Posts tagged with 'air quality'
Would you be happier commuting on a bike path floating on London’s Thames River? Photo by Chris R/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Is the future for London’s cyclists on the river, the street, or both?
TheCityFix recently examined some of the most innovative bicycling infrastructure projects in cities worldwide, but a recent proposal for an eight-mile floating bike path on London’s River Thames might top these in originality. The “Thames Deckway” would cut through the heart of the ...
Urbanization is a driver of both economic growth and global climate change. Between 2011 and 2030, the urban areas of the world are expected to add 1.4 billion people, including 276 million in China and 218 million in India. Photo by Ken Marshall/Flickr.
How cities can save trillions, curb climate change, and improve public health
No strategy for reducing the impacts of global climate change is complete without addressing the challenge of urbanization. Cities contribute about 70% of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite only accounting for 2% of global land area. Reducing this environmental impact may ...
By prioritizing sustainable transport solutions, Beijing can shift away from car culture and improve quality of life for its rapidly growing population. Photo by Philip/Flickr.
The making of a livable city: Inspiration for a sustainable, healthy Beijing
Each year, 440,000 people move to Beijing in search of economic opportunity and better lives. Their rural to urban migration is a driver of economic growth, part of a larger plan to catalyze economic development through urbanization across China. However, ...
Raahgiri is promoting sustainable, active transport in the capital of India. Photo by Raahgiri Day, New Delhi/Facebook.
Friday Fun: Delhi announces Raahgiri at the center of week-long Independence Day celebrations
Delhi’s government just announced a week of Independence Day celebrations culminating in a Raahgiri event at Chandni Chowk. Raahgiri Day first came to Delhi in July as a weekly event that closes city streets to cars to celebrate walking, biking, ...
Solar roadways have the potential to decrease carbon emissions and increase the potential of electric cars, all by harnessing the power of the sun. Photo by James Rintamaki/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Following the solar-grid road to sustainable mobility
We’ve come to the convergence of two parallel stories in technology: it is now cheaper to get energy from solar power than from coal-fired power plants in the United States, and everyday citizens are increasingly able to prototype and cheaply manufacture hi-tech goods. ...
Raahgiri Day, a day in which streets are closed to cars and open to pedestrians and cyclists is a time to celebrate community and human-centered mobility that is swiftly expanding throughout India. Photo by EMBARQ.
Scaling up sustainability: ‘Raahgiri Day’ comes to New Delhi
Raahgiri Day, the weekly event that closes city streets to cars to celebrate walking, biking, music-making, and socializing, has expanded beyond Gurgaon, India. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) together with the New Delhi Police Department has decided to stage ...
Increasing motorization in cities across China is threatening air quality and public health, causing many to ask what reforms can combat the country's growing culture of car-dependency. Photo by ilmari hyvönen/Flickr.
Turning the car around: Decreasing high-emission automobiles is the first step to a greener China
China currently has enough roads and infrastructure to accommodate 300 million vehicles. With car ownership reaching 137 million at the end of 2013, and 74 Chinese cities already reporting pollution surging above the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) for over two thirds ...
Transit-oriented development strategies can help urban areas develop sustainably, uniting land use, transport planning, and urban design to create more people-oriented cities. Pictured: Small businesses and pedestrians at a hub near Mexico City's Metrobús bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Photo by Justin Swan/Flickr.
People-oriented Cities: Demystifying transit-oriented development
The “People-oriented Cities” series – exclusive to TheCityFix and WRI Insights – is an exploration of how cities can grow to become more sustainable and livable through transit-oriented development (TOD). The nine-part series will address different urban design techniques and trends ...
Combining environmental education with cycling helps children make sustainable mobility a life long decision. Photo by Nasos Efstathiadis/Flickr.
Educating the next generation for sustainable mobility
Today’s children are inheriting an environmental crisis – a simultaneous combination of depleting resources and increasing pollution. Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE), launched in 2003 by the European Commission, seeks to find sustainability initiatives around the region that can help Europe’s ...
China's new urban plan seeks to build competitive, livable cities while combatting the rising phenomena of congestion, air pollution, and sprawl. Photo by Rob Chan/Flickr.
Preparing for the urban billion: “New-type” urbanization in China
While cities are drivers of economic growth, this prosperity does not always come naturally. The fate of a city lies in its ability to balance the positives of dense, connected communities – mobility, accessibility, and innovation chief among them – ...
Trees bring a multitude of benefits to cities, helping the environment as well as residents' quality of life. Photo by Tristan Higbee/Flickr.
Urban trees boost quality of life for city dwellers around the world
Trees often fade into the background of what people understand as the city, yet they bring immense value – including environmental benefits like filtering water run-off and cleaning the air as well as increasing health and quality of life – ...
caption: Cities around the world celebrate the many positive impacts of trees on Arbor Day. Photo by longzijun/Flickr.
Friday Fun: Promoting a culture of sustainability—celebrations of Arbor Day around the world
Arbor Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the many positive impacts of trees on our lives, has expanded from a small effort by American pioneers to transform Nebraska’s arid lands, to a global celebration that brings hope for a more ...
The city of Indore is a pilot city for the creation of a new Health Impact Assessment methodology that will be used to evaluate the potential impacts of transport developments and policies on city residents. Photo by McKay Savage/Flickr.
Integrating health benefits into transport planning and policy: The case of Indore, India
India alone accounts for about 10% of traffic fatalities worldwide. Fourteen lives are lost every hour, totalling 330 people that die each day on India’s roads. Out of this number, pedestrians comprise 21% of these deaths. In order to combat ...
Cities around the world seek out ways to shift, avoid, and improve their infrastructure and transport modes to decrease air pollution. Photo by WBUR/Flickr.
Right to breathe: The link between transport and air quality
Today, the highest levels of air pollutants are concentrated in developing cities, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Motor vehicles contribute between 25 and 75% of this air pollution. In March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) released ...
Although congestion pricing is often a contentious issue, its ability to decrease congestion and air pollution while increasing revenue for sustainable transport projects makes it a policy many cities find worth pursuing. Photo by Zhou Ding/Flickr.
How local governments can take congestion pricing from concept to reality
Few urban policies have been as contentious or as fruitful as congestion pricing. Congestion pricing is a travel demand management policy that charges a fee for vehicles that enter a certain urban area or a certain street during specific periods ...
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