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Four Cleveland suburbs want placemaking not a four-lane highway

Marc Lefkowitz  |  08/07/18 @ 11:00am  |  Posted in Vibrant cities, Transportation choices

“People want amenities,” said Cuyahoga County Planning Director, Glenn Coyne, speaking to attendees of the 2018 Trails and Greenways Conference. “A coffee shop. A trail. Something other than ‘oh my god, we’re declining.’”

<br /><br />A conceptual rendering for a protected bike lane on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights.

We are all Lake Erie

Marc Lefkowitz  |  08/02/18 @ 11:00am  |  Posted in Climate, Water, Shaping the land

A recent exchange with a colleague about the health of Lake Erie ended in something of a stalemate. We both shared concerns about water quality and environmental degradation and how the lake, our drinking water supply, will be affected by harmful algae blooms, climate change-induced weather, and the creation of artificial reefs off the coast of Cleveland from the soil...

Wild and pristine<br />At its best, as in this view at Mentor Headlands State Park, Lake Erie appears clean and clear and awesome as an ocean. Place of contemplation<br />The sun sets to the northwest over Lake Erie in the summer.Armored shoreline<br />The Lake Erie coastal zone is a dynamic place where one person's shoreline protection can undermine a neighbor's property.Off limits<br />Northeast Ohioans might have a stronger connection to Lake Erie if public access were not so limited. Toxic algae returns<br />Algal blooms were thought to be part of Lake Erie's polluted past, but a huge outbreak of the green scum covering much of the western and central basins of the lake in October 2011 was an indication that over-enrichment of nutrients from runoff is still a problem. (NASA satellite image)

As climate change arrives, five actions Clevelanders can take

Marc Lefkowitz  |  07/31/18 @ 11:00am  |  Posted in Climate

With global warming starting to make its presence felt, we present five important things Clevelanders can do to reduce their environmental impact.

<br /><br />Map of household carbon footprints in Northeast Ohio by zip code (Source: UC Berkeley CoolClimate Network, Average Annual Household Carbon Footprint, 2013, coolclimate.berkeley.edu/maps)<br />

As Cuyahoga acts on climate change, an uncomfortable topic looms

Marc Lefkowitz  |  07/17/18 @ 10:00am  |  Posted in Climate

In her book, The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and The American Tragedy author Anna Clark recounts how the water supply for an entire city could be contaminated with lead, a neurotoxin that made countless residents very ill. The crisis, unfortunately, was nothing new. Places like Love Canal, and big cities like Cleveland and Washington, D.C. defined massive-scale environmental tragedy. What made...

<br />Bike to School Day in Bay Village.

Exploring the legacy of what makes equity planning work

Marc Lefkowitz  |  06/21/18 @ 11:00am  |  Posted in Transform

In his 2016 book, The Well-Tempered City, socially active developer Jonathan Rose makes a compelling case that cities will survive in our “VUCA times” (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) by tapping the innovation gene that can be found in Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier which modernized music. Bach’s circle of fifths tuning method is an example for cities.

<br />A bus-rapid transit park in Curitiba, Brazil. Image: Journal of Place Management and Development.<br />Green roof on Via Verde, a mixed-income housing development in the South Bronx. Image: Urban Land Institute.

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Eco-friendly landscapes

Eco-friendly landscapes >

We look inside two local guides to native landscaping and their benefits.

10 best ecological restoration

10 best ecological restoration >

Cities are healthier as a whole when nature is invited in.

Ten water saving tips

Ten water saving tips >

We're at the shore of Lake Erie, but we still have good reasons to conserve