Gary has been called the ghost of America’s future — as budgets dry up and jobs ship overseas, there are fears that more and more of our towns will look like the ruined backdrop of Life After People. Riga hopes that instead of Gary being a harbinger of post-industrial doom, it can show the rest of the country how to reimagine an industrial city green.

The latest episode of Knope and Change, our series about women who are leading the green cities revolution, features an edited conversation with Riga about the future of Gary.

Read the entire article and the interview via Can you green a ghost town? Lauren Riga of Gary, Ind., is going to try | Grist.