The green building movement is gaining momentum in Cincinnati: the architectural and construction community began a chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and City Hall recently launched the City Green Initiative. Examples of green construction are found in banks, schools and even Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds.
By: Casey Coston, 7/20/2010
Located in a historic building on Short Vine in Corryville, the Niehoff Urban Studio is dedicated to addressing urban issues that challenge the quality of life in Cincinnati, and helping educate not just students, but the community at large in the "pleasures of the urban lifestyle." Soapdish columnist Casey Coston takes a look inside this innovative think-tank that's pushing the city's urban core to grow, expand and thrive.
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By: Matt Cunningham, 2/16/2010
After decades of development, UC has become the region's leader in sustainability. Innovative practices, partnerships with local corporations, and assembling one of the largest collection of LEED certified buildings are just a few of the efforts that have received national attention. UC's initiatives are a primer in how to marry green programs that combine ambitious academic and community goals all in the name of sustainability.
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By: Jeremy Mosher, 2/16/2010
Thirty years ago we based paint with lead and insulated our homes with toxic asbestos - and while Cincinnati's existing comprehensive plan might not be outright poisonous, thirty years after its drafting, we live in a world that it couldn't account for, and with knowledge it could only imagine at the time. Enter Plan Cincinnati, the beginning of the city's first comprehensive plan since the 70s - which seeks to answer the questions who are we as a city? and what do we want to become?
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By: Casey Coston, 1/26/2010
Soapdish columnist Casey Coston heads east this week, to the edges of downtown proper and finds what's left of Bucktown - an industrial enclave with a colorful past and potentially brighter future. Amidst the surface lots and abandoned warehouses that sit in the shadow of P&G's world headquarters, lie commercial spaces that serve as home base for first class architecture and design businesses and offer creative opportunities with room to spare for more.
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By: Sean Rhiney, 1/19/2010
The first Downtown skyscraper in 20 years gets her crown, a contemporary theatre group creates Cincinnati's first LGBT Theatre Festival, a pioneering vegetarian eatery gets a new life and the completion of the nation's first K-12 arts school are just some of the things Soapbox will be watching in 2010.
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By: Sean Rhiney, 12/15/2009
Who has the greenest neighborhood in America? The answer might surprise you. With an estimated 500 vacant historic buildings in Over-the-Rhine the opportunity to create America's oldest and largest green neighborhood exists right here. An innovative study compiled by local architects, historic preservationists, developers, and environmental experts reveals that 19th century design intuition melded with 21st century innovation might give Cincinnati the leg up and make other cities green with envy.
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By: Feoshia Henderson, 10/27/2009
A new alliance in Cincinnati is forming - this one provides education, job training, advocacy and awareness of energy efficient work and policies. The Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance's efforts are part of a national drive to cut back energy use and educate consumers, but this alliance could also pump some life into Cincinnati's economy by retraining workers on the latest energy efficient trends.
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By: Matt Cunnigham, 9/1/2009
Cincinnati's storied manufacturing past may become its future as more and more innovative green ideas developed nationally will be able to capitalize on the region's infrastructure and talent pool to develop new products and processes. But it gets better: Green ideas are pouring out of the Queen City too, from startups to innovative grant programs, and putting us at the forefront of the environmental revolution.
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