Sustainable Urban Development
With cities expected to host about 70 percent of the world's population, sustainable urban development is key to making communities worldwide more resilient against the growing threat of climate change. Find out about the latest urban practices from across the world aiming to make our cities more sustainable and inclusive in these good-news stories from The Optimist Daily.
Little connections can make big cities a refuge for those with depression
Big cities tend to have the reputation of being exhausting and impersonal as everyone rushes around anonymously amidst busy streets. However, researchers at the University of Chicago found that the fleeting (and often forgotten) connections people make in a city can actually help make urban Read More...
Berkeley is the first city in the US with long-term plans to go vegan
Last week, the City Council of Berkeley passed a resolution to cut the number of animal product purchases in the city in half by the year 2024. However, this is just the beginning as the long-term goal of this resolution is the eventual phasing out of all purchases of animal products and replacing Read More...
This new metric assesses road safety before any accidents ever happen
The way urban planners currently assess the safety of a road involves counting the number of accidents on that particular road. Essentially, this means that there’s a "literal human cost" to measuring how safe a street is, says Megan Ryerson, a transportation engineer and urban planner at the Read More...
Cooperation beats contracting for affordable homeless housing
A developer, homeless service providers, local church leaders, and a social impact investment manager have teamed up to demonstrate that cooperation between the private sector and non-profits can beat our traditional contractors when it comes to building housing for the unsheltered. They’ve Read More...
Porous pavement could mitigate flooding and reduce water pollution
Devastating flooding has stretched from Germany to China to Nigeria this summer, and unfortunately, urban design exacerbates this flooding in highly populated areas as concrete and asphalt fail to absorb water as unpaved environments do. Adding more green space to urban areas is one solution to Read More...
Pedestrians have priority under Britain's revised Highway Code
Many of us will be familiar with the memorable Spiderman line: “With great power comes great responsibility.” This is the spirit behind the “hierarchy of responsibility,” the Highway Code revision that Great Britain plans to implement this autumn, pending parliamentary approval. Under Read More...
EU launches climate resiliency checklist for new infrastructure projects
In addition to reducing emissions in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, we must also ensure that we are protecting communities by building infrastructure that can withstand the results of climate change we are already experiencing. To address this issue, the EU has created guidelines Read More...
Indiana to test roads that charge your EV while you drive
Imagine being able to charge your electric vehicle while you drive. Magment, a German company, is working in collaboration with the Indiana state government and Purdue University to make this a reality. Together, they will test out new streets that have been developed to automatically charge the Read More...
This start-up has pedestrians generating clean energy in Sierra Leone
If you are reading this article, then chances are that you are in a country with abundant access to electricity. For most people living in Sierra Leone, the opposite is true. In fact, the West African country has one of the lowest access rates for electricity across the globe. Just six percent of Read More...
Protect our planet by becoming a guerrilla gardener
Climate activism and public protests are a great way to garner attention from governments and citizens about the threat of climate change, but you don’t need to attend an organized event to advocate for the planet. Meet Jenny van Gestel, the coordinator of Guerrilla Gardeners NL, whose work Read More...