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.
Oonee bike pods offer safe and reliable bike storage for green commuters
Bikes and scooters, especially electric ones, are prominent players in the transportation revolution taking place across major cities. But one glaring component of bike and scooter transport is missing: how do we store them securely? One company, Oonee, is attempting to boost electric bicycle Read More...
How rain gardens can help reduce polluted water runoff
If you live in a coastal city, you know not to swim in the ocean for several days after heavy rain. This is because water runoff can carry dirty and even harmful pollutants such as bacteria, chemicals, and sewage. Beautiful, planted rain gardens are a natural and effective way to clean water moving Read More...
Lebron James and Lyft team up to give thousands of teens free bikeshare access
Growing up in Akron, Ohio, LeBron James relied on a bike to get to basketball practice and school and visit friends. Today, recognizing that access to a bike helped change his life, his company, Uninterrupted, is partnering with Lyft to give thousands of teenagers free one-year memberships to Read More...
New homes in Wales will be powered by renewable energy by 2025
The building and housing sector are one of today’s major contributors to global warming and the climate crisis. Acknowledging the urgent need to find a solution to this problem, the Welsh government has recently issued plans requiring all new homes in the country to be heated and powered by clean Read More...
Eco-friendly living concrete is made from a mix of bacteria and sand
Despite its remarkable properties as a building material, concrete has a dangerous environmental footprint. Cement - the main ingredient for making concrete - is solely responsible for 6 percent of the world’s human-made carbon emissions. And while researchers have sought alternative means of Read More...
How wood became the hottest, most sustainable building material
Architects, builders, and sustainability advocates are all abuzz over a new building material they say could substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the building sector, slash the waste, pollution, and costs associated with construction, and create a more physically, psychologically, Read More...
Ikea’s new Vienna location features vertical forests and public transportation access
Last week we shared a story about how Ikea is moving towards becoming climate positive by 2030. This week we feature the plans for their new Vienna store, which will look a lot different than any Ikea before. In fact, the new urban shopping destination will feature vertical forests and no parking Read More...
The tiny English city wants to show small cities that going car-free is possible
Until a few years ago, the small city of Ghent in Belgium struggled with traffic and smog in its city center. Then, in 2017, the city adopted a new traffic plan to limit non-essential cars from its center and used a tactical urbanism approach to make the change cheaply, adding planters and simple Read More...
Blueground designs flexible housing for mobile young professionals
More and more new professionals are opting for a much more mobile lifestyle than their parents before them. The housing market is transforming to meet the needs of the new generation defying the traditional model of moving to an area, finding a job, and settling down for the long haul. Alex Read More...
A post-industrial space in Pittsburg is finding a new purpose as an urban park
What do you do with 626 acres of old mining land? When the city of Pittsburgh was faced with the decision in 2016, they decided to turn the large space into an extensive urban open space. After acquiring the land from a developer for $5 million, the city made a plan to spend the next decade Read More...