995, nine SOAR initiatives have been enacted protecting open space and agricultural land around all of the major cities in Ventura County as well as in the county’s unincorporated areas. The County SOAR initiative blocks the Ventura County Board of Supervisors from rezoning unincorporated open space, agricultural or rural land for development without a vote of the people. Eight city SOAR initiatives require city councils to obtain the approval of their citizens before allowing urban development beyond a City Urban Restriction Boundary (CURB), or, in the case of the City of Ventura, before rezoning agricultural land within the city’s sphere of influence.
No other county in the United States has more effective protections against urban sprawl.
Who is SOAR?
SOAR is a non-profit grassroots group of citizens in Ventura County, California who are dedicated to keeping Ventura County from following the same urban sprawl pattern that has plagued the rest of Southern California. SOAR has over one thousand active members with a presence in each city of the county.
Why do we need SOAR?
Sitting on Los Angeles County’s northwestern boundary, Ventura County is subject to tremendous sprawl development pressure. Ventura County’s rolling hillsides, rugged mountains, beautiful beaches and fertile plains and valleys present a spectacular setting that creates conflicting incentives to preserve and develop this landscape. With a population of approximately 900,000 and over 100,000 acres of agricultural land in production the county offers a highly attractive semi-rural respite from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles County, where one city’s strip malls and subdivisions merge indistinguishably with the next.
The history of wasteful sprawl development in Southern California over the last several decades, often over the strenuous and vocal objections of residents, is testament to the fact that local elected officials have been more responsive to development pressure than to the core values of their citizens. The fact that the largest source of campaign funds for local elected officials in Southern California is pro-development money was a primary reason that Ventura County citizens recognized the need an extra level of review for urban sprawl development proposals. Most of the SOAR initiatives were passed in 1998 and most of them will expire in 2020. Ventura County citizens need to renew SOAR protection against urban sprawl for another generation by passing new initiatives during the November 2016 election.
Website:www.soarvc.org
SOAR is a series of voter initiatives that require a vote of the people before agricultural land or open space areas can be rezoned for development.
The first SOAR initiative was approved by the voters in the City of Ventura in 1995. Since 1995, nine SOAR initiatives have been enacted protecting open space and agricultural land around all of the major cities in Ventura County as well as in the county’s unincorporated areas. The County SOAR initiative blocks the Ventura County Board of Supervisors from rezoning unincorporated open space, agricultural or rural land for development without a vote of the people. Eight city SOAR initiatives require city councils to obtain the approval of their citizens before allowing urban development beyond a City Urban Restriction Boundary (CURB), or, in the case of the City of Ventura, before rezoning agricultural land within the city’s sphere of influence.
No other county in the United States has more effective protections against urban sprawl.
Who is SOAR?
SOAR is a non-profit grassroots group of citizens in Ventura County, California who are dedicated to keeping Ventura County from following the same urban sprawl pattern that has plagued the rest of Southern California. SOAR has over one thousand active members with a presence in each city of the county.
Why do we need SOAR?
Sitting on Los Angeles County’s northwestern boundary, Ventura County is subject to tremendous sprawl development pressure. Ventura County’s rolling hillsides, rugged mountains, beautiful beaches and fertile plains and valleys present a spectacular setting that creates conflicting incentives to preserve and develop this landscape. With a population of approximately 900,000 and over 100,000 acres of agricultural land in production the county offers a highly attractive semi-rural respite from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles County, where one city’s strip malls and subdivisions merge indistinguishably with the next.
The history of wasteful sprawl development in Southern California over the last several decades, often over the strenuous and vocal objections of residents, is testament to the fact that local elected officials have been more responsive to development pressure than to the core values of their citizens. The fact that the largest source of campaign funds for local elected officials in Southern California is pro-development money was a primary reason that Ventura County citizens recognized the need an extra level of review for urban sprawl development proposals. Most of the SOAR initiatives were passed in 1998 and most of them will expire in 2020. Ventura County citizens need to renew SOAR protection against urban sprawl for another generation by passing new initiatives during the November 2016 election.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Meeting of the Minds
Location: International
Website: cityminded.org
Meeting of the Minds is a global knowledge sharing platform based in San Francisco, CA.
Since it was founded, Meeting of the Minds has been dedicated to a singular proposition: bring together a carefully chosen set of key urban sustainability and technology stakeholders and gather them around a common platform in ways that help build lasting alliances. We believe that such a platform is a vital ingredient for smart, sustainable and equitable urban (re)development strategies.
Meeting of the Minds focuses on the innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Through our blog, magazine, webinars, monthly meetups, workshops, roundtables, and an annual summit held each fall, we invite international leaders from the public, private, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors to identify innovations that can be scaled, replicated and transferred from city-to-city and across sectors.
Among the thousands of international leaders who participate in the Meeting of the Minds network are innovators scaling-up practical urban solutions in infrastructure, policy, design, equity, technology, energy, mobility, water, finance, and more.
Now in its 10th year, our annual summit brings together 400+ opinion-shapers, policy-makers, leading thinkers and innovators from all over the world for 2+ days of intensive immersion in thought leadership and cross-sector development.
Website: cityminded.org
Meeting of the Minds is a global knowledge sharing platform based in San Francisco, CA.
Since it was founded, Meeting of the Minds has been dedicated to a singular proposition: bring together a carefully chosen set of key urban sustainability and technology stakeholders and gather them around a common platform in ways that help build lasting alliances. We believe that such a platform is a vital ingredient for smart, sustainable and equitable urban (re)development strategies.
Meeting of the Minds focuses on the innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Through our blog, magazine, webinars, monthly meetups, workshops, roundtables, and an annual summit held each fall, we invite international leaders from the public, private, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors to identify innovations that can be scaled, replicated and transferred from city-to-city and across sectors.
Among the thousands of international leaders who participate in the Meeting of the Minds network are innovators scaling-up practical urban solutions in infrastructure, policy, design, equity, technology, energy, mobility, water, finance, and more.
Now in its 10th year, our annual summit brings together 400+ opinion-shapers, policy-makers, leading thinkers and innovators from all over the world for 2+ days of intensive immersion in thought leadership and cross-sector development.
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