Humane Metropolis Baltimore
A free public workshop sponsored by the Lincoln Institute of Land PolicyOrganized by the Ecological Cities Project in collaboration with the Parks & People Foundation
June 11, 2009, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Maryland Historical Society
201 W. Monument St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Today, 80 percent of Americans live in cities and suburbs and more than half the world's population is now classified as "urban." Older cities and their suburbs like Baltimore City and County are experiencing many challenges - affordable housing, jobs, mobility, education, public health, physical fitness, floods, and ecological destruction - not to mention the current economic and foreclosure crisis.
"Humane Metropolis" is a new perspective on people, nature, and cities developed by the Ecological Cities Project in collaboration with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The 2006 book The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st-Century City highlights new initiatives for various cities to become more:
Green: Protect and restore urban biodiversity and ecological services
Healthy: Promote outdoor exercise and fitness, reduce respiratory threats
Safe: Reduce crime rates; lower risk of fire, floods, and other hazards
Efficient: Employ a better use of water, energy, materials (e.g., green building, light rail)
Equitable: Embrace environmental and social justice, affordable housing, access to jobs
Neighborly: Foster pride of place and sense of community
Nearly 3,000 pedestrians are injured annually, more than one-third of which occur in Baltimore City and more than another one-third of which occur in Baltimore, Montgomery, and Prince George's counties. 
