Water posts, articles, and infographics | Sustainable Cities Collective

'The power of the post-industrial city'

February 7, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 19 views

In this illuminating TED talk, Don Carter of Carnegie Mellon University places the future of Pittsburgh and other post-industrial cities in the context of global environmental trends and concerns. He makes the point that, like many so-called “shrinking cities,” Pittsburgh hasn’t really been shrinking but, in fact, expanding... [read more]

Reconciling cities with water scarcity

January 23, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 170 views

When you look at the official US drought monitor map, you immediately see that many American cities may be in the wrong places for long-term water sustainability. In particullar, note the presence of “long-term,” severe-to-extreme drought conditions across most of Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and... [read more]

How to Make the Most of Water

January 18, 2012 by Planet Forward
with 64 views

Water is often called the "canary in the coal mine" of climate change--how we use, save and clean our water will be a big indicator of how well we adapt to the changing climate. [read more]

E.P.A. Offers $1.8 Million in Urban Green Infrastructure Grants

December 22, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 165 views

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) is offering up to $1.8 million in new grants for urban green infrastructure projects that both improve water quality and support community revitalization. Projects that support the restoration of canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and... [read more]

Clean Water Under the Bridge

December 21, 2011 by Sturle Hauge Simonsen
with 84 views

Integrated land use planning and water management steadily improving, but gaps still exist. [read more]

Water and Sanitation as Human Rights

November 20, 2011 by the polis blog
with 99 views

On July 26, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared water and sanitation to be human rights. Since then, most official development aid in this sector has been called upon to adopt human rights as the main conceptual framework for projects and programs. In spite of being a claim long before it was officially declared, the human rights approach has rarely been applied. [read more]

Cops and Water Lines

October 31, 2011 by Chris Bradford
with 57 views

As the comments here and here show, discussions of subsidies for suburban development often become entangled with discussions of the relative cost of city infrastructure and suburban infrastructure, and with density's impact on those costs. [read more]

Green Infrastructure Means Jobs

October 27, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 362 views

At a packed briefing on Capitol Hill, an official from a regional wastewater management authority, a New York based landscape designer, and the head of a niche-yet-growing green infrastructure engineering firm made the case that green infrastructure means more jobs for skilled designers and engineers... [read more]

Capturing the Instant City

October 19, 2011 by Richard McGill Murphy
with 211 views

A review of "Instant City", NPR journalist Steve Inskeep's new book about Karachi. [read more]

Sustainable Packaging Reduces The Impact of Consumer Waste

October 17, 2011 by Jeff Hojlo
with 103 views

Through all of the discussion at the GMA Executive Conference about the importance of energy management and water conservation in consumer products/food & beverage manufacturing, product packaging reduction remains a hot topic as well. Editor's note: Jeff Hojlo is an employee of Siemens. Siemens is a sponsor of The... [read more]

Save Burger King! How Rising Sea Levels Threaten Urban Infrastructure

October 13, 2011 by Kat Friedrich
with 148 views

Should we fight global warming to save our urban infrastructure? Communities that deal with racial disparities in environmental health – also known as environmental justice communities – may become the places that suffer most. An urban planning tour on September 24 explored the potential impact of sea level rise in East Boston, the home of many recent immigrants. [read more]

Why Green Infrastructure Makes Cities Awesome

October 11, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 600 views

The American Society of Landscape Architects has just released a massive database of 479 case studies describing the successful application of ”green infrastructure” techniques that collect and process rainwater naturally before it flows into receiving waterways as polluted runoff. The database demonstrates... [read more]