Yo isn’t the only one focused on Edgewater this week. The January / February 2007 issue of Natural Home magazine ranks Andersonville, a sub-neighborhood within Edgewater, as one of America’s Best Eco-Neighborhoods.
The story features 10 urban enclaves with good public transportion, locally-owned businesses and ample opportunities for community involvement. The guiding principle appears to be “new urbanism,” which among other goals, aims at cutting down on greenhouse gases and other pollutants by creating clusters of businesses easily accessible from surrounding residential areas on foot.
That’s a pretty good way to describe Andersonville, which is centered on Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr avenues. Andersonville came in fifth, right behind Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York – to which it bears more than a little resemblance. As a transplant to Andersonville from Park Slope, I can say these two places share a distinct blend of urban grit and hippie crunchiness. In Park Slope you can buy eco-conscious cleaning products at 3r Living or shop at the vaunted Food Coop; in Andersonville you can browse feminist titles at Women and Children First books or sample a veggie burger at the Kopi Cafe, still going strong despite relatively recent arrival of a Starbucks across the street.