Читать книгу The Outdoor Citizen. Get Out, Give Back, Get Active онлайн

24 страница из 75

In 2017, TPL launched a “ten-minute walk” campaign aimed at making sure green spaces are within a ten-minute walk of all city dwellers in the United States. According to Will, “One hundred million people living in communities of need don’t have access to parks and green spaces. If we don’t get it right in cities, we are in big trouble.” Will told me that TPL hoped to get twenty-five mayors around the country to sign up for the ten-minute walk commitment, but ended up getting 140 mayors on board, greatly exceeding his team’s expectations. He thinks the program gets mayors’ competitive juices flowing.

Will also gave me case examples of cities embracing Outdoor City practices. He told me about how Los Angeles, California, made a “Green Bond Pledge” in 2018. The pledge is a declared commitment to building sustainable infrastructure, and a long-term investment in it. This type of investment is typically financed by bonds, and scrutinized by investors who check the projects’ sustainability and that they are adaptive and resilient to climate change. He also cheered on Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has reinvented itself through outdoor recreation and trails, and Houston, Texas, where, he says, 40 percent of residents are within a ten-minute walk of parks and the city aims to increase this to 70 percent by 2050. To reach this ambitious goal by 2050, Houston has adopted an innovative public-­private partnership called the Bayou Greenway Initiative, which will invest more than $220 million in the creation of a “ribbon of green:” 150 miles of continuous trails connected to three thousand acres of green spaces. It’s intended to be easily accessible to 1.5 million Houstonians.9