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.
Should we switch gas stoves for electric ones to fight climate change?
With climate change being a recurrent topic of conversation, legislators and organizations are looking into all aspects that can be optimized to reduce our current climate impact. The answer, legislators propose, is to push for electrification of our homes. This consists of changing the source Read More...
At this internship, students earn scholarships and learn to build homes
The average internship for high school students typically involves unpaid time spent completing mindless tasks such as filing papers, making copies, or taking coffee orders. But unCommon Construction offers a unique alternative that's better preparing young adults for life beyond the classroom. Read More...
When it comes to wetland restoration, look towards the Dutch capital
Travel beyond Amsterdam’s northern outskirts and you enter a scene that looks like a 17th-century Dutch painting. Cows chew their cud in lush pasture fringed with reed beds, in a region of pretty villages whose houses are often snapped up by wealthy urban commuters. By Dutch standards, this Read More...
A nonprofit in Boston is turning vacant storefronts into pop-up communal spaces
When businesses stand empty in a neighborhood, the negative effects can be far-reaching. That’s why a nonprofit was created that turns vacant storefronts into pop-up communal spaces where people can come together without having to spend money. The nonprofit is called CultureHouse, and it was Read More...
Now this is how to make eco-friendly prefab homes without cookie cutter approach
Prefab houses aren’t exactly a thrilling proposition to architects, but with urbanization in full swing, there is a great need for nice, quickly-constructed prefab houses. The good thing is that the architects behind these houses are finding ways to build prefab homes that produce clean energy, Read More...
The ban of private cars on San Francisco’s busiest street is now underway
Just a couple months ago we wrote about San Francisco’s grand plan to ban cars from Market Street—the notoriously congested spine of the city. But the thing about plans is that it’s always a question as to whether or not they’ll actually come to fruition. The good news is that San Read More...
Effective urban planning doesn’t just boost efficiency. It also saves lives
Good public transportation and infrastructure design can help cities run more smoothly and reduce emissions and traffic. Now, research has shown that effective urban planning can actually reduce transit injuries as well. Researchers compared maps of almost 1,700 cities across the world with Read More...
How New Jersey is taking extra steps to consider the climate in building plans
This week, New Jersey announced it will become the first state to require potential building projects to pass a climate change impact evaluation before being approved. As a part of Gov. Phil Murphy’s commitment to achieve 50 percent clean energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, building projects Read More...
How this city in Illinois plans to stop homelessness by the end of the year
Less than a decade ago, more than 700 people were homeless in the small, 150,000 person city of Rockford, Illinois, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. By the end of the year, the city expects that number will have shrunk to essentially zero—making it the first community in the U.S. to end Read More...
New research shows the neurological importance of living near green spaces
As the Optimist Daily has often reported, natural spaces improve air quality, mental health, and boost community building. Adding to their list of superpowers, a new study from the University of British Columbia has found that living near green spaces can reduce your risk of developing neurological Read More...