Shenzhen, China Pioneers ‘Near-Zero Carbon Communities’
Shenzhen, China Pioneers ‘Near-Zero Carbon Communities’
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 ...
Urban Trees: An Underused Tool for Keeping People Cool
Urban Trees: An Underused Tool for Keeping People 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, ...
For the US EV Market, a More Turbulent Road Lies Ahead
For the US EV Market, a More Turbulent Road Lies Ahead
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 ...
Data Centers in Land-Scarce Cities: Who Decides, Who Benefits and Who Pays?
Data Centers in Land-Scarce Cities: Who Decides, Who Benefits and Who Pays?
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 ...
In This Indonesian City, Community-Led Design Is Improving Water and Sanitation
In This Indonesian City, Community-Led Design Is Improving Water and Sanitation
On rainy days, Meliana Mei walks along an elevated pathway from her home in Makassar, Indonesia, to the market. Water collects in trenches below the path and drains away, giving her a much safer way to reach her destination. “Our ...
Celebrating 50 Years of Bogotá’s Ciclovía and the Growth of the Open Streets Movement
Celebrating 50 Years of Bogotá’s Ciclovía and the Growth of the Open Streets Movement
Every Sunday morning, Bogotá, Colombia, transforms its streets. Over 120 kilometers (75 miles) of major city roads are closed to cars and opened to cyclists, walkers and runners in the Sunday Ciclovía. The 50-year-old weekly tradition has evolved from a social ...
Using Spatial Analyses to Help Build Thriving, Resilient Communities in US Cities
Using Spatial Analyses to Help Build Thriving, Resilient Communities in US Cities
Picture this: you wake up on a Sunday morning and hop on a bike with your family or a close friend. Within a few minutes you arrive at a coffee shop, order your drink of choice while listening to the ...
Charted: How Could Rising Temperatures Affect Your City?
Charted: How Could Rising Temperatures Affect Your City?
A decade ago, scientists believed that unchecked global warming could heat the world to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above preindustrial levels sometime around 2045. It now looks like we could pass this critical threshold as soon as 2030. Indeed, some research ...
Reviving Nairobi’s Libraries Is Building Healthier Communities
Reviving Nairobi's Libraries Is Building Healthier Communities
At Eastlands Library in Nairobi, Kenya, students compare notes and work through assignments as music from a tree-lined courtyard drifts through the windows. In another part of the library, a dance instructor is leading a group of children through breathing ...
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
On a hot day in February 2024, volunteers dispersed across Cape Town, South Africa, with sensors affixed to their cars. Their aim was to measure heat differences across the city. In Cape Town’s dense, highly developed center, they recorded air temperatures ...