cities

The new Seattle blog is coming along great, with some wonderful new local contributors on board. This week's headlines ranged from public health to shopping bags. Check out what's new:

A Tool for Building Healthier Public Projects and Policies
In this week's feature story, Dr. Lori Williams talks about the benefits of Health Impact Assessments and unpacks two HIAs that are influencing local development plans.

Car-Free Sundays: A Business Plan
Local business owners can use lessons from abroad as they prepare for the upcoming holidays from auto traffic.

As we've mentioned, we are working on the upcoming launch of our new locally focused blog, Worldchanging Seattle.

Though we know you read Worldchanging from all around the globe, we think that local insights could add value to what you find on our main site. We'll be covering local and regional news, and also taking some of the topics we tackle on Worldchanging and discussing them on a local level, to see how these big-picture concepts apply at the city scale.

A few recent headlines from Worldchanging Seattle:

How-to: Eat Local

By Zufan*

Editor's Note: We encourage "Reader Reports" -- submissions from members of Worldchanging's global audience who volunteer to write up their notes from conferences, workshops and other worldchanging happenings they participate in. If you'd like to contribute your own report, please email editor@worldchanging.com.

There is a sense of urgency among city planners around the globe. With more people moving into the cities, urban density will exceed what has been experienced in the West. Stresses will appear on the F.E.W. (food-energy-water) equation and commodity and utility prices will rocket. And most planners now recognize that the U.S. and Europe’s path of development--consuming resources disproportionate to their size--is a bankrupt model.

Check your smartphone to find a parking meter.

By Adam Stein

When I last wrote about San Francisco’s innovative plan to reduce congestion through market-based pricing of parking spots, I assumed some of the more futuristic features of the system were still a long way off. Well, turns out I was wrong.

Lloyd noted a little while ago that Zeppelins are back, and they are even offering passenger journeys, as opposed to just cargo (like the SkyHook being proposed for the Alberta Tar Sands, of all places). However for now, when I say passenger journeys, I really mean sight-seeing tours. The Guardian has a fabulous photo essay showing the view that can be had floating over London in an ...

In Ontario, Canada, they get a lot of sewage sludge out of the treatment plants; 120,000 tonnes are spread on 37,000 acres of agricultural land. Some farmers love it because it is free, while other fertilizers are getting very expensive; others refuse to touch the stuff. The Star is running a fascinating series on it, starting with the scary ingredients:

"Feces, urine, vomit, blood. Synthetic hormones, heart pills, antibiotics, illicit drugs, Viagra. Bacteria, viruses, E. coli, parasites. Household cleaners, shampoo, solvents, pesticides and traces of arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, dioxins and flame retardants."

...

Andreas Feininger

Richard Florida writes about the decline of the sprawling exurb toward urban neighbourhoods and inner suburbs, suggesting it isn't just about the price of gas.

"But what's happening here goes a lot deeper than the end of cheap oil. We are now passing through the early development of a wholly new geographic order – what geographers call “the spatial fix” – of which the move back toward the city is just one part.

Suburbanization was the spatial fix for the industrial age – the geographic expression of mass production. Low-cost mortgages, massive highway systems and suburban infrastructure projects fuelled the industrial engine of postwar capitalism,...

Video of San Francisco Cyclist blowing every light and stop sign here

We learn from Kate at Carectomy that San Francisco is considering changing the law to permit cyclists to blow through stop signs. "Bicycles would still have to yield if there was a car at a stop sign. They would still have to stop for that car and let them go through," Rachel Kraai of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition told CBS News. "At a stop light they would still have to stop and look both ways, but then they could go through....

From Motown to Growtown
The growing international food crisis, coupled with spiralling energy costs, is without doubt causing much suffering. But there is a silver lining – as the unsustainability of business-as-usual becomes apparent, alternatives are beginning to gain traction in mainstream consciousness. Detroit provides the perfect example of the need for change – once the thriving hub of the US motor industry, the city has seen a massive exodus of its population and major industries, leaving vacant plots e...

Islanders to Plant 20,000 Fruit and Nut Trees for Security
We’ve already celebrated as the Transition Towns movement reached Australia, but it looks like the people of New Zealand are also getting stuck into preparing for a post-petroleum future. The above video comes from Waiheke Island’s Fabulous Fruit Tree initiative, which is aiming to plant 20,000 fruit and ...

London Borough to Reverses Free Parking for EVs
No sooner do I report on the virus-like spread of electric vehicle charging points in London, that I hear from our friends at GoinGreen that at least one London borough is preparing to withdraw some of the privileges enjoyed by EV drivers:

Today saw the announcement of changes in the City of London's parking concessions for electric vehicles. Existing users of the borough's electric vehicle scheme will see an increase in on-street parking from zero to £50 per year wh...