Featured Reports
City of Pomona, CA
Weaving the Social Fabric of District 2: Supporting Belonging, Well-Being, Self-Worth and Possibility in Pomona, CA
The Green City Studio, 2025
This project explores ways in which the physical environment can support this shift toward a mindset that support community momentum toward pro-social, pro-environmental priorities. A key strategy in this effort is what the author, Peter Block calls building the “social fabric’ of the city. How does the physical environment support this building of social fabric? To illuminate answers to this question, the Green City Studio partnered with Pomona City Councilmember Victor Preciado, to explore the potential for the public realm –streets, parks, schools, and other shared spaces – to support the strengthening of social fabric, and promote, belonging, well-being, self-worth and possibility in District 2, which he represents.
City of Pomona, CA
Weaving the Social Fabric of District 3: Supporting Belonging, Well-Being, Self-Worth and Possibility in Pomona, CA
The Green City Studio, 2025
This project explores ways in which the physical environment can support this shift toward a mindset that support community momentum toward pro-social, pro-environmental priorities. A key strategy in this effort is what the author, Peter Block calls building the “social fabric’ of the city. How does the physical environment support this building of social fabric? To illuminate answers to this question, the Green City Studio partnered with Pomona City Councilmember Nora Garcia, to explore the potential for the public realm –streets, parks, schools, and other shared spaces – to support the strengthening of social fabric, and promote, belonging, well-being, self-worth and possibility in District 3, which she represents.
The Pomona Valley, CA
Arthropod-Friendly Gardens: A Model for Prioritizing Small-Patch Habitat Design and Certification
The Green City Studio, 2024
Coarse-scale landscape planning has drawn upon a wealth of landscape ecological research to develop strategies to preserve, restore and re-establish habitat for a variety of large predator species. While serving the needs of these species is vitally important work, these planning activities often leave out heavily urbanized communities, which may be devoid of large patches of natural vegetation, As a result, habitat concerns are often given little attention in community planning efforts in these urban environments. This reality is striking, considering the growing body of research highlighting the role of systemic racism and exclusionary practices that have disconnected low-income communities of color from the natural environment. This document explores the potential for re-establishing small-patch habitats for Arthropod species, including moths, butterflies, ants, bees, spiders, flies and other insects within a heavily urban matrix. As foundations of natural ecosystems, Arthropods have the potential to attract many other species, and these habitats have the opportunity to re-introduce small bits of nature into urban environments.
Featured Articles
Beyond Resiliency: Empowering the Poor and Vulnerable to Help Cities Thrive
May 20, 2024 – As cities increasingly adopt resilience as a sustainability strategy, the term’s implications for urban policy should be carefully considered. Drawing on examples from Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Mel Gross explores resilience’s entanglement with neoliberal ideology, the agency of underrepresented communities in resisting imposed narratives, and alternative visions for truly thriving cities centered on equity and self-determination.
Transgression or Restoration? A Critique of Calls for a Transgressive Urban Forest
June 6, 2023 – A 2022 essay in the Journal of the American Planning Association warns that our urban landscapes communicate a misleading sense of compatibility between cities and nature, and called for a transgressive approach. Sasha Colbert argues while a critique of ecological aesthetics is useful, the authors discount ecological function that differs from pre-settlement conditions, and ignore inequalities and injustices at the foundation of our ecological crisis.
From Concrete to Oasis: The Cheonggyecheon and the Future of Urban Stream Restoration
May 16, 2023 – In addition to its role as a public open space in the midst of Seoul, South Korea, the Cheonggyecheon is a stream that provides a number of critical ecosystem services. As Jiyoon Kim writes, it also provides some important lessons about urban stream restoration.