A new Olympic Park arose in a once derelict and contaminated industrial area of east London turning neglected waterways into wildlife havens. Almost 500 acres of land (200 hectares) have been razed and redeveloped for the 2012 Olympic Games, and 45 of those have been given over to creating new wildlife habitats for kingfishers, bats, otters and snakes -- while much of the rest has been left as parkland.
Armed simply with chainsaws, a corps of military veterans has arrived on the Jersey Shore to help Sandy-stricken residents trapped by a maze of downed trees and debris.
In one of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods, one grandmother has opened her door and invited gang members to come inside. She hoped that by providing them with support and a place to go, she would ensure that her own daughter and other kids would be safe and able to focus on their future instead of gangs.
Nearly 700 children were hit by gunfire last year in Chicago. In an effort to reduce the violence, a program called CeaseFire is working to curb gang activity by helping at-risk youth find employment. CeaseFire also patrols the streets of poorer, urban neighborhoods to stop crimes before they happen.
The windows of an empty storefront on one corner of Harvard Square are covered with colorful Post-it Note tributes, personal messages about those who inspire us most, from fourth-grade teachers to Tim Tebow to Aunt Lindsay. It all started with one, simple little message: "Who Inspires You?"
When it comes to tackling San Francisco's entrenched panhandling problem, City Hall has tried just about everything. But it's never tried puppies - until now. Starting Aug. 1, the city - in a program believed to be the first of its kind in the country - will exchange a small stipend for fostering problematic puppies, readying them for adoption
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley launched a new Green Taxi Program Friday that will encourage the taxi industry to purchase cost-effective hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. More green cabs will help the city move closer to reaching carbon emission goals set out in its Chicago Climate Action Plan, while also improving air quality.
Tech job openings rose 82% in Detroit, with companies like Google and Ford hiring engineers in droves. And, college grads in Detroit say they are set on an immediate career path upon graduation.
More suburban downtowns are burdened with empty storefronts, but a growing number of Chicago area communities are encouraging artists to dress up the vacant buildings' windows with art under glass.
Newsweek rated American cities on their job creation, sustainability, livability and transportation-infrastructure, to cull a list of the nation's top performing metropolises. And, the 10 cities topping the list represent diverse areas of the country.
Created one year ago by a 61-year-old librarian who became homeless, a large red tricycle that carries a small library through the city of São Paulo, Brazil encourages reading among people who live on the streets and cannot otherwise access libraries typically requiring ID and proof of residency.
The Mayor's Challenge is a contest run by Bloomberg Philanthropies to find the best ideas bubbling out of our cities--from data mining to turning foreclosed houses into urban farms. New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg is funding the best ideas of local governments using the competition that will result in the winner taking home $5 million and four runners-up getting $1 million each.
You can still see more than 10,000 coin-operated phones around New York City today. What seems a relic of the past in this age of mobile technology, became a vital link in an emergency for those who had no power to charge their devices during Hurricane Sandy. Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a design contest to reinvent the lowly payphone and bring it into the 21st Century.
Officials in Paris this week looking for a greener way to keep its lawns mowed, replaced the fleet of noisy gas-guzzling lawnmowers with a small flock of sheep that are grazing the city's open spaces. The scheme also cuts down on the need for chemical herbicides.
The US Senate defeated an attempt by big banks to derail financial reform scheduled to take effect next month that will bring some overdue common sense to the debit card fees banks are allowed to charge merchants.
Very poor women in Peru are improving the lives of their families, thanks to business smarts, determination and a small business micro loan from Finca Peru, the family-run social enterprise that helps educate its 16,000 local micro-borrowers in savvy business growth.
The World Bank on Wednesday said its private sector arm issued about $165 million in 'women's bonds' in the first such sale by the development lender specifically aimed at raising money for businesses owned or run by women in emerging markets. Bonds tied to social or environmental targets are part of a new trend in social finance and follows a green sale of bonds to help cut greenhouse gases in developing countries.
A 23-year-old shopper who forgot to take his money from the ATM slot was shocked when he returned an hour later to find a kind stranger waiting to hand it back.
Aidan Milligan's home will be alive with the sound of music once again. The Philadelphia Orchestra has stepped in to offer a replacement trombone to a 9-year-old with Down syndrome, whose instrument was taken from the curb outside his house Thursday morning.
France is celebrating the life of Raymond Aubrac, one of its last great heroes of the resistance, whose bravery and exploits with his wife Lucie against the Gestapo became the stuff of legend and film. Aubrac died at age 97 in a military hospital in Paris on Tuesday.