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Learn about the latest healthy design strategies and amenities being embraced by suburban communities
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The APA-IL Metro Section will be hosting an APA chapter webcast in partnership with the Municipal Design Review Network. Attendees will learn about design strategies and amenities that the suburbs are embracing for healthier and more dynamic spaces. Hear how research has led to such strategies, and learn from experts on how communities are adapting spatially in this new, post COVID-19 era.
After the webcast, Illinois members are welcome to join the speakers for a casual discussion during APA-IL's Coffee Talk on March 9, 2021. No presentations, no formal speaking, just a good, down-home virtual conversation over Zoom. Webcast attendance is not mandatory but helpful! If a link to the webcast recording is available prior to the Coffee Talk, that link will be shared here and with registered Coffee Talk attendees.
Webcast Details:
- DATE: March 5, 2021
- TIME: 12:00p - 1:30p CST
- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: 1.5 CM credits (live viewing only)
- COST: FREE
For additional info on the speakers and to register for the event, visit the program webpage.
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The Legacy of Growing Power
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What planners can learn from a pioneer of
community food systems
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Published in 2012, The Good Food Revolution illuminates the timely need for communities to reclaim the production of healthy foods. The book chronicles the story of Will Allen, a former professional basketball player and the son of a share cropper, who revolutionized the concept of urban agriculture interwoven with community empowerment.
Will’s vision for an equitable food system culminated with Growing Power, a pioneering urban farm and food education center built on Milwaukee’s northwest side. In its heyday, Growing Power produced enough vegetables and fish to feed thousands year-round while also training and hiring youth from disinvested neighborhoods. Although Growing Power closed its doors in 2017, the organization thrived for 25 years and inspired a generation that vibrant, healthy community-based food systems can be a reality.
The book acknowledges the planner’s role, as one who both shapes policy and engages groups invested in their community’s wellbeing. The American Planning Association has sponsored numerous publications on the role that planners can play in promoting equitable food access with a diverse ecosystem of farmers and producers. Topping the list is APA’s Planning for Food Access and Community-Based Food Systems, a report that explores how and why some local governments have addressed food access and food system issues in the comprehensive or sustainability planning process. APA has also launched a Food Systems Division with the stated goal of “helping planners build stronger, more just, equitable, and self-reliant local, community, and regional food systems.”
The story of Growing Power is complex, illustrating both the challenges and rewards of such an ambitious community program. While it may have struggled to thrive in a sector built on razor-thin margins, it also demonstrated that community-focused food production can help restore social capital in marginalized neighborhoods.
There are many lessons to be taken from the Good Food Revolution, but one deserves to be elevated: it is that no single organization or institution can bring about lasting change on its own. Farmers, consumers, and the networks connecting them each have a part to play – and planners can help facilitate the process for achieving a shared food system vision.
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Equipment Recycling for
Businesses / Organizations
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Businesses can now utilize the Kane County Recycling Centers to recycle electronic equipment
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Businesses, Organizations, and Local Governments can now utilize the Kane County Recycling Centers to recycle electronic equipment through eWorks Electronics Services, the County’s contracted recycler.
While the Consumer Electronics Recycling Act (415 ILCS 151/) bans electronics from landfills in the state of Illinois, the collection programs that it mandates are for residential equipment only. So businesses and organizations are left to contract for the collection, recycling, and data destruction of their electronic equipment.
There is a list on the county website of several electronics recycling companies that provide this service, from which businesses may solicit quotes for service.
The list includes eWorks Electronics Services, the county’s service provider and a non-profit whose main mission is to employ people with disabilities. eWorks operates the two Kane County Recycling Centers and runs several scheduled collection events each year for Kane County and regionally.
As an added service, eWorks will now accept the delivery of electronic equipment from businesses, organizations, institutions, libraries, and municipalities at the Kane County Recycling Centers. They provide a range of customized data destruction and audit services for businesses.
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The Rise of Workshop Neighborhoods
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As more residents work from home, many are likely to seek walkable neighborhoods offering a mix of activities and uses
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According to a recent survey by the Harvard Business School, one in six workers will be working from home or a co-working space at least two days a week. As employers announce they will allow employees to work from home permanently, proximity to work is no longer a primary consideration. Freed from that constraint, where will people choose to live?
People with the ability to relocate will seek out neighborhoods for their livability, walkability and community. As developers and planners try to anticipate post-pandemic shifts in demand, we have increased opportunities to create more livable neighborhoods and cities.
Bill Fulton at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research predicts we will see what he calls Suburban Workshops. In response to an increase in telecommuting, neighborhoods will evolve into places of work, in addition to places to live.
As Fulton points out, this trend toward Workshop Neighborhoods has been with us for some time, as more people find ways to work for small businesses near their house, rather than large companies in big job centers. But now even those who work for large employers are likely to be going into the office less. This makes for better urbanism than the typical residential bedroom community.
Workshop Neighborhoods contain a more diverse set of activities. With so many people at home, all kinds of activities take place in the neighborhood, supporting more services and in turn creating more jobs in the neighborhood.
There are several characteristics that make for a good Workshop Neighborhood including:
- Walkability
- Twenty-minute neighborhoods
- Local retail
- Flexible public space
The content for this piece was originally published in an article by the Journal of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Visit the article page to learn more about Workshop Neighborhoods.
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Kane County Planning Cooperative
Matt Tansley, Planner - (630) 232-3493
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