A mayor takes the bold step of closing an airport runway on the edge of the city in the middle of the night, making way for an oasis of wildflowers, prairie grasses and trees. A father works through his grief after his son’s death by transforming an abandoned lot into a public garden, creating a welcoming gathering place in his neighborhood. From powerful government officials with political muscle to neighborhood champions with big dreams, individuals are at the heart of the urban sustainability movement, which is gaining momentum across America. Together they are transforming American cities by creating more livable urban environments for the people who live and work there.

EDENS LOST & FOUND, a four-hour PBS series that premiered in May, showcases extraordinary stories of environmental rebirth in four very different American cities. Each one-hour program examines the unique environmental, economic and social issues that face the country’s great cities and the innovative solutions that have helped to turn its problems around.

Interviews with citizen activists, politicians, urban planners, and just plain folks who have labored long and hard to contribute to their city’s urban renaissance reveal how passion combined with innovative strategies can address the widespread problems facing many of America’s urban environments today.

EDENS LOST & FOUND first segment is "Chicago: The City of Big Shoulders" hosted by NPR’s Scott Simon. The second segment is "Philadelphia: The Holy Experiment" hosted by actor David Morse. The series will resume with programs that feature Los Angeles and Seattle.

A second season is planned to highlight cities in China, Europe, and/or Latin America, and other U.S. cities including New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Produced by award-winning television producers Harry Wiland and Dale Bell, Edens Lost & Found is the centerpiece of a extensive public campaign to target decision makers in industry and government, engage citizens in the challenge of urban sustainability, and share ideas that have proven effective and can be readily replicated.

“Currently 80 percent of the population in the United States lives in urban environments that have been built with little understanding of their natural environment and insufficient consideration of the need for open space, public parks, clean air and clean water,” says Harry Wiland.

“Fortunately, the tide is turning through the leadership of citizens who have activated tens of thousands of volunteers as well as the ingenuity of forward-thinking professionals in many different fields from architects to engineers and urban planners. Our goal in producing this documentary is to share creative solutions that can serve as inspiring models for cities and communities of all sizes across the country and to offer hope that dramatic changes can be achieved.”

In the series premiere, "Chicago: The City of Broad Shoulders", NPR’s Scott Simon, a native son of the city, explains how “greed rather than good sense fuelled the rapid expansion of the city” in the 19th century. After the great fire of 1871 consumed the city, architect Daniel Burnham made the visionary suggestion to save the lakeshore border as public space. This stunning idea gave Chicago’s heart a spectacular landscape, even as stockyards, industrialization and poorly planned low-income housing blighted other parts of the metropolitan area.

Today Chicago has emerged as a leader in urban sustainability, with Mayor Daley as a powerful advocate for strategies like green architecture. Daley was the driving force behind the incomparable Millennium Park, built atop a massive underground parking garage. But much of the environmental improvement in and around Chicago is thanks to the long-time commitment of citizens like Stephen Packard and Margaret Frisbie.

Packard has been mobilizing his fellow citizens for more than thirty years to protect and restore prairie. His efforts evolved into a coalition of over 175 organizations called Chicago Wilderness that currently protects 200,000 acres of natural habitat.

“This region is the birthplace of restoration ecology and some of the most exciting restoration efforts in North America are happening in the metropolitan region,” says Gerald Alderman, Executive Director of the Openlands Project.

Another working advocate is Margaret Frisbie of a group called Friends of the Chicago River. Trying to reverse decades of pollution, this organization is not only working to revive the river’s ecosystem, but also to give people the opportunity to reconnect with nature by fishing, boating and enjoying the shoreline.

Remembering that human beings are part of nature and recognizing that people crave a connection to the natural world are core tenets of the urban sustainability movement. These beliefs drive people like Deb Perryman, a charismatic high school teacher whose classes are filled with students who live in poverty, Perryman waged a one-woman campaign to save woodlands adjacent to her school from the bulldozer and convert it into a nature trail and outdoor classroom where her students measure pollution in the creek, study the trees and plants, and learn about ecology.

“Maybe none of these kids will become wildlife biologists, but certainly they will be parents someday and they will be community members,” says Perryman, who was named Illinois Teacher of the Year in 2005.

Edens Lost & Found travels east to Philadelphia, a city founded as part of William Penn’s efforts to create a utopian society free of violence and tyranny, filled with green space and agriculture. In "Philadelphia: The Holy Experiment", hosted by actor David Morse, we witness the trajectory of his dream.

Like many of America’s old industrial cities, Philadelphia is coping with diminished population density, building abandonment and urban decay. But vibrant community-based volunteer organizations and leadership from the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and Philadelphia Green are having a significant impact. Contributing to economic development and an increase in real estate values, they are making neighborhoods more attractive and desirable for residents.

“I wanted neighbors around here to look out their window and see that crazy woman is still out here picking up trash,” says Doris Gwaltney, the President of Carroll Park Neighbors. In her neighborhood, repeated efforts to save the park from drug dealers faltered until the Horticultural Society stepped in with a $30,000 grant. It’s just one of 150 neighborhood parks sponsored by the Society that echo back to Penn’s plan for a green country town.

Mary Seton Corboy has a vision that goes beyond parks. A pioneer in urban agriculture, she is a model for city farmers across the nation. “Now you’re a pioneer but initially you’re just a nutcase,” says Corboy, Project Manager of Greensgrow. At her hydroponic urban farm in South Philadelphia, produce is grown above what was a Superfund industrial waste cleanup site.

Philadelphia’s restoration projects go further than clearing away decades of debris. “The heart of community revitalization is the ability to touch people’s heart and souls, and I think that art can do that,” says Jane Golden, Program Director of the Murals Art Project, which started as a cleanup effort to reduce graffiti. Her organization’s large murals on buildings have become the voice of the community and the project’s artists have turned the city itself into a large canvas. “What we do shows us the powerful catalytic role art can play in healing the wounds of a city,” says Golden.

A companion book titled Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens Are Restoring Our Great American Cities, written by Harry Wiland and Dale Bell with Joe D’agnese and a foreword by Van Jones is published by Chelsea Green. The book is available on the Edens Lost & Found website, www.edenslostandfound.org.

Also available online is a growing list of resources that offers community action guides, a teacher's guide, and information on urban sustainability issues. A middle and high school level curriculum on urban sustainability is also currently in development.

Edens Lost & Found is A Media & Policy Center Foundation production in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Executive Producers/Producers: Harry Wiland and Dale Bell. Director: Harry Wiland. Producer / Writer/ Editor: Beverly Baroff

Original music score is composed by David Loeb & Gary Griffin.
Content Consultant: Andy Lipkis, President, TreePeople.