How Infill Development Can Help Stop Urban Sprawl
How Infill Development Can Help Stop Urban Sprawl
From October 12 to 14, EMBARQ México will host the XI Cities and Transport International Congress, where decision makers will participate in workshops and discuss how infill development can help Mexico City and other cities achieve a connected, compact, and ...
3 Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Facing Turkey's Emerging Bike Share
3 Ideas for Overcoming the Challenges Facing Turkey's Emerging Bike Share
Despite a slow beginning, bike share has become one of the fastest growing trends in urban transport over the past ten years. Indeed, from 2004 to 2014, the number of cities with bike share systems increased from a mere 11 ...
Energy Use in Buildings: What’s Culture Got to Do with It?
Energy Use in Buildings: What’s Culture Got to Do with It?
When the March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan caused a series of energy shortages throughout the country, the national government recommended that office buildings cut back on air conditioning during the summer months in order to reduce power usage. Through ...
Friday Fun: Cities Around the Globe Celebrate Car-Free Day
Friday Fun: Cities Around the Globe Celebrate Car-Free Day
According to the UNEP, an estimated 1 billion people are exposed to outdoor air pollution annually, out of which roughly 1 million die premature deaths. To improve air quality and decrease urban congestion, cities across the world are getting creative: ...
How Cities Can Drive Change with the New UN Sustainable Development Goals
How Cities Can Drive Change with the New UN Sustainable Development Goals
This weekend, from September 25 – 27, more than 150 world leaders will convene in New York City for the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit to develop the new sustainable development goals (SDGs). This agreement will serve as the foundation ...
Participation, Transparency and Efficiency: the True Indicators of Modernization in the 21st Century
Participation, Transparency and Efficiency: the True Indicators of Modernization in the 21st Century
When I was a kid growing up in Brazil, all governments in Latin America were right-wing military dictatorships. Today they are all center-left wing democracies—seemingly representing extraordinary progress. However, socio-economic indicators and trust in government have hardly improved. In the ...
From Ideas to Implementation: 3 Steps for Improving Urban Resilience
From Ideas to Implementation: 3 Steps for Improving Urban Resilience
How do we make cities work for people? As a WRI Helms Fellow on Urban Governance and Sustainable Cities, Maria Antonia Tigre was tasked with answering this question. Through From ideas to implementation: making sustainable cities through governance here on ...
Friday Fun: Innovative Tunnels for Denser, More Resilient Cities, in Videos
Friday Fun: Innovative Tunnels for Denser, More Resilient Cities, in Videos
There are many tools that cities can use to achieve sustainable development; however, one finite resource that will be perpetually limited is space—a necessity for new roads, infrastructure, homes and buildings.  Regardless of what initiatives are set in place, as ...
Learning from Delhi’s BRT Failure, and Looking to the City’s Future
Learning from Delhi’s BRT Failure, and Looking to the City’s Future
In an appeal to scrap the current BRT corridor in Delhi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, former transport minister said: “The stretch on which this BRT has been made was not the best choice. For one, the bus lanes are in the middle ...
An Act of Faith in Cities: White House Launches “Smart Cities” Initiative
An Act of Faith in Cities: White House Launches “Smart Cities” Initiative
On Monday, the Obama administration unveiled the “Smart Cities” Initiative for the United States, which recognizes cities as engines of growth and innovation and aims to address local challenges to improve the lives of the country’s growing urban population. The ...