CityCraft and EcoDistricts Announce Strategic Collaboration on City Revitalization Projects
We’re excited to announce a new strategic collaboration that will help bring the benefits of CityCrafting to seven cities across North America. CityCraft CEO John Knott was on hand at The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference on June 24 in Denver, where it was announced that EcoDistricts and CityCraft would lead a collaborative effort on urban revitalization projects, called Target Cities. The Target Cities projects, which were named a CGI Commitment, will begin later this year.
Like CityCraft, EcoDistricts also brings a track record of success in neighbourhood-level renewal with its three “ecodistrict” revitalization projects in Portland, Oregon.
“CityCraft is delighted to be a Target Cities partner and apply our experience in urban regeneration to such a wide variety of neighbourhoods.  We see these projects as an opportunity to demonstrate that our combination of community-based investment, social justice, and environmental sustainability can be applied throughout North America to create regenerative and resilient cities,” says John Knott, CEO of CityCraft. Mr. Knott also sits on the EcoDistricts Board of Directors.
The flagship Target Cities projects, which begin this year, are described below:
- Atlanta – AUC Vine City Ecodistrict, a community situated within the Proctor Creek Catchment, which includes the world’s largest consortium of African American private institutions that are seeking to restore ecological health and social opportunity for the area.
- Boston—Talbot Norfolk Triangle Eco-Innovation District, a community-driven effort to secure greater equity and prosperity throughout the 42-acre neighborhood, including energy efficient housing retrofits, community-owned renewable energy systems, and transit oriented development.
- Cambridge—Kendall Square, a 10-acre, high-density commercial, innovation and transportation hub with carbon reduction goals that seek to take the City beyond net zero.
- Denver—Sun Valley, an effort driven by the Denver Housing Authority to revitalize Colorado’s poorest neighborhood and reconnect residents to the larger city.
- Los Angeles—Little Tokyo, a culturally rich 20-acre neighborhood, seeking to accelerate investments in transit-oriented development, green infrastructure and community-driven projects that promote identity and prosperity.
- Ottawa, Ontario—The Isles, a 37-acre historically rich brownfield site on the Ottawa River that will be developed into a vibrant mixed use walkable village, integrate sustainable infrastructure into the historic fabric of the site and strengthen the connection between the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau.
- Washington—Downtown Business Improvement District, an 138-block area comprising 90 million square feet of real estate with ambitious energy efficiency and green infrastructure goals to help develop Downtown Washington, D.C. into the world’s most sustainable financial district.
- Washington—Southwest EcoDistrict, a long-range plan to turn an isolated neighborhood defined by massive federal office buildings into a lively, ecologically progressive neighborhood.
- Washington—St. Elizabeth’s/Congress Heights, a mixed-use campus and low income neighborhood of more than 350 acres, with an opportunity to leverage federal investment dollars in a manner that creates economic opportunity for area residents.
The Target Cities model is founded on setting rigorous goals and institutionalizing good “process management” to support project development. The integrated design process aligns key stakeholder and investor interests, builds robust governance, oversees holistic assessment, and accelerates district-scale projects. Each step of the approach is built around an interrelated set of environmental, economic, and social performance areas: energy; equitable development; health and wellbeing; community identity; transportation; water; habitat and ecosystem functionality; and optimized materials management.
For more information on Target Cities, see our press release. 
