Buffalo isn't just part of the Rust Belt. As this video tribute to the city shows, it's filled with striking examples of urban design.

I've been thinking about Buffalo, New York lately. Part of it is that the National Trust is holding (and promoting the heck out of) its next annual preservation conference there. And another part is that my friend Barbara Campagna, a preservationist and green architect of some significance, just set up shop there. Barbara believes that "reusing what we have—buildings, landscapes, communities—is the best way to make the biggest impact in controlling climate change," and I couldn't agree more. (BTW, go here for a nice personal essay about Barbara's evolution as an architect.)

Buffalo is a fine place to be thinking about such values—indeed, such imperatives—in part because of its extraordinary architectural legacy. As regular readers know, few things tick me off as much as those who write off our older industrial cities as relics of the past, as if they had no future. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and this wonderfully produced video explains why. Enjoy and learn:

This post also appears on NRDC's Switchboard.
Image: Seth Tisue/flickr