Читать книгу The Outdoor Citizen. Get Out, Give Back, Get Active онлайн
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With the support of the Gateway Cities program, we were able to renovate Springfield’s old federal building downtown, clean up a brownfield site (a formerly developed piece of land that had become vacant and possibly contaminated), and provide incentives for Springfield businesses to expand and others to relocate to Springfield. The city was one of fourteen Gateway Cities that existed during my time in office, and the program proved so successful that today there are twenty-six Gateway Cities in Massachusetts. The rejuvenation of Springfield and other Gateway Cities shows how city upgrades can be well implemented and how when community leaders and residents collaborate, they can positively transform even the most struggling cities.
Years before I worked with the city of Springfield, my friend Laurie Zapalac told me about legacy cities. Laurie has years of experience studying cities from an architectural and historic lens, and today has a PhD in Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We would take walks along green spaces, like Boston’s Charles River Esplanade, and she would explain to me how a city’s past can be preserved even while it upgrades and moves into a more prosperous and healthy future. Laurie spoke about US legacy cities as well as the historic cities of Europe, and her enthusiasm and faith in the promise of cities always shined through. Today she specializes in urban regeneration and helping communities thrive, and I recently asked her about best practices for this. I thought her response would be tied to technology as a way to modernize, but instead she said that cities do best when they embrace the natural world in ways that help them move forward. Laurie said, “Now, more than ever, we’re seeing that nature is the first and best teacher.” She said cities’ investments in the natural world have rippling benefits; for example, an investment in the restoration of shellfish populations can improve water quality, grow food, and promote economic development; an investment in parks can offer participatory and immersive experiences in the natural world and promote multigenerational interactions.