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In 2014, São Paulo nearly ran out of water. Schools closed, crops faltered and reservoirs were left at a tiny 5 percent of their capacity for the city and its surrounding population of 22 million. It was the worst drought in eight decades. ...
European cities by and large have a sterling reputation when it comes to walkability and public transportation. Recent data compiled by Ralph Buheler, John Pucher and Alan Altshuler in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation show that between 1989 and ...
Ice hockey isn’t the only recent addition to the desert city of Las Vegas achieving major success. Prior to the arrival of the Golden Knights, the city welcomed Uber and Lyft in 2015 and the ride-hailing companies have upended the ...
Just three years ago, dockless bike sharing was operating at a small, university-scale in China. By the end of 2017, there were more than 20 million dockless bikes in the country, generating more than $3 billion in investment. Xinhua, the ...
Most people don’t associate cities with trees, but urban areas are actually dependent on healthy forests. Trees within cities reduce heat, provide spaces for recreation and socialization, and increase property values. Nearby trees in the watersheds around cities filter drinking water and ...
Bold action on climate change could deliver $26 trillion in cumulative economic benefits by 2030, according to a new report by the New Climate Economy (NCE). Without immediate action to cut emissions, the costs of “runaway” climate change will be severe: ...
As India prepared to commemorate its 72nd Independence Day last month, the southern state of Kerala saw little reason to celebrate. The monsoon rainfall this year was heavier than normal and had reached alarming levels. On an average, districts received ...
About 3 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, will need new housing by 2030. That will require constructing approximately 21 million new homes every year across the world. Several of the fastest-growing countries have ambitious goals to ...
A huge challenge for growing cities is provision of core services and infrastructure. Every time a new neighborhood crops up, services like roads, water and sanitation, education, and health centers must be extended to cover new residents. In practice, cities ...
In the 1990s, New York City needed a new water filtration system to serve its nearly 8 million people. But the prospect of spending $6-10 billion on a new water treatment plant, and another $100 million on annual operating costs, ...
8 Years Watching and Influencing Urban Transformation: Reflections From a Foundation Program Officer
Can innovative work be achieved by a program officer in a philanthropic organization? I remember asking this question when I started at the Hewlett Foundation in 2010. In my time there, I learned that program staff at philanthropies get to ...
This is an excerpt reposted courtesy of CityLab, written by WRI Board Member Robin Chase. City streets are a scarce resource, and they can get very congested. During peak times, we want to move as many people through these corridors ...
Most people now live in cities and cities are growing rapidly. We are living in the midst of the urbanization age, an age that started in earnest at the beginning of the 19th century, when people first decided en masse ...
Like many Indian cities, Pune’s population exploded over the last three decades. Between 1981 and 2011 it more than doubled as thousands came to work in manufacturing and IT. And like other cities, Pune expanded, eventually engulfing 23 previously separate ...
Cities across the world have pledged to take action on climate change, including planning for more sustainable forms of transportation. Many cities, however, lack the data and information necessary to track and monitor their progress. This data provides valuable examples of transportation ...
