Urban Living

City Rankings Article

Living Here:

Our Readers Tell It Like It Is: Perspectives On the Ground In the summer of 2008, we asked for and received over 100 submissions from all over the country for our Green Urban Life writing contest. Our distinguished panel of judges chose those that struck them most -- that tell personal stories of individuals who are living, or trying to live, sustainably in cities across the United States. We enjoyed your stories. Some made us laugh, one made us cry, another made us cringe... and all of them made us proud to be part of a growing movement of people who are concerned about the future of our cities and doing something about it. Please check back here often for updates. We will be adding new submissions every week.

City Rankings Article

Detroit, MI: Living in a Shipping Container:

Look no further than Detroit for the next trend in urban living. What’s so special about the 17-unit condo complex slated for construction near Wayne University? How about low-flow plumbing fixtures, tankless water heaters, energy efficient appliances, radiant floor heating, and a special paint that repels radiant heat. And as though all that were not enough, the condos will be constructed from old shipping containers—93 of them to be exact.

Detroit, MI

Local City Rankings Article

Container Condos

Look no further than Detroit for the next trend in urban living. What’s so special about the 17-unit condo complex slated for construction near Wayne University? How about low-flow plumbing fixtures, tankless water heaters, energy efficient appliances, radiant floor heating, and a special paint that repels radiant heat. And as though all that were not enough, the condos will be constructed from old shipping containers—93 of them to be exact.

Chicago, IL

Local City Rankings Article

Watering Chicago's Food Deserts

Barack Obama’s career trajectory took him from the rough-and-tumble South Side of Chicago to the U.S. Senate and then, quickly, around the country as his party’s nominee for president. For the folks at Growing Home, a South Side Chicago-based nonprofit offering job training to homeless and low-income individuals through urban-farming, the goals are much more modest: a good job, a living wage and healthy food on the table.

Atlanta, GA

Local City Rankings Article

Atlanta, GA: Inland Port Takes Steps

Hotlanta? How about Greenlanta? The city leads the southeast in LEED-registered buildings—over 140 projects are currently seeking certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It also has a “no net loss” policy for its trees. One challenge to Atlanta: urban sprawl. Five hundred thousand Atlantans live in the city proper, while five million people are sprawled into the eight-county metro area.