Posts tagged with 'green infrastructure'
Europe’s Soaring Heat and the Great Air Conditioning Dilemma
Europe’s Soaring Heat and the Great Air Conditioning Dilemma
Much of Europe sweltered in August 2025 as a heat dome spread across the continent, pushing peak afternoon temperatures to over 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) in France and Spain. Meanwhile, parts of Greece, Turkey and Albania battled historic and devastating ...
New Tool Helps Cities Select and Scale Nature-Based Solutions
New Tool Helps Cities Select and Scale Nature-Based Solutions
As cities try to restore the benefits of natural systems by mimicking how ecosystems function, one option they can use is nature-based solutions (NBS). However, cities often struggle to determine which types of interventions best suit their local context, due ...
Cities Are Heating Up. Better Infrastructure Can Cool Them Down.
Cities Are Heating Up. Better Infrastructure Can Cool Them Down.
In a city, a grassy park might be a place to stretch out with a book, an asphalt road your route to work, a building wall a canvas for a mural. But beyond their familiar roles, each of these surfaces ...
Managing Extremes: How South African Cities Are Tackling Water Crises
Managing Extremes: How South African Cities Are Tackling Water Crises
With about 464 millimeters of rainfall per year — less than half the global average — South Africa is one of the driest countries in the world. Its semi-arid climate, uneven rainfall distribution and persistent droughts leave the country facing chronic water ...
The Small Acts Building Urban Climate Resilience
The Small Acts Building Urban Climate Resilience
Resilience in cities is often framed around large-scale infrastructure projects and sweeping policy shifts. We see headlines about billion-dollar climate adaptation plans, smart cities leveraging AI for disaster response and ambitious net-zero pledges. But some of the most impactful solutions ...
How African Cities Can Be More Green, Resilient and Inclusive
How African Cities Can Be More Green, Resilient and Inclusive
Looking at more than 350 urban leaders and experts gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Green & Resilient UrbanShift Africa Forum, Dr. Cromwel Lukorito, Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II, issued a simple ...
Beyond the Thermometer: 5 Heat Metrics That Drive Better Decision-Making
Beyond the Thermometer: 5 Heat Metrics That Drive Better Decision-Making
The way scientists and policymakers measure heat as they seek to combat rising temperatures across the world’s cities requires more nuance than just looking at the daily outdoor temperature. There are a variety of tools that can help show a ...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nature-Based Solutions Take Root
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nature-Based Solutions Take Root
For the 21 million residents of Lagos, Nigeria, climate change is not a distant concept — it is a current reality. Over the past decade, the city has experienced devastating floods, exacerbated by the loss of over half of its wetlands ...
How an Urban Bioeconomy Can Promote Healthy Ecosystems and Spur Sustainable Economic Prosperity
How an Urban Bioeconomy Can Promote Healthy Ecosystems and Spur Sustainable Economic Prosperity
Departing from the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil, in a speedboat, it takes around 10 minutes to reach the shores of Combu Island. As the skyline fades into the distance, the lush, green environment of the island comes into view ...
What Happens When Extreme Heat and Air Pollution Collide
What Happens When Extreme Heat and Air Pollution Collide
On July 22, the world experienced its hottest day in recorded history. The global average temperature reached 17.2 degrees C (62.9 degrees F), prompting UN Secretary-General António Guterres to issue a global call to action on extreme heat. The problem of extreme ...
Greening the Jukskei River: Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Johannesburg, South Africa
Greening the Jukskei River: Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience in Johannesburg, South Africa
Alexandra Township is a 20-square-block enclave in the heart of Johannesburg, South Africa’s northern suburbs. Established in 1902, the township was built to house 750,000 residents. Today, it is home to more than 1.2 million. Despite efforts to increase waste ...
A Community Program Is Transforming New York Schoolyards Into Climate-Resilient Spaces
A Community Program Is Transforming New York Schoolyards Into Climate-Resilient Spaces
In Brooklyn, one of New York City’s five boroughs, a new schoolyard features newly-planted native trees offering shade and bright playground equipment that sits adjacent to a track and turf field. Colorful murals celebrating the diversity of its Boreum Hill ...
As Water Shortages Plague Bogotá and Other Cities, Nature-Based Solutions Can Help
As Water Shortages Plague Bogotá and Other Cities, Nature-Based Solutions Can Help
Bogotá, Colombia is in the throes of a water crisis. After several months of dry weather caused by El Niño, the Chingaza reservoir system, which provides 70% of Bogotá’s water, reached its lowest level in history. The city’s over 8 million residents are ...
How 'Complete Streets' Are Creating Safer, More Sustainable Cities in Brazil
How ‘Complete Streets’ Are Creating Safer, More Sustainable Cities in Brazil
Urban development in many cities around the world prioritizes making space for cars over pedestrians, cyclists or public transportation. In Brazil, this design led to an average of more than 30,000 annual road crash fatalities nationwide by the turn of the century, ...
Natural Infrastructure: A Cost-Effective Alternative To Supply Clean Water to Bogotá
Natural Infrastructure: A Cost-Effective Alternative To Supply Clean Water to Bogotá
The Guacheneque Páramo, where the Bogotá River originates, represents the second largest source of drinking water for the city of Bogotá, Colombia. It is a key ecosystem that supplies water to approximately 25% of the city’s 7 million inhabitants. However, due to ...
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