Nov

Green Grow the Alleys, O!

by Joyce McGreevy on November 11, 2019

A ruelle verte, or green alley, in Montréal, Canada reflects creative problem-solving that helps the planet. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

THIS is a public alley? In Montréal, a ruelle verte (“green alley”) basks in autumn’s glow.
© Joyce McGreevy

Creative Problem-Solving, One Alley at a Time

What does the word alley bring to mind? Most likely someplace gray and utilitarian, a narrow passageway behind buildings. Perhaps it evokes unpleasantness, even menace, as in something “you wouldn’t want to encounter in a dark alley.”

But what if alleys reflected creative problem-solving? In a growing number of cities, they do. Presenting the “green alley,” an urban oasis created from what was once a concrete desert.

The seeds of this eco-friendly concept were sown in Montréal, where green alleys are known as ruelles vertes.

Two ruelles vertes in Montréal, Canada show how creative problem-solving helps transforms desolate alleys into urban oases. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Over 80% of Montréal residents surveyed have said “Oui!” to the Ruelle Verte project.
© Joyce McGreevy

From No-Go to Where Flowers Grow

How did gray alleys first go green? The road from urban crisis to urban oasis was long, winding, and pot-holed with missteps.

In the 1840s, Montréal’s first alleyways emerged as farmlands were subdivided into small properties. By the 1960s, 300 miles of asphalt alley snaked along the margins of the densely massed buildings. As in most cities, Montréal’s alleys were dreary corridors by day and desolate no-go zones by night.

An urban alley cluttered with trash cans and utilities is a far cry from the green alleys and show the need for creative problem-solving. (Image © Alex Borland)

This is what most of us picture when we hear the word alley.
© Alex Borland [License: CC0 Public Domain]

A Road Paved with Good Intentions

In 1968, five Canadian architecture students with utopian visions set off for an alley in an impoverished Montréal neighborhood. They would install a flowerbed! Paint the walls! Inspire residents to sustain the makeover!

Alas, like the proverbial road paved with good intentions, the results were less than heavenly.

A 1969 documentary film, Les fleurs c’est pour Rosemont, captures the social and class tensions between privileged outsiders who meant well and hardworking locals who were focused on meeting primary needs, not adding primary colors.

Without grassroots engagement, the goal of green alleys had hit a dead end.

Or had it?

Autumn leaves covering a city street humorously suggest that nature’s presence is a reminder to apply creative problem-solving to urban spaces. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In Montréal, nature has a way of making its presence known . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

A Grassroots Response

With every showing, Jacques Giraldeau’s documentary raised the topic anew, prompting lively discussion and engaging diverse perspectives.

Over time, this inspired a more considered approach at a grassroots level. Residents of the same block began talking things over. Who knew better than they the problems and potential of their alleys?

A group of people carrying flowering plants to a city street evokes our need to apply creative problem-solving to urban spaces. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

As neighbors met, ideas began to flower.
© Joyce McGreevy

Together, they came up with proposals and secured the support of city officials. Together, they pooled their resources to turn creative thinking into practical magic.

In 1995, Montréal’s first official ruelle verte opened.

Today, Montréal has 350 green alleys—urban oases where children play, neighbors gather, and visitors find inspiration.

And just as the wind scatters seeds to create new growth, the Montréal model spread to cities around the world.

A collage of plants from a ruelle verte in Montréal, Canada shows how creative problem-solving through green alleys supports wildlife and biodiversity. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Green alleys bring biodiversity into tight urban spaces.
© Joyce McGreevy

More than a Pretty Space

The reasons to revitalize urban alleys go way beyond “outdoor décor.” Green alleys replace asphalt with permeable paving and organic materials. So along with beautification, green alleys make city life better by

reducing the “heat island” effect
allowing storm water to filter back into the ground
improving air quality
increasing plant biodiversity
providing habitat for birds and insects
reinvigorating pedestrian activity
encouraging bicycling
reducing traffic
providing places for children to play
fostering increased sociability
supporting urban agriculture, one of the factors in erasing “food deserts,” areas where it is difficult to buy affordable, fresh food
improving a city’s global livability rating

A collage of children’s toys and invitations to come play, seen on a ruelle verte in Montréal, Canada show how creative problem-solving through green alleys improves children's quality of life. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Hand-painted signs in a ruelle verte invite neighborhood kids to come and play.
© Joyce McGreevy

Green Alley, U.S.A.

In the United States, Michigan is home to one of the most remarkable green-alley transformations. Detroit’s Green Alley, created in 2008-2010 as the city was emerging from bankruptcy, turned a desolate “stretch of pavement, dumpsters, and dreams that had long since broken down” into an oasis that brings together people, nature, and the arts.

Several other cities are following suit—among them Chicago, Los Angeles, Omaha, Austin, and Nashville. You can see a Los Angeles neighborhood “green team” in action here.

Colorful laundry in a ruelle verte, or green alley, in Montréal, Canada reflects creative problem-solving that makes everyday life better. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The goal of green alleys is not to gentrify, but to make life better citywide.
© Joyce McGreevy

Seeds of Possibility

Given the vastness of public lands and waterways, how important is it to make better use of alleys? By 2050, 75 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities.

How much of an impact could green alleys make? Consider that Chicago alone has 1,900 miles of alleyway to work with. Now factor in that nearly every city in the world (with notable exceptions) is crisscrossed with alleyways.

Yes, cities still need somewhere to put out the garbage. More to the point, say urban environmentalists, we need to reduce waste itself. This has become another focus of creative problem-solving.

According to Daniel Toole, author of Tight Urbanism, Alley Architecture in the U.S., Australia, and Japan, “As waste collection becomes more effective . . . [alleys] present a ridiculous amount of space to be used simply for waste conveyance.”

Oh, I see: For Earth’s sake, even an alley is too precious to waste.

An old metal tub used as a planter and a wall of painted bricks on a ruelle verte in Montréal, Canada show how creative problem-solving through green alleys promotes recycling. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Found objects & recycled resources dress up an alley.
© Joyce McGreevy

Is there a “green alley” near you? Have you seen green alleys in your travels? Have you and your neighbors ever worked together to transform a common outdoor area into a greener, more inviting public space? If so, please share your experiences with our readers!

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

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Canada/Clever Ideas/Making a Difference/Nature Discovery

Jul

Carry Where You Came From With You

by Joyce McGreevy on July 23, 2019

People walking on global map evoke the idea of crossing cultures as we travel through life together. (Image © iStock/ Orbon Alija

We come from everywhere, crossing cultures to build new communities
and enrich each other’s lives.
© Orbon Alija / iStock

Crossing Cultures: A Perspective on Traveling Through Life

Ever since I opened my first “big kid” textbook in third grade, I’ve been fascinated by one of history’s earliest, ongoing events—the ways we the people of Earth are perpetually crossing cultures and coming together again in shared places.

In airports and train stations, the faces of those arriving and departing reflect every emotion—excitement and curiosity, exhaustion and confusion. Meanwhile, we’re all traveling through life.

Alongside the joys and challenges of this journey, we each carry the need for home, a place to come to and people who want us to be there.

People at an airport evoke the metaphor of carrying where you came from with you as you travel through life. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Coming or going, rooted or uprooted, we are all traveling through a world we share.
© Joyce McGreevy

Sometimes the place is a country, a state, or a city. There’s a dance to these shared places that I love, a movement around and with each other that we can witness on any given day.

It’s in the way we share busy crosswalks without colliding, or make room for each other on a crowded subway. It’s in the way we hold doors for one another, help someone carry a heavy suitcase, or ease a stroller safely over an obstacle.

I see it at times when we’ve absentmindedly left something behind, and someone rushes after us, waving our nearly-lost possession like a flag, relieved to restore it to us. And then? With or without a shared language, we share a smile.

In the back-and-forth of deeper conversations, we share more of where we came from. We reveal our attitudes and values. We try out new ideas. We solve problems and work through conflicts. We discover, grow, and celebrate.

In such moments, we’re not just traveling through life, we’re traveling together. Without questioning where others come from, we create something important together—a sense of community that carries us all forward.

We All Come from Somewhere

For all of us in this world, life starts on a particular day in a particular place in a particular culture. Then we start that travel through life. Whether we move to Oregon from Texas or come to one country from another, the people and places we encounter add to our lives, expanding and enriching the culture that we came from.

These encounters are a little like a potluck where everybody brings something from their home and there’s something new for everyone. New tastes, all kinds of food. And the way we share it with each other? That’s called community.

People gathered for a parade reminds the writer that each of us carries where we came from with us and all of us are traveling through life together. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

We all come from somewhere to gather together in community.
© Joyce McGreevy

What We Carry Together

My extended family is daily created by people who carry where they came from. You wouldn’t guess it to look at just me, but collectively, we carry many languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, Irish, Hebrew, English, and Italian.

We cover all different faiths and none. We’re straight, gay, we live in big cities, small towns, and rural areas. We agree and disagree on everything from food to music to our perspectives and philosophies.

In short, we’re like many families today.

Factor in our friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Every time we get together, the circle widens. “We’re going to need more chairs!” someone says and somehow we always find enough.

We carry chairs, we carry food. We carry where we came from, the better to share it.

People at a community supper reflect how each of us can make a difference when we share with others. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

We are better when we share what we carry, when we welcome each other to the table.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Journeys We Share

As humans, where we come from covers a vast array of differences: from our birth years to our personal appearances, from our histories to our hopes, our spoken languages and the unvoiced languages of our dreams—in our cultures and circumstances, our certainties and changes, our traumas and triumphs, our gifts and goals.

As humans, wherever we are, wherever we come from, we have the power to do something truly extraordinary. We can connect across cultures and strengthen each other’s sense of belonging.

Of course, that takes patience.

It takes getting to know one another. Uncrossing our arms and pulling our chairs closer together. Sharing our “travels” and discovering where these journeys of experience connect. Using our words to welcome, our listening to understand.

A community mural labeled with personal values that cross cultures reflects the idea that "carrying where you came from with you" can make a difference to others. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In sharing our differences, we create solidarity through respect.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Essential Difference that Our Differences Make

Something remarkable happens when we say, “Thank goodness you’re here.” It’s an Oh, I see moment: We discover that the combination of our differences is exactly what’s needed for our worthiest endeavors to flourish.

So much is enriched when we carry where we came from and share the wisdom: a community garden, a classroom, a local business, a theater production, a life-saving surgery, an environmental effort, a country that comes closer to its ideals.

In those times, we find ourselves capable of crossing cultures and comfort zones. In those times, our differences make a positive difference together.

“Welcome,” our actions say. “Pull up a chair, there’s room for everyone at the table.”

In those times, wherever we come from, whatever we carry, we’re traveling through life together. In those times, we’re creating a shared place called home.

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Crossing Cultures/Life Lessons/Making a Difference

Jan

Everyday Aha Moments in Italy

by Joyce McGreevy on January 21, 2019

Santa Croce and passing trucks in Florence inspire an aha moment about everyday Italian rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Santa Croce inspires. So do the delivery-truck drivers on their daily predawn rounds.
© Joyce McGreevy

Discovering Beauty in Life’s Little Rituals

It’s no revelation to say that icons of awe-inspiring beauty are everywhere in Florence. For some visitors, the rarified aha moments induced by a surfeit of grandeur can even become physically overwhelming.

But as Italian psychologist Piero Ferrucci writes, we can also “discover [beauty] in everyday life: a song heard on the street, a crumbling old wall, the reflections in a puddle.”

The Arno at sunset in Florence Italy inspires an aha moment about life’s little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

A walk along the Arno at sunset is glorious, but . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

A little dog and its human in Florence, Italy reflect the piaceri piccoli (small pleasures) of everyday life. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

These are the piaceri piccoli, small pleasures, the everyday aha moments that balance “the exasperating vicissitudes of daily life.” My piaceri piccoli include everyday Italian rituals. Come, I’ll show you.

Let us begin at the end, on an evening when the sky exhibits a variety of blues, like someone choosing among silk scarves. Imagine you are returning from work, expecting to open the door, toss the key, and turn on the news.

Not So Fast—This is Florence

The towering double doors, i portoni, conceal a smaller door, una porta. Extract the proper key, enter the vestibule, and pause to admire the wrought-iron cancello, or gate.

An exterior and interioA portone (grand door) seen from both sides inspires an aha moment about the small pleasures of everyday life in Florence, Italy. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

It is a sentinel, this cancello. One passes around it, not through, by means of swinging doors. Spingere, says the first door. Tirare, replies the next. This means only “Push, Pull.” But the joy-inducing rhythm makes your mind sing Spingere, tirare. Girare è volare! “Push, pull. To turn is to fly!”

A cancello, or wrought-iron gate in Florence Italy inspires an aha moment about small pleasures and life's little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Cancello (Italian) and cancel (English) share a common origin. To cancel written text,
one crossed it with a latticework of lines.
© Joyce McGreevy

Now you are in the cortile, a courtyard, where an advisor to Anna di Medici once walked. The apartment complex was formerly one magnificent home, and its beauty includes ancient frescoes. Just as beautiful is how the layout guides you to take steps mindfully.

If you are laden with groceries from Mercato Sant’Ambrogio, a second key opens the narrow elevator. If not, insert a third key into the next cancello. It opens with a satisfying pop.

Press a button to light the lantern. Then mount stone steps that bear the imprint of centuries. At your apartment, brass lions guard the door. Never mind that Florence is one of the safest cities in the world.

A post box and a door knocker in Florence Italy inspire an aha moment about the small pleasures of life's little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Extract two more keys. The lock that lifts an interior metal bar likes to challenge you. When you succeed in turning it, it spits the key upon the floor to keep you humble. The smaller lock is kindly and ushers you in to coziness.

Life’s little ritual of homecoming is now complete. Sei qui—you are here. The world of offices and schedules, traffic and to-do lists is there. And there it stays.

A fresco inspires an aha moment about the pleasures of everyday life in Florence, Italy. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

There’s beauty in the rituals of accomplishment (above), but also
in the rituals of learning one’s craft (below).
© Joyce McGreevy

A young man sketching as a boy looks on inspires an aha moment about everyday Italian rituals in Florence. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The Daily Dance of Adaptation

A change of environment disrupts our automatic routines. Our response reveals whether we feel invited—or put upon—to try something new. Says Ferrucci, “We can proceed according to the planned itinerary, strenuously trying to make life conform to our expectations, or we can adapt to whatever we meet, and flow without effort.”

Oh, I see: Everyday Italian rituals shed light on life’s little rituals in our own localities. They make us more attentive to the piaceri piccoli that punctuate a day.

Via de' Tornabuoni, Firenze festooned in gold decorations inspires an aha moments Italian rituals of celebration. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

There’s beauty in our special occasions (above, Via de’ Tornabuoni), but also
in our times of solitary effort (below, Via del Moro).
© Joyce McGreevy

A man cleaning a restaurant kitchen in Florence, Italy inspires an aha moment about life's little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The Choreography of Chores

Emptying the spazzatura has its rituals. (Yes, even “garbage” becomes beautiful in Italian.) You sort the spazzatura by type, then deliver each type to the correct municipal cassonétto. (That’s Italy’s poetic upgrade for “dumpster.”)

This takes time, because leaving the apartment for anything less than a fire means putting on polished boots, a colorful scarf, and gloves di buona qualità. The sporting element kicks in as you arrive at the receptacles. Let the games begin!

Don’t let the bin’s exterior muss your clothing, because to be Florentine is to be impeccable.
Do protect your posterior from vehicles rushing by like the Arno at flood tide. To be Florentine means appreciating life, and it helps if one is alive to do so.
Urrah! Celebrate with another Italian ritual, la passegiata, the walk taken for pleasure, always at evening.

A woman taking out the garbage in Florence, Italy inspires an aha moment about everyday life and life's little rituals. (Image © Victoria Lyons)

All in Good Time

Other everyday Italian rituals have their timing, too: Drinking cappuccino before 10:30am only. Knowing when to cede the narrow sidewalk to a fellow pedestrian. Anticipating when they’ll courteously jump off the curb for you. Stowing away cellphones to enjoy the pleasure of conversation.

Even sneezing involves ritual. In Italy, the proper response is: Felicità! “Happiness!”

“If we live in the here and now,” says Ferrucci, “each moment is a surprise, every instant a new wonder.”

Aha Moments at the Laundromat

A laundromat in Florence, Italy inspires an aha moment about everyday life and life's little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

While not the storied “room with a view,” a laundromat offers you
the pleasure of Italian conversations with your neighbors.
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s true, even at the lavanderia, where you help each other fold double sheets and discuss the weather and the books you’ve brought. But what about the sockless teenage customers, who pass the time hunched over video games, or elbowing each other and chortling at in-jokes?

Each time somebody enters or departs—no matter who they are—the boys pause, look up, and say Buongiorno or Ciao.

And there it is, the aha moment in an everyday Italian ritual: Acknowledging one another is essential. In this city of awe-inspiring art and grandeur, life’s little rituals reveal the true beauty of Florence.

The Calvacata, an annual procession in Florence Italy, inspires an aha moment about Italian celebrations and everyday life. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Our rituals honor grand epochs (above, Piazza della Repubblica)
and everyday aha moments (below, Lungarno delle Grazie).
© Joyce McGreevy

Shadows of passersby across a foyer in Florence, Italy inspire an aha moment about small pleasures and life's little rituals. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Explore Piero Ferrucci’s lyrical analyses of the human condition here.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Crossing Cultures/Discoveries/Italy/Life Lessons

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