17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
Once-unthinkable water crises are becoming commonplace. Reservoirs in Chennai, India’s sixth-largest city, are nearly dry right now. Last year, residents of Cape Town, South Africa narrowly avoided their own “Day Zero” water shut-off. And the year before that, Rome rationed water to conserve scarce ...
Raahgiri Is a Positive, Public Movement for Change
Raahgiri Is a Positive, Public Movement for Change
A couple of Sundays back, Haryana observed the first state-level Raahgiri in India. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar personally came to the city of Hisar to participate in its official celebration with full state machinery. This was totally unthinkable when ...
4 Emerging Concepts That Could Transform Cities
4 Emerging Concepts That Could Transform Cities
Big ideas can forever alter the fate of cities when they are written into cement, steel and stone. When St. Petersburg, Russia, was created in 1703 by Peter the Great, he envisioned the new capital as an emblem of a modern ...
Planes, Trains and (Big) Automobiles: How Heavy Transport Can Reduce Emissions and Save Money
Planes, Trains and (Big) Automobiles: How Heavy Transport Can Reduce Emissions and Save Money
The world is vastly underestimating the benefits of acting on climate change. Recent research from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate finds that bold climate action could deliver at least $26 trillion in economic benefits through 2030. This ground-breaking research, ...
How the SALURBAL Project Is Shining a Spotlight on Urban Health Inequality in Latin America
How the SALURBAL Project Is Shining a Spotlight on Urban Health Inequality in Latin America
The narrative about global inequality and poverty often focuses on rural areas in the global south, with a heavy emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. But the reality is that poverty is becoming more concentrated in cities across the ...
India’s Environmental Challenges in 10 Images
India's Environmental Challenges in 10 Images
The last two decades have seen a rampant rise in environmental challenges being faced by cities and countries globally. In India, too, challenges related to air pollution, waste management, scarcity of water, conservation of natural resources, and loss of biodiversity, ...
Traumatized and Trapped: After Sexual Assault, How Can Cities Welcome Women Back to Public Transport?
Traumatized and Trapped: After Sexual Assault, How Can Cities Welcome Women Back to Public Transport?
Sexual assault on public transit is all too common. In Bogotá, Colombia, an incredible 37% of female riders of the bus rapid transit system report experiencing unwanted sexual contact while using the system, according to new research, funded in part ...
Better Transport Should Mean Better Access: Assessing Infrastructure Investments in İzmir, Turkey
Better Transport Should Mean Better Access: Assessing Infrastructure Investments in İzmir, Turkey
The previous Map of the Month showed the power of accessibility data – comparing average travel time to different services in Mexico City – as a proxy to understand inequality in cities. But similar analyses can also help us to ...
PODCAST: How Chennai’s Water Got to Day Zero
PODCAST: How Chennai's Water Got to Day Zero
One of South India’s biggest cities is almost out of water. A year after Cape Town, South Africa, had its own “Day Zero” crisis, the reservoirs in Chennai are nearly dry, leaving millions in this usually-wet coastal city wondering if they ...
Eskişehir, Turkey, Leads on Energy-Efficient Buildings
https://www.flickr.com/gp/embarq/91zj98
A city without buildings is simply not a city. And yet when it comes to climate action, buildings tend to take a back seat to transport, energy production and industry. Making buildings more energy-efficient is the cheapest way to reduce ...