Last month, Ashoka Changemakers announced the finalists in their Sustainable Urban Housing: Collaborating for Liveable and Inclusive Cities competition. PUSH Buffalo was one of the 11 finalists, and GLUE asked you to vote for their project, as the winners would be decided by online voting. Changemakers announced the winners yesterday, and PUSH Buffalo was one of the three. The winning projects each receive a $10,000 award sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the American Planning Association, and the Department of State, to continue supporting the projects they've developed to help their communities.

The only project chosen as a finalist from the United States, the Green Development Zone sits on Buffalo’s West Side, and is comprised of about 20 square blocks of the city. Conceived by PUSH Buffalo as a "national model urban revitalization," the GDZ includes green-design housing rehabilitation, urban gardens, and a NetZero home. As their proposal describes, the GDZ has received a lot of interest form architects, planners and legislators alike. With this award, they'll hopefully attract even more interest, and continue the exciting work they've been doing on this and their other projects in Buffalo.

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Over the next few weeks, GLUE is going to be introducing you to a new team of bloggers, hailing from several cities around our region.  First up, Joseph DiDomizio, whose first post with GLUE will be up later today.  Welcome, Joseph!  (Interested in joining our new blogging team? 

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I’ve never met an interactive map I didn’t like; until now.  I mean, are you serious about the number of bridges I use on a regular basis that are considered “structurally deficient”?  I guess, at least Michigan isn’t Pennsylvania, the single most structurally de

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The Michigan Campaign for Justice, which fights for a fair and effective public defense system in Michigan, is seeking a Campaign Director to implement a statewide campaign for the achievement of the following goal:

The Campaign for Justice (the "Campaign") seeks a dynamic and experienced leader to run a nationally-significant campaign to improve Michigan's delivery of public defense services to indigent persons accused of criminal wrongdoing. The Campaign seeks to ensure that all such persons are represented by attorneys who have training, supervision and resources sufficient to comply with the United States and Michigan Constitutions. This important effort was initiated in response to numerous studies demonstrating that Michigan has neglected to provide its public defense attorneys with the necessary tools and resources for decades.

Interested? 

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The I Will Stay If… campaign, which collects and shares your vision for a more successful city, a city where you’ll be committed to staying, is coming to Port Huron, Michigan!

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PUSH Buffalo, one of GLUE’s favorite local organizations, received exciting news today one of its programs is a finalist in an international competition devoted to sustainable urban housing and sponsored by HUD, the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Planning Association.

The Green Development Zone combines cutting-edge green-design affordable housing, sustainable landscaping, community planning, urban agriculture, and green jobs

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The census data released today was a shock to Detroiters who have been working on strategies to grow our city.  We all knew that population decline was continuing, but the number 713,777 was a surprise.  That said, I’m dismayed by the first reaction of most of our leaders: a demand for a recount.  I like accurate data as much as the next city geek, and these numbers do matter, but they matter more as an indicator than a fact in and of themselves.  What I care about, as a Detroiter, is the quality of life and availability of opportunity for people who live in Detroit.  To me, a larger population isn’t an end goal unless that larger population is living healthy and well.  But our continued population loss reflects the perceived or actual opportunity of residents to live the life they imagine.  Between 2000 and 2010, it seems a lot of people didn’t perceive that opportunity; and many of them really don’t have it.

I don’t want my end goal: a safe, healthy, sustainable, livable city for ALL its residents, to get lost in a knee-jerk reaction about shrinking that reflects an outdated idea of “bigger equals better.”  And I’m looking forward to seeing some micro-level data on particular neighborhoods that have seen success over the last decade.

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The Van Alen Institute has issued an open call for design ideas that imagine an America transformed by high speed rail.

GLUEsters especially tend to understand intellectually the difference that high-speed rail could make to our cities.  This competition is a chance to use all yo

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The City of Detroit has announced plans to allow citizens to speak at city council meetings via Skype.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “in a city of 750,000 people, fewer than a dozen residents typically speak out during the comment period.” This is such a tiny fraction, and the new Skype solution could hopefully increase the number of citizens speaking at City Council meetings.

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While many of our cities are still bemoaning the not-surprising but still disheartening emerging census data showing that our decades-long population loss has continued, a report released a couple of weeks ago that shows that, while yes, the Detroit population overall showed a loss, certain neighborhoods have maintained population–or even grown.  The Drilldown Report, a product of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation,

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