In New York City, a few neighborhoods are taking a Worldchanging approach to top-down commercial redevelopment schemes that would obliterate the unique character of the city, and profit a relative few.

Instead of only protesting the plans, they're proposing their own ideas. In the waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the alternative plan posits an urban village instead of an IKEA. In nearby downtown Brooklyn, two alternative visions imagine a human-scale sportsplex or an artists' common, instead of the major league sports stadium currently proposed. And in Manhattan, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association has a beautifully detailed alternative to the current mega-sportsplex/convention center plan for the island's far west side.

There's more to these stories, of course--there are divisions along class and race lines over the presence of stadia and superstores. Financing for the mega-developments is more readily available than for the human-scale approaches. Still, it's heartening to see the positive expressions of caring, imagination, and dedication to livable cities that these alternative plans represent.