Portland has five "eco-district" pilot projects in the works. The first two are expected to begin implementation over the next year, and organizers are hoping they lead to more sustainability efforts throughout the city.
It's a new take on urban renewal, with a sharper focus on neighborhood-level sustainability.
"Should the concept take hold, future development in those areas would aim to embrace all facets of sustainable development, including everything from green building and redevelopment, to low-carbon transportation options, renewable power generation and farmers markets.
'What we're trying to do with eco-districts is really trying to layer all of those strategies as a way of concentrating resources and strategies in one neighborhood' to see whether it works, said Naomi Cole, program manager of the Portland Sustainability Institute."
Read the full story: Eco-districts take center stage
Portland's EcoDistricts
Launched in 2009 as an effort to choose five neighborhoods where sustainability measures could be quickly implemented and tested out, the city of Portland's EcoDistricts are entering their pilot phase.
The Sustainability Challenges of E-Scooters
Scooters have helped diversify the mobility landscape, but companies need to better address the recycling and reuse process and the environmental impacts of defunct devices.
Portland's 'Community-Led Urbanism' Tackles Displacement and Sustainability
A grassroots plan seeks to cultivate a sustainable, affordable center of Black culture in the neighborhood of Albina.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority