[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: greening vacant lots, lost St. Lawrence, Vaughan, Amsterdam, Ashgabat

[rfmcdonald]

• CityLab takes a look at how greening vacant lots can improve the mental health of the people living in different neighbourhoods.


• Paul Soucy at Global News reports on the lost villages of the St. Lawrence, drowned in the 1950s by the creation of the St. Lawrence Seaway near Cornwall.


• There is controversy in Vaughan over a plan to sell public parkland to a developer. The Toronto Star reports.


• Is Amsterdam at risk of being hollowed out as mass tourism makes it a destination for partying tourists? Guardian Cities reports.


• David Farrier writes for Guardian Cities about his experiences in the strange new model city of Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan.