The City of Detroit, along with nonprofit organization Greening of Detroit, will plant tens of thousands of trees in two, quarter-square-mile vacant city spaces to demonstrate how greening strategies can improve life in the city.
The city’s goals for the program include creating jobs for city residents as landscape workers, reducing air pollution, and minimizing stormwater and snowmelt runoff. Vacant lots will either be planted with trees or given some other green features, such as rainwater gardens, flowers, or urban farms.
City officials said they will decide what will be done with each space after getting buy-in from nearby residents. Philanthropic organizations will fund the initiative.
A city official says that the effort is expected to boost property values in the city. Detroit has an estimated 20-30 square miles of vacant space.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 30, 2017
Top 45 green engineering firms
WSP, AECOM, and Arup top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest green sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 30, 2017
Top 130 green architecture firms
Gensler, Stantec, and HOK top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest green sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Greenbuild Report | Oct 18, 2017
Rebuild, retreat, or resist
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma expose the necessity—and limitations—of resilient design and construction measures.
Sustainability | Oct 16, 2017
A negative emissions power plant is now operational in Iceland
The geothermal power plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland was outfitted with a Climeworks DAC module.
Sustainability | Oct 9, 2017
New Arizona State University building will reach triple net-zero performance
The science and research complex will include an atrium biome filled with plants and water.
Sustainability | Oct 4, 2017
The solutions to climate change are already at our fingertips
To keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius of warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that the global buildings sector will need to decrease its total annual greenhouse gas contribution by 77% by 2050.
Green | Oct 2, 2017
Five strategies to improve energy performance in existing buildings
After performing retro-commissioning and energy audits for more than five million square feet of existing building real estate, we have developed a list of common low/no-cost Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) that are identified on the majority of projects.
Green | Sep 27, 2017
Wellness gains ground with real estate and property management professionals
Structure Tone survey finds LEED is still a selling point, but interest in resilience practices could be waning.
Codes and Standards | Sep 12, 2017
Washington, D.C. is first LEED Platinum city in the world
All city government buildings are powered by renewables.
Green | Sep 12, 2017
Brooklyn’s Windsor Terrace Library gets a living roof
The roof was funded through a process that allows local residents to decide how City capital dollars are spent in their neighborhoods.
