【推荐1】The concept of planning entire communities before their construction is an ancient one. In fact, one of the earliest such cities on record is Miletus, Greece, which was built in the 4th century BC. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance various planned communities (both theoretical and actual) were conceived (构思). Leonardo da Vinci designed several cities that were never constructed. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, the architect Christopher Wren created a new master plan for the city, combining park land and urban space. Several 18th century cities, including Washington D.C., New York City, and St Petersburg, Russia, were built according to comprehensive planning.

One of the most important planned city concepts, the Garden City Movement, arose in the latter part of the 19th century as a reaction to the pollution and crowding of the Industrial Revolution. In 1898, Ebenezer Howard published the book To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path for Real Reform in which he laid out his ideas concerning the creation of new economically sustainable towns. Howard believed that these towns should be limited in size and density, and surrounded with a belt of undeveloped land. The idea gained enough attention and financial backing to lead to the creation of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England. This was the first such 'Garden City'. After the First World War, the second town built following Howard's ideas, Welwvn Garden City, was constructed.

In the early 1920s, American architects Clarence Stein and Henry Wright, inspired by Howard's ideas and the success of Letchworth and Welwyn, created the city of Radbum, New Jersey. Conceived as a community which would be safe for children, Radbum was intentionally designed so that the residents would not require automobiles. Several urban planning designs were pioneered at Radbum that would influence later planned communities, including the separation of pedestrians and vehicles, and the use of 'superblocks', each of which shared 23 acres of commonly held parkland.

In America, following the stock market crash of 1929, there was great demand for both affordable housing and employment for workers who had lost their jobs. In direct response to this, in 1935 President Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration, which brought about a total of three greenbelt towns: Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale, Wisconsin. These towns contained many of the elements of the Garden City Movement developments, including the use of superblocks and a 'green belt' of undeveloped land surrounding the community.

【推荐1】Kenya’s EliudKipchoge made history by running the 26.2 miles in less than two hours, faster than any other person in history. His time of 1:59:40 required him to maintain an average pace of about 4:35 per mile!

Upon crossing the finish line, Kipchoge, who spent four months training, said, “That was the best moment of my life. The pressure was very big on my shoulders. I got a phone call from the President of Kenya.”

The Prater Park course in Vienna, Austria, was carefully selected, taking into account factors like temperature and wind speed to ensure the perfect racing. His speed was maintained by 41 medium and long-distance runners. An electric car projected a green laser ahead of the runners to guide them along the best route. To save time, Kipchoge was fed pre-prepared drinks and energy on the course at 3.1-mile intervals.

The historic run was Kipchoge’s second attempt at breaking the two-hour marathon barrier. The Kenyan runner first tried to accomplish the feat on May 6, 2017, at Nike’s Breaking2 event, which took place on a Formula One racetrack in Monza, Italy. However, while Kipchoge’s 2:00:25 time was the fastest ever attained by a human, it was not under the desired two hours. However, the lack of acknowledgement does not bother Kipchoge.

Kipchoge was not the only Kenyan runner to make headlines that weekend. On Sunday, October 13, 2019, Brigid Kosgei made history of her own at the Chicago Marathon. Her time of 2:14:04, outpaced British runner Paula Radcliffe ‘s 16-year-old record by an impressive 81 seconds, earning Kosgei the title of the world’s fastest female marathoner!

【推荐3】Why do only famous people have biographies (传记)? This is the question two young sisters, 7-year-old Aishvarya, and 11-year-old Vaishali, asked their parents. They were reading famous people’s biographies in school and realized that they knew more about Beyonce, a famous singer than about their own grandparents. So they decided to do something about it.

They created “Grand Stories”, a workbook that helps grandchildren learn about their grandparents. Through answering a list of guided questions and telling stories, Grand Stories helps families learn more about each other.

This family came from India to the US, and all four grandparents live very far away. Obviously through modern technology and some family visits, these young girls know their grandparents and love them very much—but they wonder why they don’t know more about their grandparents. For example, where did they grow up, and go to school? How they married and raised their families? What were their stories? Perhaps not surprisingly, many of the stories the family wanted to know reflect the “Do you know” questions that my workmate, Marshall Duke, and I developed to study how much people know of the family history.

The sisters’ father told about the visit to India when the girls asked their own grandparents to write their biography. Because of his character, the grandfather didn’t share much during the interview. But then he stayed up all nights writing his stories, and when the father looked through the stories, he realized there was so much he’d never known about his own father! Through these stories the father felt closer to his own family.

What these two young sisters have already discovered is how much we depend on knowing our family stories to understand who we are in the world and what our strength is. You can see more about Grand Stories at www. grandstories.bigcartel.com. Whether you’re 7 or 70, it’s never too early or too late to start sharing family stories.