To historians a hundred years from now, how America responded to its plentiful declining Rust Belt cities will be one of the most important questions. Whether it's the approximately 1000-plus vacant houses in Pueblo or the 16,000 vacant buildings in Buffalo, New York, how we processed this epic divestment and collapse of our great cities, and how we responded will say everything about us as a nation.
They say our societal fixation with monsters depends on the economy; vampires are big when the economy is good, zombies; during a recession. So, we've seen a lot a zombies lately. There is nothing more worrisome as a planner than zombies, as most development codes are unable to handle good zombie-proof design. With a chemical weapons plant, state hospital, and steel mill, we are the perfect place for a zombie invasion to germinate. And now our urban design will just not help us.
This July, City Council passed Pueblo's first Community Garden ordinance. It was, as my colleague calls it, an "aspirational ordinance." It's one of those ordinances we hope not to use so much for enforcement as to celebrate a healthy shift in outlook toward zoning, wellbeing, and our urban environment.
Pueblo is a steel city, a long-time manufacturing hub. We manufacture goods which are generally consumed elsewhere, and we've been doing it for ages. We constantly talk of bringing jobs here, yet so often we forget supply and demand. We can't generate jobs without demand; and to supply the demand, communities need to manufacture 'value.'
Street trees are tough. Some think they can do anything: provide shade, sequester carbon, revitalize commercial corridors and save our children. They are the epitome of planning and landscape architecture.
Written by Wade Broadhead | 
To historians a hundred years from now, how America responded to its plentiful declining Rust Belt cities will be one of the most important questions. Whether it's the approximately 1000-plus vacant houses in Pueblo or the 16,000 vacant buildings in Buffalo, New York, how we processed this epic divestment and collapse of our great cities, and how we responded will say everything about us as a nation.
They say our societal fixation with monsters depends on the economy; vampires are big when the economy is good, zombies; during a recession. So, we've seen a lot a zombies lately. There is nothing more worrisome as a planner than zombies, as most development codes are unable to handle good zombie-proof design. With a chemical weapons plant, state hospital, and steel mill, we are the perfect place for a zombie invasion to germinate. And now our urban design will just not help us.
