Tag: sustainability

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News Transportation

CycleCincy website unites regional bike riders

Inspired by the work of photographers Dmitry Gudkov and Angelo Calilap, a group of Cincinnati-area photographers have started a website and collective for area bicycle enthusiasts called CycleCincy. Like Gudkov’s #BikeNYC, the name #CycleCincy refers to the Twitter hashtag which allows disparate people to talk to each other about everything related to cycling in Cincinnati. The idea is to meet other people who cycle in the city and take a cool portrait of them with their bike.

The concept, initially suggested by the brains behind OTRMatters, encouraged local cyclists and photographers to team up for portraits with their rides in an urban environment. A month later, the mission behind the site has evolved to include working alongside other cycle advocacy groups in the area, including and especially Queen City Bike, and fill a previously empty niche.

“It [CycleCincy] all started as a bunch of cyclists and photographers wanting to geek it out, but I think the project also highlights the desire to have a more cycling aware culture in Cincinnati,” says Dan Reid, local cyclist and OTR resident. “I think we’ve all had our share of run-ins with ignorant people in cars and it’s a real shame that people can’t co-exist.”

Those interested in joining the crew, be it photog or cyclist, are encouraged to visit the website and register a profile, which is easily synced to a Facebook account. In addition to providing a space for fellow bikers to meet and ride, members have suggested starting a casual monthly bike co-op/building space in Over-the-Rhine, connecting to the city-wide Bike Month, and celebrating bike culture through art. Ultimately, increased cycle awareness is the key.

“I believe CycleCincy will help unify Cincinnati cyclist and in turn force a higher level of awareness amongst car drivers,” said Chad Shackelford, another CycleCincy catalyst. “The core issue shouldn’t be as much about getting bike lanes and paths as it should be about teaching awareness and respect for cyclist and their right to safely occupy roadways.” 

Cincinnati Bicyclists photograph by Sherman Cahal.

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Business News

UC Farmers Market celebrates growth, kicks off fourth year of operation

The University of Cincinnati seasonal farmers market will begin its fourth year of operation today after being cancelled last Monday due to inclement weather. The market will run from 10am to 3pm and will include offerings from eight to ten vendors.

The 2011 year brings with it continued growth for the UC Farmers Market. Since 2008, the seasonal market has seen its number of vendors increase roughly 33 percent, hours and days of operation expand, and the number of students showing up to the markets grow. According to Shawn Tubb, the seasonal farmers market had humble beginnings.

“A farmers market is something that I and many other students had asked about hosting on campus, as other colleges were having them around the country,” explained Tubb who currently serves as UC’s Sustainability Cooridnator. “It was mostly seen as a one-time event, both to publicize local food and Findlay Market, and also hopefully convince MainStreet that it was something that could be done on a regular basis.”

Following the initial market, Tubb says, MainStreet leaders were impressed with attendance and the popularity of the market. That early success led to the support for future markets.

The UC Farmers Market now operates every Monday and is scheduled to operate until June 6 this spring. A second seasonal market will take place in the fall and continue in the same spirit of promoting local food and many Findlay Market vendors who are otherwise closed on Mondays.

“If we want to sustain our neighborhoods, and seek to improve our communities and reduce crime, it starts with taking down some of these barriers and reaching out to each other,” said Biology and Environmental Studies major Brian Kunkemoeller. “We’ve lost touch with each other, and the real beauty of the farmers market is seeing real people connect in a backyard or corner market kind of way.”

The University of Cincinnati seems to agree with Tubbs and Kunkemoeller about the importance of having the seasonal markets. After discussions began in May 2010, UC’s Office of Sustainability has agreed to operate the markets themselves and pay students to staff general operations.

Students or members of the general public interested in attending one of the weekly UC Farmers Markets this spring can do so by visiting the university’s MainStreet (map) on Mondays between 10am to 3pm. The markets are free and open to the public. Metro bus service provides convenient access to the uptown area.

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Business Development News

Cincinnati Park Board wins state award, national praise for solar energy program

The Cincinnati Park Board has been pursuing a more sustainable future over the past few years. Projects have included solar trash compactors, geothermal wells, rain gardens, invasive non-native plant removal, rain barrels, wind turbines and the development of solar panels among others.

As a result of their efforts, the Cincinnati Park Board is now the owner of the largest number of solar-powered structures in Ohio. Additionally, their 2010 Solar Panel Installation project has earned the organization first place honors from the Ohio Parks & Recreation Association (OPRA) and a Green Award of Excellence.

“Cincinnati Park Board’s use of solar voltaics in their parks is laudatory and quite amazing,” said Peter Harnik, director of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land. “It is possibly doing more than any other park agency in the country.”

Elsewhere across the United States the Center for City Park Excellence points to two solar-powered fountains in Kansas City, solar-powered concerts in Austin and solar-powered lights in Santa Fe. In Atlanta, Harnik notes, that officials with the Atlanta Beltline have installed a 35kW system in a 7.5-acre park there that should make the park economically neutral.

State officials say that the awards were judged in a two-tiered process which included a panel of parks and recreation professional from around the state in addition to the OPRA’s board of directors. Cincinnati park officials earned the award specifically for their aggressive solar energy project funded by $451,000 in federal grants, $300,000 in state grants and additional private funds that made the installation of solar photovoltaic panels at 13 park facilities possible.

Ault Park, Krohn Conservatory and International Friendship Park are three of the locations for solar installation that are contributing to an anticipated 166,900 kWh energy production. An operations headquarters at 3215 Reading Road is the largest production location generating an estimated 50,000 kWh.

Going forward the Center for City Parks Excellence sees the use of solar energy and other renewable energy sources within city parks as a unique opportunity, but that additional studies and analysis should be conducted from these early adopters. In particular, Harnik says that it will be interesting to find out how much money Cincinnati’s effort makes or loses, and how much energy is fed into the grid.

Friendship Pavilion rooftop solar panels photo by UrbanCincy contributor Thadd Fiala.

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Development News Politics Transportation

The surprising story of sustainability in Seoul

When thinking of the mega-cities in Asia, one does not often first think of sustainability or environmental stewardship. But the reality, as I experienced in Seoul, is much different from the perception.

As the 24.5 million-person mega-city continues to grow both up and out, Korean leaders have turned a watchful eye to environmental sustainability. Projects like the removal of an elevated highway to restore a stream through the heart of the city, riverfront park development, investments in transit, and a massive transition to electric-powered buses are powering the world’s third largest city towards a sustainable future that was once considered inconceivable.

Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration:
In the heart of Seoul’s Jongno-gu is a sub-level stream. The Cheonggyecheon Stream stretches six kilometers and follows the path of what was previously an offensive elevated highway. The highway was removed and replaced by the stream and two narrow parallel roadways.

While the $900 million project received much criticism and pushback when it began in 2003, the result has been one of the most successful projects of Lee Myung-Bak’s administration. Since the stream opened in 2005, Koreans, and visitors alike, flock to the stream for casual strolls, use it as a place to jog or relax, and the stream has become the epicenter for major cultural events like the annual Seoul Lantern Festival.

Environmentally speaking, the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon Stream has helped to increase wildlife in the area, cool down the urban heat island effect in the immediate vicinity by an average of 38.5 degrees, decrease automobile traffic, and increase transit ridership.

What the stream does so successfully is provide a corridor of open space in an otherwise extremely busy and crowded city center. It serves as both a welcoming getaway as much as a symbol for the future of a more eco-friendly Seoul.

Banpo Hangang Park:
If you head south from the Cheonggyecheon you will pass by Namsan Tower and park, U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, the famed Itaewon neighborhood along with several other neighborhoods. At that point you will reach the Han River. There the southern bank of the river has, in recent years, been transformed into a world-class park in an effort to restore the river’s edge while also creating a dynamic new park space for those living in the otherwise congested Seoul.

The project began in 2007 and saw its first elements come online in April 2009. Inside the linear park visitors are able to find playgrounds, an inline skating track, soccer field, basketball courts, bike lanes and a rental shop, picnic locations and other recreational opportunities.

The park is part of the larger Hangang Renaissance Project, but represents a movement taking place around the world to transform flood-prone areas into functional park spaces. In Seoul, the addition of open space is of even greater importance than many other cities, but the Banpo Hangang Park is similar to the string of riverfront parks in Cincinnati including the new Central Riverfront Park, Sawyer Point, Bicentennial Commons, and the International Friendship Park.

Transit & Electric Buses:
In addition to having the world’s third largest subway system and a truly robust bus network, Seoul officials have announced that they intend to convert the city’s massive bus fleet to electric. In fact, transportation officials have announced that half (120,000 buses) of its entire fleet will be electric by 2020 – by far the most aggressive goal anywhere in the world.

The conversion of Seoul’s buses to electric is matched by their willingness to invest in their system. The city boasts a large bus rapid transit system that was smartly copied from Germany, fast and timely service, commuter and circulator lines, and a pay card system that integrates with taxis and trains all throughout the Republic of Korea.

Combine these projects with the wave of green building developments and other cultural movements towards sustainability and you have yourself a surprising mega-city in east Asia that has shifted its attention from simply growing as fast as possible, to growing the best way possible.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Urbanist movement rises anew in Cincinnati a decade after civil unrest

In 2002 the concept of urbanism arguably hit an all-time low. The city was recovering from civil unrest that wreaked havoc on inner-city neighborhoods the year before and caused economic boycotts, urban neighborhoods were suffering from severe disinvestment, urban populations were in decline, and the City’s Planning Department had been cut by then Mayor Charlie Luken.

Today, however, the state of urbanism in Cincinnati is very much different. The civil unrest of 2001 has led to massive police reform and a focus from major corporations on those most struggling inner-city neighborhoods. Investment in urban neighborhoods has become a priority of recent political leaders and urban populations are increasing all over Cincinnati. Also during that time the Planning Department has been restored along with the creation of the Office of Environmental Quality, and the development of the City’s first comprehensive plan in decades.

In addition to the formal progress that has been made, there is a diverse group of urbanists that have organized around common beliefs and goals that are looking to improve Cincinnati’s urbanism.

“Urbanists believe that great historic cities are the highest achievement of the human spirit and once again ought to be the preferred places to live for America’s most talented and productive people,” explained University of Cincinnati adjunct planning professor, and co-founder of the Urbanists, Terry Grundy. “Urbanism, as the term is used in Cincinnati, is an intellectual, cultural and political movement which promotes this point of view.”

As Grundy puts it, the urbanism movement emerged in Cincinnati shortly after the civil unrest took place in 2001. He says that a group thinkers, civic leaders and philanthropists came together to reflect on what had happened in the city and decided that something needed to change.

“The trajectory, if allowed to continue, would have inevitably led to the ‘Detroit-izing’ of Cincinnati. This was a prospect those thinkers were not prepared to accept, and they have ever since been promoting a ‘place of choice’ ideology for the city.”

Most recently that thought movement has led to the Soapbox Speaker Series which is co-sponsored by Soapbox Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati’s Niehoff Urban Studio and The Urbanists. The intent, Grundy explains, is to provide opportunities for people who share the urbanist perspective, or who are interested in learning more, to network and come together to learn and share ideas.

The first speaker series event held in uptown Cincinnati’s Corryville neighborhood focused on how the city’s food scene has supported urbanist outcomes through things like local food sourcing, food trucks, street vendors and more. The next speaker series event, to be held on January 5 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, will focus on philanthropists of urbanism in Cincinnati.

“These are people who moved into and did development work in historic neighborhoods that had declined and, by their example, encouraged others to take a chance on those neighborhoods,” Grundy said.

The event will feature a panel of Sean Parker, Beth Gottfried, H.C. Buck Niehoff and Dave Abbott.

“Urbanism, like all emergent movements, needs to be backed up by resources if it is to be successful in promoting its ideas and pursuing its concrete development strategies. The individuals, on this panel, have been willing to direct their foundation’s investments to activities that are urbanist in intent.”

Those interested in attending the third Soapbox Speaker Series event (map) – Patrons of Urbanism: New Ambitions for Public-Private Partnerships – are encouraged to register in advance for the free event. Organizers say that a happy hour reception and light food will be provided by Fresh Table, and that a $2,500 FUEL grant will be awarded to one lucky applicant.