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Cleveland Wants to Make Sure the Next Wright Brothers Come From the Rust Belt

Lee Chilcote

June 22, 2015 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

Northeast Ohio and other former industrial regions are finding a new way to bounce back: investing in hardware startup companies. Technologies from improved 3D printers to tools for livestreaming to aerospace applications are showing that not all investment dollars need to go to Silicon Valley software companies. In fact, cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh can play on their strengths in manufacturing and are seeing that investment dollars are more likely to flow to hardware companies.

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How Detroit Taught Itself to Demolish Vacant Houses Safely

Cassie Owens

June 12, 2015 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Detroit, Michigan

To develop new demolition standards, the Detroit Building Authority brought together a best practices working group that met biweekly. Under the new system, a pre-demolition review takes place to, among other things, plan out what will be recycled or salvaged. When an excavator claws through a building, a water truck or fire hose has to be dousing the structure to inhibit the reach of particulate matter—limiting the environmental and health impacts.

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How One Weekend in Dallas Sparked a Movement for Urban Change

Mike Lydon

April 20, 2015 |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Dallas, Texas

A Dallas urban neighborhood was dilapidated with abandoned storefronts and offered no vitality for pedestrians. A group of artists and community members created Build a Better Block, in which local artisans and small businesses took over a vacant block and transformed it for a limited time to encourage the ingredients for more permanent urban renewal.

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New San Diego-Tijuana Survey Holds Mirror Up to Border Cities

Gregory Scruggs

February 26, 2015 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Diego, California

Former Bogotá mayor Antonas Mockus has implemented his Citizenship Culture Survey, which measures local public opinions on legal culture, behavior regulation systems, mobility, tolerance, tax culture, public safety, agreements, civic participation, mutual regulation, public trust and victimization, across San Diego and Tijuana. The first ever binational survey of its kind aimed to measure shared social values to inform a cross-border civic council.

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Couples lined up for Newark's Valentine's Day vacant lot sale

Cassie Owens

February 16, 2015 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Newark, New Jersey

As a blight-reduction and urban-development effort, the city of Newark sold bare lots in a distressed area to families willing to build a house and live in it for five years.

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What Big-City Museums Could Learn From This “Company Town” for Art

Gregory Scruggs

December 18, 2014 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, North Adams, Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) uses an innovative business model to stay afloat, relying on both internal and external projects and revenue streams to make a change in the North Adams community. The museum displays contemporary art but also has invested in property around the city, renting to local businesses and encouraging visitors to take notice in their creative projects inside and outside the museum walls.

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Everyone Wants to Copy This Pedestrian Bridge (It's Not the High Line)

Gregory Scruggs

October 09, 2014 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Poughkeepsie, New York

City officials and nonprofit organizations in Poughkeepsie used extensive research and sustainable financing to revitalize an outdated railroad bridge into a bustling park & walkway. Rather than demolish the suspended tracks, a local organization used city funds to develop a financial and development strategy, which ended up costing the city five times less than the famed New York City High Line.

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A Critical Mass Tragedy Sparks a Bicycle Boom in Brazil

Gregory Scruggs

July 30, 2014 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Porto Alegre

Support and popularity for bicycle use and culture has grown in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Following a deadly incident killing two cyclists at a bicycle event, the city has seen a demonstrative outpouring of support. City officials and activists say that while the tragedy created a sense of solidarity in support of cyclists, the city itself has started seeing shifts, in culture and policy, over the years to become more bicycle friendly.

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An Oil Discovery Revives a Dwindling Brazilian Port

Gregory Scruggs

July 15, 2014 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul

Porto Alegre, in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state, has embraced a recent discovery of offshore oil as a way to renew the town as a bustling port for business and transport. The port city uses bodies of water to transport goods (like the newly found oil) rather than roads, which can prove to be more environmentally unfriendly.

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How Brazil Absorbed a Million Visitors Without Enough Hotel Rooms

Gregory Scruggs

July 11, 2014 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

Despite pushback from the hospitality sector, Brazil's Rio de Janeiro worked around their short-term housing limitations for the 2014 World Cup by taking advantage of Airbnb and other short-term, local rental options. These alternative stay options allowed visitors to stay within city limits without paying unaffordable hotel bills.

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