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.
Finnish city launches world’s first urban ski-sharing program
We’ve all heard of bike-sharing programs, but have you ever heard of a public ski-sharing program. In the Finnish city of Lahti, a first-of-its-kind program is being rolled out that allows residents to borrow some skis for a quick cross-country ski trip to the store when snow hits the city. Read More...
This AI system reads user reviews to improve EV charging access
We recently shared a story about the development of an electric car battery that can be charged in just 5 minutes, but the issue of charging station accessibility still makes some drivers nervous about transitioning to an all-electric vehicle. In an effort to improve charging station Read More...
NOAHs: Charlotte has a formula for long-lasting affordable housing
We recently shared how empty retail space could be the solution to California’s affordable housing crisis. Across the country in North Carolina, the city of Charlotte is taking another innovative approach to housing security. Investors have recently established a $58 million fund to purchase Read More...
These tiny parking lots infill homes are eco-friendly and affordable
We recently wrote about the potential to transform commercial spaces into affordable residential housing in California. Today, we share another innovative housing solution, this time from Sydney, Australia. Architect Brad Swartz is helping his neighbors turn underused parking spaces into cozy Read More...
Empty retail space could be the solution to California’s housing crisis
According to the California Housing Partnership, the golden state needs at least 1.3 million affordable housing units to truly begin to address the mounting housing crisis. Many lawmakers and activists see California’s underused big box stores and strip malls as a solution to this problem and Read More...
Sweden to become home to the world’s first zero-emissions city zone
While Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg has been a leader in research and technologies combatting climate change, the city plans to take it a step further with a new ambitious initiative. Through its Green City Zone initiative, the Scandinavian city is expected to become home to the Read More...
New York’s popular park High Line will expand to improve pedestrian access
For more than a decade the High Line project — which transformed a run-down railway track into an elevated park in the lower Manhattan — has been a symbol of creative urban renewal, showing how the city can find refreshing ways to reimagine decaying spaces. Now, the popular park is slated to Read More...
Sustainable urban design: Stockholm transforms street into a 1-minute city
Rethinking our orthodox ways of urban design is essential if we are to achieve meaningful action in our fight against climate change. This is the line of thinking behind an experimental project in Sweden, which has transformed a conventional made-for-cars city block in central Stockholm into a Read More...
Design firm turns old airport runway into beautiful park in Shanghai
Back in 2011, the Longhua Airport in Shanghai was closed and left abandoned. Now, more than a decade later, architecture studio Sasaki has finished transforming the runway of the former airport into an expansive linear park. The Xuhui riverfront area once hosted the airport, but hasn’t Read More...
Boston to become home to one of the world’s greenest office buildings
As it becomes increasingly crucial to integrate sustainability into our built environment, it’s a pleasure to see a growing number of urban development projects doing exactly that. One of the latest of such projects is set to rise in Boston’s Financial District. Called the Winthrop Center, the Read More...