In the heart of Koreatown in Los Angeles, an experimental community took over 2 apartment complexes in the '90s. Today, it's a thriving group of folks trying to live greenly in the big city.
The project is funded through a parent non-profit that owns the buildings and gives microloans to the inhabitants.
Carren Jao writes:
"Over the years, its thirty or so residents have eco-retrofitted the decades-old facilities in their units, repainting the walls with low-VOC paints, and refurbishing the floors to more insulating materials. Their once thirsty lawn is now an edible landscape that grows bananas, peaches, cherimoyas, chard, and lettuce, and even conduct permaculture workshops on site (below). Most units also have solar and gray water systems."
Read the full story: A Village Grows in Los Angeles
Affordable ADU Builder Hopes Co-Op Model Can Catch On
A worker-owned developer in Evanston uses sustainable materials to build efficient, affordable ADUs to help homeowners create generational wealth.
Mixed-Income 'Eco-Village' Planned in Michigan
A net-zero emissions development near Ann Arbor hopes to provide a model for sustainable communities.
Mixed-Use Co-Op Demonstrates a New Ownership Model
Owned by its tenants and local community members, Traverse City's Commongrounds Cooperative will feature a craft distillery, a food hall, and a childcare facility, among other amenities.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
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.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
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
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority