The Eco District

Pittsburgh, like many cities, has corridors and districts known for specific sets of businesses or industries. Visitors to Downtown Pittsburgh can find the Cultural District, a cluster of restaurants, theaters and art galleries. Buildings along the bank of the Monongahela River on Second Avenue form the city’s technology corridor. Pittsburgh’s Strip District hosts a variety of food vendors, farmers markets and restaurants.

Emerging from the East End is Pittsburgh’s newest corridor, with a focus on the environment. An “eco” corridor is developing on the border of Point Breeze and Homewood. Along Meade Street, adjacent to Penn Avenue, sits Construction Junction, a not-for-profit organization that recycles construction parts and the East End Food Co-op, Pittsburgh's only member-owned natural foods store.

This neighborhood was where Carnegie Mellon’s Solar Decathlon team announced it would be constructing its sustainable and environmentally efficient living space on the Construction Junction site. There, the team will prepare for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition in October. In addition, Carnegie Mellon art faculty and eco-artist Bob Bingham has his art-studio on Meade Street, and plans for a biodiesel station are being considered near that location.

And you still thought we were smoky?

Eric Sloss