Posts in the 'Water' category
Quality public spaces
Earth Day 2015 Makes Us All Leaders
April 22, 2015 marks the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, an event first held in 1970 that helped mobilize the modern environmental movement in the United States. This year’s Earth Day will include events that focus on the intersection of ...
Dhaka Information Settlements
Friday Fun: The daily life of informal settlements in a series of striking new videos
As a filmmaker, writer, and editor, Cassim Shepard is particularly attentive to the many complex ways that rapid global urbanization is affecting people at a very fundamental level—what they see, feel, and do in daily city life. Commissioned by Design ...
Fortaleza Waste Management
Fortaleza, Brazil shows why waste matters for sustainable urban development
In 2002, Brazil produced 60,000 metric tons of waste per day, 76 percent of which was disposed of in landfills with no long-term management or water treatment. In response to growing challenges with waste production and trash dumping, the country ...
Flooding and resilience in Dhaka
Should we inch or stride towards urban resilience?
Cities in the 21st century face two monumental shifts: growing urban populations and a rapidly changing climate. As the world’s urban population nears five billion, cities will need to build more infrastructure in the first 30 years of this millennium ...
River Flooding in Bangkok, Thailand
Why cities need to address river flooding now
Cities contribute 70 percent of the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and play an essential role in climate change mitigation. However, since average global temperatures are already rising and the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly palpable around the world, ...
As the impacts of climate change intensify, cities can learn from best practices to become more resilient to climate impacts. Photo by Fede Cabrera/Flickr.
Three climate adaptation lessons from Brazil’s cities
Brazil’s cities, home to 85% of the country’s population, are already feeling the effects of climate change. Intense rains and floods in Rio de Janeiro are causing fatal landslides with high social and infrastructure costs. Temperatures are climbing to record-breaking highs in Porto ...
São Paulo is experiencing a drought so extreme that the city could run out of water, and it is only one of many populous Brazilian cities that face significant risk for drought in future years. Photo by Martha Slivak/Flickr.
Three maps help explain São Paulo, Brazil’s water crisis
The worst drought to grip São Paulo, Brazil and neighboring states in 80 years is wreaking havoc on the local population. As of late October, key reservoirs hold less than two weeks’ worth of drinking water. Schools and health centers are closing early, ...
Introducing the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Photo by Christian Haugen/Flickr.
Introducing the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
TheCityFix, produced by EMBARQ, is excited to announce the launch of the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, which will focus on research, tools, and on-the-ground action to develop accessible, healthy, equitable, and environmentally friendly cities. The Center will build ...
Istanbul, Turkey, like many cities in Europe and Asia are turning towards water transport to combat congestion in growing urban areas. Photo by Axeltriple/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Three cities explore water-based transport to improve urban mobility
Rapidly developing cities worldwide, while diverse, have a number of factors in common. Issues that seem nearly universal are congestion and enormous traffic jams, which have, in some extreme cases, stretched the typical commute into a weeklong sojourn. While cities ...
A billboard in Lima draws water out of the air
Friday Fun: Reimagining, repurposing, and reprogramming the city
An old billboard in Peru now draws water out of the air, purifying it into drinking water. Photo by UTEC. Next Tuesday, the Boston Society of Architects will team with curator/designer Scott Burnham to launch “Reprogramming the City: Opportunities in ...
Photo by Christian Haugen
Friday Fun: The 5 best nautical commutes for World Water Day 2013
Happy World Water Day 2013! In the inconceivable event you were caught unawares for the past twenty years, in 1993 the UN General Assembly designated March 22nd as an annual day to raise international awareness of water conservation issues and ...
On the Waterfront: Paris, Madrid, San Francisco, Portland
On the Waterfront: Paris, Madrid, San Francisco, Portland
PARIS Paris, the city whose motto is “tossed by the waves, but does not sink,” is set to open up the streets along the Seine River to pedestrians and cyclists. Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, in coordination with the national government, is ...
World Water Day 2011: Urbanization, Water and Climate Change
World Water Day 2011: Urbanization, Water and Climate Change
The United Nations General Assembly designated March 22 as World Water Day to highlight challenges of protecting the world’s water. Since 1993, World Water Day has been a time dedicated to drawing international attention to and discussing the affects of rapid ...
Turning Sewers into Sidewalks in Delhi
Turning Sewers into Sidewalks in Delhi
In Delhi, urban planner and architect Manit Rastogi has a plan to transform the city’s 350 kilometers of storm water drains – or nullahs – into a network of “landscaped passages for New Delhi’s pedestrians, cyclists and solar-powered rickshaws,” as ...
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