ITDP released Europe's Vibrant New Low Car(bon) Communities, a report examining smart urban and transport planning in eight European communities, including Greenwich Millennium Village. Photo by Martin.
Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Each Friday, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: integrated transport, urban development and accessibility, air quality and climate change, health and road safety, and communications and marketing.
Integrated Transport
Sustainable transport methods were celebrated at European Mobility Week.
Chicago announced plans to launch a bike sharing program next summer that will initially consist of 3,000 bikes and 300 stations.
Hyderabad, India will receive new pedestrian facilities including footpaths on five of its city streets.
Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) operators who went on strike in Johannesburg, South Africa were instructed to return back to work by next Friday.
The two-day second annual Sustainable Transport and Mobility Conference was held this week in Johannesburg.
Jakarta announced plans to leverage the infrastructure of an abandoned city monorail project for an elevated bus rapid transit (BRT) system to be integrated with the city’s pre-existing Transjakarta BRT system.
San Francisco mayoral candidate John Avalos introduced groundbreaking legislation that would require the managers and owners of all the city’s commercial buildings to allow employees to bring their bicycles inside the building, if secure outside parking isn’t available.
Urban Development + Accessibility
ITDP released a new report, “Europe’s Vibrant New Low Car(bon) Communities,” on smart urban and transportation planning and design, as examined in eight European communities.
Cleveland, Ohio approved a “Complete and Green Streets” ordinance requiring 20 percent of money spent on city road projects to incorporate “complete streets” livability accommodations.
A forthcoming report on making Central Michigan more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly asserts that the best way to accomplish these goals is to increase the number of pedestrians and bicyclists.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a report concluding that brownfield development produces 32 percent to 57 percent less carbon dioxide and other air pollutant emissions per capita, compared to conventional development.
Air Quality + Climate Change
The newly released New York City 2010 greenhouse gas audit revealed that the city reduced its carbon emissions by 1.1 percent in 2010, with just 21 percent of the city’s GHGs from transportation, as compared to 29 percent nationally.
Global CO2 emissions increased by 5 percent in 2010 – an unprecedentedly high increase within the past two decades – according to a new report. The relative increase in emissions resulted largely from increased demands for power and transport in developing countries.
Global energy intensity increased for the second year in a row, with a 1.35 percent rise in 2010.
Health + Road Safety
Vancouver completed a three-week pedestrian safety blitz.
National Child Passenger Safety Week began in the United States. Properly using child safety seats can decrease the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers.
The Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization presented a new report, “Non-Communicable Disease in the Americas: Building a Healthier Future,” at the United Nations summit in New York. The report highlights the Active Cities, Healthy Cities contest organized by EMBARQ Brasil, the Brazil sustainable transport center of EMBARQ (the producer of this blog.)
Communications + Marketing
The three-day international bicycle expo Interbike brought together more than 1,000 brands and 12,000 buyers to Las Vegas.
New Jersey Transit plans to launch an education campaign to help riders best use the agency’s various electronic applications.
Register now to attend Rail-Volution, a conference held in Washington, D.C. in October, exploring attaining livable communities through transit.
The Transit Riders Union of St. Louis (TRUSTL) officially formed this week with the aim of addressing the need for a unified transit rider voice in the St. Louis metropolitan region.
