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No Complete Streets Measure in House Bill

February 1, 2012 by Stefanie Seskin
with 82 views
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With no Complete Streets provision, the just-released House Transportation bill ignores millions of Americans nationwide who want their transportation system to provide safe and convenient choices, such as walking, riding a bike, and catching a bus or train. [read more]

How Green are Africa’s cities?

February 1, 2012 by Rashiq Fataar
with 44 views
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INFOGRAPHIC: How Green are Africa’s cities? Cities from the south and the north of Africa deliver the best environmental performance of all major African cities. This is the conclusion of the African Green City Index, a unique study commissioned by Siemens and conducted by the independent research organization Economist Intelligence... [read more]

Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?

January 26, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 206 views
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  I’m fond of saying that the best-conceived plan for managing growth and development in North America is the Places to Grow framework adopted by the province of Ontario, Canada.  Constructed pursuant to enabling legislation adopted by the province in 2005, Places to Grow addresses the future of a New Hampshire-sized region... [read more]

San Francisco & Medellin win 2012 Sustainable Transport Award

January 25, 2012 by Rashiq Fataar
with 102 views
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San Francisco, USA and Medellin, Colombia, are the two winners of the 2012 Sustainable Transport Award by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. The other nominees, Cape Town, South Africa and Buenos Aires, Argentina both received an Honourable Mention award. Already in its 8th year, the Sustainable Transport Awards (... [read more]

How a rain garden cleans industrial pollution

January 25, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 206 views
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  (Note: Today’s post was conceived and largely authored by my friend and frequent collaborator, Lee Epstein.  Lee is an attorney, land use planner, and sustainability advocate working in the mid-Atlantic region.) As NRDC’s water program rightfully emphasizes, one of the most vexing conundrums in highly urban areas is how to... [read more]

Can Transportation Modeling Decrease Emissions?

January 24, 2012 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 20 views
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At the 91st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, there have been a number of sessions focusing on transportation, public health and emissions. The discussion in recent years of the link between the three has now moved into the area of policy and modeling. Modeling tools are now available to estimate emissions and air pollution from transportation models [read more]

Is Europe is more naturally sustainable than America?

January 24, 2012 by Tyler Caine
with 221 views
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Do European cities have a more natural predisposition towards sustainability than American ones? Is age the only reason? [read more]

Five Ways to Kill the Inferiority Complex in Community Building

January 23, 2012 by Kristen Jeffers
with 180 views
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I think a major layer of community building is the inferiority complex. I’m seeing it again as we are preparing to welcome Trader Joes into our community. We spend too much time thinking we need to spend money on expensive stadiums and art centers to be more urbane. If we are over that demon, we bemoan not having an H&M, Shake Shack... [read more]

Is (e)migration the answer to America's problems?

January 20, 2012 by Jim Russell
with 78 views
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Better to boom with migrants than babies. Conventional wisdom associates population growth with economic growth. This perspective is unsustainable. I also think it is wrong. The simple act of moving to a new place is economic development. The United States is in trouble:For the last 20 years — from the end of the cold war through two... [read more]

Urban Population Now a Majority in China

January 18, 2012 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 72 views
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Last year marked the first time in China’s history when the urban population exceeded the rural population, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. In 1949, 10 percent of China’s population lived in cities. Today, it’s 51 percent. According to The New York Times, the statistics bureau reported 690.79 million urban... [read more]

Selling the Ideals of Urbanism, 1948 and Today

January 18, 2012 by Chuck Wolfe
with 133 views
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Many of us who write about cities like to share rediscovered videos from times gone by. The videos are especially notable when ideas with currency today are discussed in other contexts, providing opportunities to compare, contrast and sometimes be humbled by history. Here is a prescient video from 1948, about “Charlie”. This cartoon... [read more]

Preparing Cities for Seniors

January 18, 2012 by Victor Negrete
with 228 views
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An ageing population requires that cities reevaluate what good urbanism is. What are the trends in this sector and what needs of the senior population will cities have to start thinking about in order to adjust to this boom? Is walkable urbanism among them? [read more]