Your monthly roundup of news, tools, and events from the world of 8 80 Cities.

Vision and Tonic-Lessons from Guadalajara 2020

From May 5-7, 8 80 Cities and the Knight Foundation led a group of City Councillors, City Staff, business owners, and other community leaders from San Jose, CA, on a study tour to Guadalajara, home to 2 million residents in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. Over the last 17 years, through several different administrations spanning multiple political parties, Guadalajara has seen a rejuvenation of its public life and public spaces. The catalyst? A bold unified vision: Guadalajara 2020.

Building Community Trust through Tactical Urbanism – Lessons from West Palm Beach, FL

8 80 Cities has been working with the City of West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and Better Block on an exciting project called Historic Northwest Rising. Thanks to a generous grant from Knight Foundation, we rolled out a community engagement campaign to reimagine the Sunset Lounge and the vacant lot directly across from it.

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A Transformative Ciclovia for Guadalajara
Never experienced the absolute magic that is Ciclovia? Well, you’re in for a treat! This film, by Clarence Eckerson Jr. (Street Films), is an oldie but a goodie! It gives you a glimpse of how spaces normally dominated by cars can become places for people to walk, cycle, play and meet neighbors.

Watch it here.

5 Big Ideas to Better Integrate Nature with Cities
Interested in bridging the divide between city and rural? Check out Gregory Scruggs’ article for some useful tips on how to best integrate nature into the urban environment.

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Child's Play is Good for All!

If all of the children who currently are sedentary started exercising every day, societies could save enormous amounts of money in the coming decades and have healthier citizens as a whole, according to a remarkable new study.
The study is the first to use sophisticated computer simulations to arrive at a literal and sobering societal price tag for allowing our children to be sedentary. Read more in this New York Times article written by Gretchen Reynolds.

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Invisible Bike Riders

There is a huge segment of the biking population that isn’t frequently spoken about or listened to. This population doesn’t use a bike as a status symbol, or as a political statement, or as an environmental badge of honour – they use it because it’s useful and because they don’t have any other choice. And, despite their low profile, this population of bike riders often logs far more hours than self-proclaimed ‘serious cyclists’. So who are they? They’re people from low-income brackets. Read Rachel Quednau’s article to find out more about these ‘invisible cyclists’.

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These Cities are Replacing the Worst kind of Infrastructure

Can you guess what is the ‘worst kind of infrastructure’? Clue 1: it creates heat islands. Clue 2: it is chronically underused. Clue 3: it’s made from asphalt. Clue 4: it serves only one function – storing cars. (ANSWER: surface parking lots!). That’s the bad news. The good news is they’re low hanging fruit for new park development. Read Adele Peters’ article to find out how cities in North America are finding opportunities to transform these lots into desirable public spaces.

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Aging at Home Villages - Living Life to the Fullest

Have you heard of ‘aging-at-home-villages’? Annie Groer from the Washington Post explores how they work, what they offer, and who can join. Maybe most important of all, she explains how the perception that “we’re just a bunch of old people sitting around at home dying” is totally false!

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