More Trees, Happier People

The scene in a tiny pocket park outside Plaza Mariachi here on Nolensville Pike last Wednesday was like a tableau from a Norman Rockwell painting, 21st-century style. Surrounded by signs advertising the Hispanic Family Foundation, Dubai Jewelry, the Dominican Barber Shop and restaurants offering Peruvian, Chinese, Mediterranean and Indian food — as well as a Game Stop franchise and H&R Block — was a small sign that read, “Today: Free trees.”

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Hailey Faust
The Netherlands Will Soon Be Home to a Self-Sustaining Eco Village

Imagine a neighborhood where landscaping comes in the form of vertical gardens bursting with fresh fruits, vegetables, and legumes; where the roads are only wide enough to walk or bike to a friend's house; where you can volunteer at the local community center in exchange for homeowner association (HOA) fee discounts, tracked using blockchain technology, of course. Silicon Valley–based construction company ReGen Villageshas imagined a place like this and is planning to develop the world's first self-sufficient suburb 20 minute outside of Amsterdam in the Dutch town of Almere.

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Hailey Faust
‘A Virtuous Cycle of Green’: How Street Design Can Be Calmed by Nature Making Cascadia’s streets more like gardens ensures complete streets are green streets.

A revolution is brewing in the streets of Cascadia’s major cities. Not since the mid-20th century has this region seen such a wholesale remaking of city rights of way.

Rapid growth is driving experimentation in ways to move more and more people through the same corridors, whether by foot, bicycle, transit, rideshare or private vehicle, all while accommodating a rising tsunami of deliveries. And as as ever more buildings fill urban space, those public rights of way become critically important refuges for greenery.

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Hailey Faust
22 Reasons Trees in Cities Keep Us Healthy and Save Us Money

Street trees are of great value to people living, working, shopping, sharing, walking and motoring in and through urban places. For a planting cost of $250-600 (including first 3 years of maintenance), a single street tree returns over $90,000 of direct benefits (not including aesthetic, social and natural) in the lifetime of the tree. Street trees provide so many benefits to those streets they occupy, that they should always be considered as a default urban area street making feature.

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Karen Sippy