About Social Media Today
urban sustainability
The Seven Deadly Sins of Land Use
sins of land use
I have written about how America’s relatively unwalkable environment is making us fat. This got me to thinking about whether the seven deadly sins correlated with problems with land use.[read more]
Sustainable Farming and Sustainable Communities
Of the various community issues that have risen to the forefront in the last five years or so, food is high on the list.[read more]
Urbanism Speakeasy Podcast: Traffic Engineering is a Matter of Life and Death
Show notes from this episode are available at Urbanism Speakeasy. [read more]
Cities Win Big in Leaked Agenda for UN Rio+20
A leaked agenda for the United Nations Rio+20 conference places urban sustainability in a major role for UN member nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put forth for ratification this June. The document acknowledges that cities are on par with nations in terms of implementing and measuring sustainability progress over the next 18...[read more]
UN's Shanghai Manual Launches to Guide Urban Futures
A powerful triumvirate, the United Nations, Bureau International Des Expositions and the mayor of Shanghai, released this week The Shanghai Manual: Guide to 21st Century Sustainable Urban Development. This timely manual is aimed at helping leaders of the world's cities use integrated urban planning, management, financing and technology to green their economies and build climate and economic resilience.[read more]
UN Rio+20 Agenda Galvanizes Sustainability Community on Cities
As Rio+20 takes shape (officially, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, follow-up to the historic UN 1992 "Earth Summit," held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the issue of sustainable cities appears to be taking center stage in planning for the June 2012 event dedicated to marshalling the global Green Economy. "Cities...[read more]
UN-Shanghai Expo Megacities Sustainability Study: My Role
Urban sustainability is the challenge of the century as more of the world's population becomes urbanized (50 percent in 2008, 60 percent by 2030), at an ever-faster rate. Global climate change has been caused in large part by the burning of fossil fuels to generate energy, materials and food for metro areas. Yet urban culture also...[read more]
Premier of Our New Film
At Social Media Today, we've been focused on the issues surrounding urban sustainability for a long time. It was that interest that drove us to create The Energy Collective more than a year ago.Among the many things we've learned from being part of the electric dialogue at The Energy Collective, two stand out. First, the technology and...[read more]
Sustainable Cities Collective
What's New on
“I admire Gehl's work a lot, and wish more people in my profession (landscape architecture) would read Cities for People. Gehl has a new book coming out in October called How to Study Public Life.”
“Melbourne is a really beautiful city, so it's not surprising that they become number 1. The South African cities are ranking pretty badly; I do believe that a sustainable development within the next decades is highly important for its population. We’re currently seeing the trend of urbanization, meaning that lots of people are moving to the cities in hope of jobs. Siemens, for instance, have ...”