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.
This concept puts the urban garden at the heart of city design
Earlier this year, we shared the exciting news about the Parisian plan to turn the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue into a public garden. With the same goal of greening up the French capital, a new urban design proposal, created by architecture firm Rescubika, showcases how the future of Paris’ Read More...
This river revitalization plan prioritizes underprivileged communities in LA
Urban green spaces have historically been more accessible to privileged communities within cities. However, there has been a surge in awareness and activism that calls cities to address the inequity in access to these spaces, as clean air and access to nature is a human right, not only to be Read More...
Poland's AirBubble playground keeps air pure with algae
Poland is one of Europe’s most polluted countries, in a world where, according to the WHO, 93 percent of children breathe in polluted air while they play. To protect Poland’s children from air pollution, an innovative park, called the AirBubble, was erected in central Warsaw, next to Read More...
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...