July 10th, 2019 | by Steve Hanley
Researchers at Portland State University have conducted a study of heat island mitigation strategies that would allow urban planners to design more sustainable cities as global temperatures increase.
May 20th, 2019 | by Rocky Mountain Institute
Urban areas that are designed to shape and enable new mobility — by rethinking streets, parking, and more — can lower emissions, enhance health, and improve equity. Experimentation is key to best realize the potential of new mobility while avoiding negative and unintended consequences. Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI’s) recent report, Cities Designed to Shape and Enable New Mobility, describes the concept of MOD Cities — living test sites where local municipal governments, developers, financiers, vehicle manufacturers, mobility service providers, and urban designers and architects actively collaborate to co-innovate at the nexus of urban design, vehicles, and new mobility services. MOD Cities would put people first and be seamlessly integrated with the communities and urban fabric at their edges
May 18th, 2019 | by Cynthia Shahan
In areas of sub-Saharan Africa with underdeveloped infrastructure, children have died too many times on the way to participate in education -- many more children die than in other parts of the world due to traffic accidents, and other parts of the world are still too high
May 12th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Thirty-six people died in traffic crashes in Washington, D.C., last year, a 20% increase from 2017. Eight people, six of whom were walking or biking, have already been killed this year, prompting a major public rally just two weeks ago. Residents are angry that the city isn’t succeeding in curbing road deaths, despite the fact that Mayor Muriel Bowser committed to end traffic fatalities entirely by
May 10th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Imagine Lagos, Nigeria, a city of 22 million. What was once a small coastal town just a few decades ago has exploded into a sprawling megacity spanning 452 square miles. Its rapid growth has stretched the city’s services impossibly thin: Less than 10 percent of people live in homes with sewer connections; less than 20 percent have access to tap water. Many houses are in slums and informal settlements at the city’s periphery. Now picture Lagos twice as big
May 5th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Electric scooters are the latest "new mobility" tech to disrupt the transportation sector. Chances are you've seen someone passing by on one of these small-but-nimble two-wheelers in a city near you. Following the explosive growth of bike-sharing and ride-hailing, scooters reached 38.5 million U.S. trips in
April 7th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Medellín, Colombia used to be the murder capital of the world. With the explosion of the global drug trade in the 1980s, crime burgeoned, plunging the city into a state of lawlessness. Slum communities, stacked up along the perilous slopes of the surrounding Aburrá Valley, were on the front lines of the violence and mayhem.But today, Medellín is transformed
April 7th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
The story of how Warwick Junction bucked the global trend of replacing informal markets with malls and shopping centers is a testament to the compromise, conflict, and resourcefulness of a small set of actors – informal workers, local officials and the small non-profit Asiye eTafuleni (Zulu for “bring it to the table”). It is a story of social healing and the enduring contradictions of a modern African city
April 6th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Chaos often reigns on the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital. Minivans, cars and motorcycles careen along half-finished roads without markings, sidewalks, or traffic lights. Pedestrians walk single-file within reach of speeding vehicles. Groups of children in matching school uniforms hold hands as they linger at the road’s edge. They scan for breaks in traffic and dart across before the bell rings for the start of class. Every day, this journey puts their lives at risk
April 6th, 2019 | by World Resources Institute
Many cities are looking for a new future after the decline of traditional manufacturing industries. From the American Rust Belt to Europe’s industrial heartlands, mayors are striving to reinvigorate and reinvent, while cleaning up the pollution left by heavy industry
March 8th, 2019 | by Steve Hanley
Guardian columnist George Monbiot writes that we need to get rid of most private cars within 10 years because of the pollution and congestion they cause. He doesn't spare electric cars from his analysis either.
December 10th, 2018 | by Sponsored Content
While there is exciting progress and promise as air sensors become cheaper and more available, a diverse coalition of industry, activists, policymakers and researchers is critical to ensuring that the data is reliable, accessible and most of all, actionable.
November 30th, 2018 | by The Beam
For Helle Søholt, Founding Partner and CEO of Gehl, there is a global urgency for a people-first approach to planning and to improve people’s everyday lives in cities
November 4th, 2018 | by Cynthia Shahan
Janette Sadik-Khan is a top rock star in the world of city planning. She led NYC's recent transportation transformations under Mayor Bloomberg. In the interview, Zachary Shahan, CleanTechnica's director and chief editor, returns to his roots as he interviews Janette Sadik-Khan and talks urban transport leadership. Zach's master's degree was in city and regional planning (from UNC-Chapel Hill). UNC–Chapel Hill was ranked the #1 grad school in the nation for his specialization the year he graduated. The pair, on the same page, were brought together by Autonomy
October 31st, 2018 | by Michael Barnard
Urban planners and traffic safety regulators are struggling to come to grips with electric bicycles. They offer tremendous advantages for urban mobility, they reduce congestion, they offload overloaded transit, every electric bicycle is arguably one less car on crowded city streets, and they don't pollute.
January 27th, 2018 | by Carolyn Fortuna
The Global EVRT Middle East 2018 participants visited the Eco Haus in Oman and share insights into sustainability solutions
December 18th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Elon Musk has some unkind things to say about the state of public transportation today. His remarks did not sit well with transportation engineers and urban planners.
August 21st, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Bicycles present a unique challenge for city planners and designers of autonomous cars. The question is, what do cities of the future want to be -- still focused on cars or centers of refuge for pedestrians and bicyclists?
April 16th, 2017 | by Cynthia Shahan
NYC's Q train recently got a big new subway extension, after nearly a century-long wait for the mythic segment. New Year's Day 2017 saw the first phase of the "Second Avenue subway" opened — that's after a 1972 "groundbreaking." The segment was envisioned in the 1920s
April 5th, 2017 | by Cynthia Shahan
Donald Shoup pointed out many years ago that if companies pay the costs of parking for their employees, a common fringe benefit (and an expensive one, at that), those employers are essentially giving “an invitation to drive to work alone.”
