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By Simmons Buntin, October 12, 2009 5:30 pm

New Haven Green in New Haven, Connecticut

The American Planning Association has just released its list of Great Places in America for 2009.  The organization’s flagship program celebrates places of exemplary character, quality, and planning. Places are selected annually and represent the “gold standard” in terms of having a true sense of place, cultural and historical interest, community involvement, and a vision for tomorrow.

APA Great Places offer better choices for where and how people work and live. They are enjoyable, safe, and desirable. They are places where people want to be — not only to visit, but to live and work every day. America’s truly great streets, neighborhoods and public spaces are defined by many criteria, including architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement.

The Great Places are divided into three categories:

• Great Neighborhoods
• Great Streets
• Great Public Spaces

Great neighborhoods include Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena, the Haymarket in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Downtown Franklin Historic District in Tennessee, among others. Great streets include Broadway Street in Skagway, Alaska, Front Street in Traverse City, Michigan, and East Newberry Boulevard in Milwaukee, among others. And great public spaces include New Haven Green in New Haven, Connecticut, the Great Rounds in Minneapolis, and the Central Square in Keene, New Hampshire, among others.

There are many lists of great places to live and the like, and APA’s Great Places in America is at the top of the list of those to read (and be sure to view the short slideshows for each place, as well).

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By Simmons Buntin, June 30, 2008 4:45 pm

at Popular Science is worth checking out:

http://www.popsci.com/futurecity/home2.html

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By Simmons Buntin, March 13, 2007 5:00 pm

Terrain.org was recently featured on the Grist Blog’s (Gristmill) “In Cities Is the Preservation of the Word” discussion thread.

Specifically, one of the commentors said:

A wealth of Metro-Natural Lit

“For anyone who is not familiar with it; if there is a central hub on urban nature writing I believe it is terrain.org, the free online journal of the built and natural environments. I’m a big fan of the site. This is a journal that kind of evolved from the terra nova journal of the early nineties.

“If you look at their contributor’s list, it can act as a who’s who of the sub-genre.

“I think it has some of the best literature that addresses all of the five thematic questions that Ms. Price suggested, as well as several that she didn’t. It also has a complete archive of all it’ past issues available.

“There is such a wealth of great work here that it may change your opinion that not much is being written on the issue.”

View and learn more about the Gristmill, “A blogful of leafy green commentary,” at http://gristmill.grist.org/.

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By Simmons Buntin, January 4, 2007 7:53 pm

From an email received today:

We are addressing you this letter with the intention of report you about the fate of a historical park in the city of Veracruz, Mexico. Created in 1793, this historical park named Parque Gutiérrez Zamora was part of a tropical forest that marked the entrance and the exit toward the south from the ancient city of Veracruz. This park represents the last piece of green area in our community. Unfortunately, the City Hall represented by the mayor of the city, Julen Rementeria del Puerto, is planning to build a parking in this area and to relocate, according to him, 170 trees in ridges. In this zone of centennial trees, the plants, flowers, insects, squirrels and birds will lose a part of their habitat. In fact, Parque Zamora is located in the historical town centre and it is part of the national heritage since March 1st, 2004, date of a presidential decree. The National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico has not emitted the authorization to build the parking in this protected area. We would like to know whether this information deserves a reflection in your magazine and will help to inform the readers.

Thank you for the assistance you can provide us.

Some additional or related information is available here (in Spanish), though we’re afraid we don’t otherwise have additional resources.