The Alley Gating and Greening ordinance has passed!

Community Greens, an Ashoka initiative to create urban shared green spaces, celebrated a huge milestone this past month. For the first time, residents of Baltimore will be able to gate and green the alleyways and communal spaces behind their homes.

Community Greens empowers residents to create new commons and shared green spaces, where there are none. These commons can be created when neighbors take down their fences and create shared gardens in the middle of their blocks or when they take over under-utilized city property, like alleys.

For the past four years, Community Greens has been working to pilot this idea on Baltimore city blocks. They realized that Baltimore's alleys - rat-infested, drug ridden, and garbage polluted - could be turned around if residents had the legal right to do so. Through the new Alley Gating and Greening ordinance, residents can now legally create new commons and green spaces at their backdoor.

BEFORE and AFTER

The Baltimore alley has been completely transformed by residents. It went from an anonymous no man's land that invited crime to a place graced with plants, activities, and a real sense of community. Residents now know one another, kids have a place to play, and adults have a space where they can relax. Now these alley greens can spread throughout the city.

Community Greens grew out of the work of Ashoka Fellows. Their key insight: environmental sustainability is maximized along with social and economic benefits when the majority is allowed to determine how to share and use scarce resources. They also saw the importance of creating the proper legal mechanisms to establish and protect them.

Community Greens is part of Ashoka's Environmental Innovations Initiative.

Are you interested in creating your own community green? Contact Kate Herrod at , and learn more at www.communitygreens.org