A Sustainable City

"Cities are not the problem, they are the solution." - Jamie Lerner, Urban Planner and Former Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil.

I'm on a city kick.  Today I had my first official meeting with my Capstone Project, and I am overly excited about it.  My job is to do research and have a project and paper to present at the end of the semester.

My focus is on Detroit, Michigan and how it could be helped and revived through sustainability.  I have not yet narrowed down my topic to a specific question that I will be posing. However, I do know that I will be doing case studies on a few select cities that have in their past gone through change and as a result are considered to be sustainable.  So far I am looking at Portland, OR, Curitiba, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia, and I will be doing some research into Northern Europe cities that I might be able to use.  I am going to look at what prompted these cities to become more sustainable (a strong leader, social movements, following other cities, etc), and also how these cities can be related to Detroit and how what they have done might be able to be transfered to Detroit's situation.  

Once I have narrowed down my choice cities, I will research what has made them sustainable and how what they have done might be able to be relatable to Detroit.  And from there I will research ways that Detroit can become a successfully sustainable city which intern will make the city itself more successful, without losing the city's cultural and social ties. Or at least I hope that will be the outcome. 

Green Tip of the Day:  Shop for produce at a local Farmer's Market rather than at a grocery store.  The produce will be fresher, have less chemicals, and will have used much less fuel to get to your plate.