Three years ago, Knight Foundation joined with the Kresge Foundation, JPB Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation to support an experiment. Would it be possible to revitalize and connect disused civic spaces to foster greater civic engagement, promote economic development and enhance environmental sustainability?
The project took root in five, diverse cities: Akron, Ohio; Chicago; Detroit; Memphis, Tennessee; and Philadelphia. Each city invested significant additional public and private resources, and began to build a network of parks, plazas, trails and libraries.
Three years later, each city has made progress. Each city has also made this work their own—authentic to its own people, its own ethos and its own priorities. We asked journalist Aaron Wiener to go out and understand how this effort took on a life of its own in each community. Wiener is a senior editor at Mother Jones and has reported on a number of urban economic development issues. His work was independent. He came back with a vivid portrait of an effort that is both changing community and changed by community, an effort now as disparate as the places where it lives.
Source: Blog on the project
