Green Growth
Scaling up sustainability: ‘Raahgiri Day’ comes to New Delhi
By   July 10, 2014
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.
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 ...
Clean Energy
Complete Streets
Turning the car around: Decreasing high-emission automobiles is the first step to a greener China
By   July 9, 2014
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.
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 ...
Complete Streets
How ‘zero’ became the biggest number in road safety
By and   July 8, 2014
New York City leaders have begun implementing a Vision Zero policy in the city, which has helped to create separated bike lanes and greater traffic speed enforcement to decrease road fatalities. Photo by the New York City Department of Transportation/Flickr.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global status report on road safety 2013, only 7% of the world’s population is governed by comprehensive road safety laws. In a world that already sees 1.24 million deaths from traffic crashes each ...
Green Growth
Sustainable Mobility
Study: São Paulo commuters lose one month per year sitting in traffic
By   July 7, 2014
São Paulo's Rua da Consolação is often congested for hours each day, leading residents and city leaders to wonder if other transport modes such as bikes and mass transport can be used to cut down on traffic while increasing sustainable mobility. Photo by Carlos Barretta/Flickr.
While the idea of ‘free time’ is by nature associated with individual choice and being momentarily ‘free’ from the demands of everyday life, the amount and quality of this time we have at our disposal is closely linked to city-wide ...
Green Growth
Sustainable Mobility
To Maracanã and beyond: World Cup brings sustainable transport benefits to Brazil
By and   July 3, 2014
Although Brazil has taken criticism for World Cup infrastructure investments, examples like Belo Horizonte's MOVE bus rapid transit (BRT) system show how a project can serve visitors and also provide lasting impacts for the people of Brazil. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brazil.
World Cup fans may be focused on the games, but critics are paying attention to another aspect of the event—its price tag. Brazil spent billions of dollars on World Cup infrastructure, and many are understandably questioning the long-term benefits these ...
Communications
Last chance for cities, states and enterprises in New Mobility to apply for the Global MobiPrize
By   July 2, 2014
Shanghai's skyline is a symbol to all entrepreneurs of the potential new information technologies, shared service models, and good ideas have to make positive change to cities’ development. Photo by The Q Speaks/Flickr.
SMART at the University of Michigan is honoring enterprises along with cities and states supporting enterprises that are making the world a better place through innovative sustainable transport. The deadline for entrepreneurs to apply is July 7, 2014. We live ...
Green Growth
The difference between data and wisdom: Smart cities have a lot to learn
By , and   July 1, 2014
While cities like São Paulo, Brazil, are expanding the technology available to city leaders, good governance remains pivotal to creating a truly 'smart' city. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brazil.
This article reports on presentations made by Philip Yang, President, URBEM (Urbanism and Urban Studies Institute for the city of Sao Paulo), Jianming Cai, Professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences & Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Alexandros Washburn Founding Director, Center for ...
Sustainable Mobility
Beyond Move in Mexico City: Integrating Sustainable Mobility Into the Everyday
By   June 30, 2014
Mexico City's car-free Sundays have created a mindset of sustainable mobility that has perpetuated throughout the week. Photo by Carlos Alejandro Figeuroa/Flickr.
This year marks the seventh anniversary of the “Muévete en bici” (Bike Move) program in Mexico City. Every Sunday for the past seven years, the city has closed many of its streets to cars, and opened them up to pedestrians ...
Green Growth
Friday Fun: Urban development in Iceland? Check with the elves first
By   June 27, 2014
The people of Iceland balance their respect for historical heritage and folklore with their need to grow, developing projects that preserve important cultural places. Photo by Jani Murtosuo/Flickr.
Many planning regulations and multilateral funding bodies demand that developers include a Heritage Impact Assessment as part of their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before approving infrastructure projects. Good developers go beyond simply completing the impact assessment and think like anthropologists, ...
Green Growth
Public transport and the informal sector: Competing visions of Bogotá’s future
By , and   June 26, 2014
The people in Bogota's informal sector and the city government have clashing visions of how informal commerce should play out on public transport and in public spaces. Photo by Nathan Gibbs/Flickr.
There is an entire ecosystem of informal commerce along Bogotá, Colombia’s streets. Some vendors sit at traffic signals or bus stops, waiting for a bus that’s not too full and not too empty. When they spot a good candidate, they ...