When torrential rains hit Kinshasa in April 2025, the city of 20 million came to a standstill. Floodwaters submerged more than half the city as the Ndjili River and smaller streams overflowed, quickly overwhelming the city’s drainage capacity. Lives were ...
On a fair-weather day, one can often gauge the livability of a dense city neighborhood by a simple test: are children active outside? The new Guide to creating urban public SPACES for children takes that test seriously by turning it ...
The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) convenes this month in Baku amid converging geopolitical and economic shocks: conflict-driven energy spikes, rising debt burdens and persistent inflation. Around the world, these shocks are squeezing public budgets and household incomes alike. ...
There’s a growing housing crisis that’s impossible to ignore. Consider the stats: Nearly 3 billion people lack access to housing that is both safe and connected to basic services like energy, water and sanitation. Around 40% of the world’s population lives in ...
Every day, millions of children ride to school in diesel buses that expose them to pollution linked to serious health issues. Replacing those buses with electric models has benefits that go far beyond a quieter ride and cleaner air. Electric ...
Air pollution is one of the most serious environmental threats to human health worldwide. In 2021, it caused 8.1 million deaths, an increase from 7 million recorded in previous studies. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, the infant mortality rate from ...
In Shenzhen’s Houhai Central District, summer temperatures climb higher each year. Last summer, the city recorded a blistering 37.5 degrees C (99.5 degrees F), one of its hottest days in decades. For residents in dense, aging apartment blocks, staying cool ...
On a hot summer afternoon, the difference between one city block and the next can feel like a different world. On one street, the sun beats down from above while the pavement radiates heat from below. Just around the corner, ...
Momentum for electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States is starting to slip. After years of rapid growth — fueled by federal incentives and nearly $200 billion in announced EV manufacturing investments — EV sales fell 4% in 2025 following a record-breaking 2024. Since ...
Cities have always been shaped by the infrastructure they choose to host. Railways defined the industrial city. Highways reorganized post-war suburbs. Metro systems and airports rewired the geography of globalized urban economies. Today, another form of infrastructure is expanding rapidly ...
