Photo Essay: After Successful Test, Porto Alegre’s João Alfredo Gets a ‘Complete Streets’ Transformation
Photo Essay: After Successful Test, Porto Alegre’s João Alfredo Gets a ‘Complete Streets’ Transformation
In April 2019, Porto Alegre worked with WRI Brasil to implement the first segment of a tactical urbanism project that transformed a key intersection of busy João Alfredo Street, which runs through the heart of the Cidade Baixa neighborhood. The ...
At World Urban Forum, Renewed Urgency to Safeguard Vulnerable Communities
At World Urban Forum, Renewed Urgency to Safeguard Vulnerable Communities
“Acknowledgement, voice and the right to negotiate” – that’s what’s needed to bring the world’s urban poor back into the system and begin creating cities that work for everyone, said Sheela Patel, chair of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), at the 10th ...
The Most Successful Air Pollution Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of
The Most Successful Air Pollution Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of
International consensus on cross-border environmental issues has been difficult to achieve, but the 40-year-old Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (or LRTAP as it is known to development professionals) has enjoyed great, if largely unsung, success in the fight against air ...
Charlotte Is the Largest US City to Purchase Renewable Energy Through a Green Tariff
Charlotte Is the Largest US City to Purchase Renewable Energy Through a Green Tariff
More than 200 U.S. cities, townships and counties have adopted 100% clean energy targets. While some have already achieved them, many more are still trying to figure out how they will work with many stakeholders, most notably their electric utilities, to ...
The Cities4Forests Toolbox: Connecting Cities With Tools to Understand and Manage Forests
The Cities4Forests Toolbox: Connecting Cities With Tools to Understand and Manage Forests
Mérida, a city in Mexico’s lush Yucatán Peninsula, is home to 2.3 million trees, which cover more than 20% of the metropolitan area. Mérida’s officials know that these trees provide benefits to the residents, but until recently they didn’t know how ...
City Leaders Must Prioritize Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Communities
City Leaders Must Prioritize Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Communities
As thousands of urban leaders gather in Abu Dhabi for the World Urban Forum, the impacts of the climate crisis on cities have become more visible than ever. Severe floods tore through Jakarta last month. Heatwaves scorched cities from India to Europe last year. ...
Walking the Talk: What Can We Learn from Germany’s New Pedestrian Policy Framework?
Walking the Talk: What Can We Learn from Germany’s New Pedestrian Policy Framework?
Walking, as simple as it is, is key to many current urban issues. As car ownership grows, people are walking less and becoming less physically active generally, especially adolescents, more than 80% of whom are insufficiently active. The impacts are ...
How and Where to Plant 60 Billion Trees in the US
How and Where to Plant 60 Billion Trees in the US
The Trillion Trees Initiative has garnered support from business and political leaders around the world. U.S. President Trump highlighted the initiative as the cornerstone of his plan to protect the environment, a rare shift for an administration that has moved to withdraw ...
3 Ways California Is Taking a Pro-Equity Approach to Electric Vehicles
3 Ways California Is Taking a Pro-Equity Approach to Electric Vehicles
California is home to 7 of the 10 most polluted metropolitan areas in the United States, with transportation being the state’s leading source of greenhouse gases. While pollution from the transport sector is bad for everyone, it disproportionately impacts people ...
5 Strategies that Achieve Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Simultaneously
5 Strategies that Achieve Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Simultaneously
Climate actions have often fallen into one of two strategies: mitigation efforts to lower or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, and adaptation efforts to adjust systems and societies to withstand the impacts of climate change. The separation has led to ...