Read the rest of El Dorado brings Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Echo Ridge Community to Topeka, Kansas

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Post tags: affordable housing, awards, community center, community garden, Echo Ridge Community Center, Echo Ridge Development, Echo Ridge Duplexes, el dorado, housing, Kansas, Sustainable, Topeka

The team of developers at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, know that urban landscapes are full of potential for innovation. But initiatives aimed at change and progress can often find themselves entangled in a great deal of bureaucratic red tape. Renovating an old playground or installing a community garden takes a great deal of time, money, and organization, and the amount of human and financial input demanded can cause inspired ideas to struggle. To help guide activists and help get projects off of the ground, designers Bryan Boyer and Dan Hill have created Brickstarter, a prototype website that pitches projects, helps raise funds, and connects neighborhood citizens with local government.

Read the rest of Brickstarter Makes It Easy to Say ‘Yes In My Backyard’ for Funding Community Projects

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Post tags: backyard projects, brickstarter, bryan boyer, bureaucracy, community, community activism, community garden, community project, dan hill, democracy, finnish innovation fund, green neighborhood, kickstarter, neighborhood, nimby, sitra, yimby

Read the rest of Berlin’s Secret Garden Is a Green Oasis Full or Fruits and Veggies for the Community to Enjoy

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Post tags: Ajb gmbh, Öffentliche Grünanlageand, berlin, Botanical, community garden, free food, local food, Prefab Housing, Recycling / Compos, secret garden, sustainable food, Urban design

Read the rest of Parking Garage Rooftop UPGarden P-Patch Almost Complete in Seattle

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", community garden, eco design, green design, green garden, green roof, kistler higbee cahoot, Landscape Architecture, living roof, p-patch, parking garage, parking garage garden, rooftop farm, rooftop garden, Seattle, seattle community garden, sustainable design, sustainable food, up garden, upgarden, Urban Farming, urban garden

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Post tags: beehive, berlin, Botanical, community garden, DIY, eco-travel, Gardening, green materials, mobile garden, open garden, organic garden, Organic vegetables, play house, Prinzessinnengarten, Recycled Materials, recycled shipping container, recycling / compost, social network gardening, working garden

Designed by Meridian 105 Architecture, V Tower is a grand, green residential high rise emerging from a base of retail, restaurant, cafe, and parking space. The project seeks to create a new ground plane atop this volume by providing residents with a rooftop urban park that occupies the entire building footprint. Among the amenities featured at this level are generous open areas of grass, a pool, and a community garden.

Read the rest of Latticed Mixed-Use V Tower Rises From a Rooftop Park and Garden

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Architecture, boulder colorado, community garden, condensation collection, condenser dryers, Daylighting, Green Building, green roof, irrigation, meridian 105 architecture, mixed-use, rainwater collection, residential tower, rooftop park, sustainable design, V tower

A throng of Rhode Island School of Design students recently unveiled a beautiful new community garden in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Over the past few months, 72 first-year architecture students have designed and constructed a public event space and garden to be shared by the neighboring YMCA, elderly housing development, and church. Thanks to a rainwater catchment system and beds built from reclaimed pine, the project has a minuscule environmental footprint. But what’s truly sustainable about it is how it connects neighboring residents to nature and to each other. The garden just opened on May 26, and we were on the scene to bring you all the details of the green project.

Read the rest of A Student-Designed Community Garden Sprouts in Rhode Island

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", community garden, rainwater catchment, reclaimed wood, rhode island school of design, risd

It’s spring and it seems that everyone has caught the gardening bug. We certainly have — check out our own guide to urban gardening here. We support the creation of green space everywhere, big or small. We also can’t help but be enamored with the cute garden knick-knacks for intimate garden settings. This week we’ve picked some links that remind us that it is time to get our green thumbs on!

MIT will be building their first community garden.

Notcot features exquisite hanging garden planters, perfect for a number of different plants.

Re-nest  proves to us that carrying fresh-cut flowers can be done without wasting extra resources.

Treehugger explains how to build a greenhouse made out of plastic bottles.

Re-nest shows us how to make cheerful planter cozies out of mismatched socks.

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Post tags: city garden, city green spaces, community garden, spring gardening, urban gardening

The Eco•Laboratory is an exemplary green complex designed around a vibrant community garden In Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Conceived by Weber Thompson, the project recently won the Natural Design Talent Competition at Greenbuild. The innovative design focuses upon energy systems, natural ventilation, community aspects, renewable energy, and indoor air quality, resulting in a spectacular example of what green building is about – interdisciplinary teams designing living buildings.

Read the rest of ECO•LABORATORY: Seattle’s Exemplary Eco Community

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", belltown seattle p-patch, community garden, green community, natural design talent competition greenbuild, seattle eco laboratory, Solar Power, sustainable community

Spring is off to a fresh start in New York as Harlem’s first affordable green community blossoms to life. Situated on West 153rd Street, David & Joyce Dinkins Gardens offers 85 units of affordable housing in addition to a 25,000 square foot youth center and a community garden. Jonathan Rose Companies and Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement developed the $19.5 million community to help repair the “physical, economic, cultural, and spiritual fabric of the neighborhood.” Towards these goals the project has kept costs low while integrating a noble set of social and environmental ideals governed by principles of diversity, interdependence, and environmental responsibility.

Read the rest of DINKINS GARDENS: Harlem’s First Affordable Green Housing

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", community garden, Congregations for Community Improvement, David & Joyce Dinkins Gardens, green building in Harlem, Harlem, Jonathan Rose Companies, new york city, NYC green roofs, Recycled Materials, social responsibility, Sustainable Building