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Rome Restricts Car Use to Improve Air Quality
Having exceeded air safety limits 56 times in 2011, Rome is limiting vehicle use in hopes of pushing pollution levels down. Photo by zenra. With climate talks taking place in Durban this week, all eyes have been on South Africa. But whether climate discussions yield binding targets or not, cities around the world are suffering the very... [read more]
A Highway Runs Through It
A way to rethink I-70 and the arch Credit: Vanishing STLAs the St. Louis Arch itself neared completion in 1964, before the surrounding park became anything more than a parking lot and construction site, the area was amputated from the city by what would come to be referred to as a “crushing maze of infrastructure”. Interstate 70 was... [read more]
Building More Roads Does Not Ease Congestion
As former mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, said, "Trying to solve traffic problems by building more roads is like putting out a fire with gasoline." Photo by Joe Wolf. Congestion is not an easy beast to tame for cities around the world. Building more roads and increasing the capacity of public transport does little to improve... [read more]
Striking a Transportation Balance for All Road Users
What will it take to strike a balance between all road users? Photo by Will Vanlue. A recent study out of the London School of Medicine found that in comparing walking to cycling on London’s congested roads, bicyclists tend to have a higher concentration of carbon deposit in their lungs. We previously covered this story as part of our... [read more]
How We Subsidize Suburban Growth By Providing The Roads It Requires
There's not much direct subsidy of suburban subdivisions -- developers pay for all interior roads and sidewalks, sewer and water hookups to City lines, and drainage and water retention facilities. They pay steep fees for City reviews and inspections. Depending on the size of the project, the City might require the... [read more]
Cyclists, Pedestrians, or Drivers: Who's To Blame For Road Conflict?
There’s no way you can ignore the tension that exists between cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers on the road (just take a look at this video). And this is especially true in a city as dense as New York, with 8 million people sharing streets, sidewalks, subway platforms and parks. While I’m wholeheartedly an advocate of biking and... [read more]
Car Sharing Reduces Vehicle Ownership
Fuel efficient and easily accessible car share programs are great incentives to ditch your own vehicle. Photo by reflexblue. A study out of the University of California Transportation Center found that car sharing leads to reduced car ownership, preventing the addition of new cars on to the road and maintaining levels of greenhouse gases... [read more]
Now 1 Billion+ Cars Worldwide; Can the World Handle this Many Wheels?
The number of cars on the world’s roads surpassed one billion last year, according to a study that has spurred debate on what the rapidly-growing car population will mean for the world’s economy and environment. According to a report from Ward’s Auto released last week, the global number of cars exceeded 1.015 billion in 2010, jumping from from 980 million the year before. [read more]
5 Cities, 5 Congestion Solutions
Congestion problems are different in every city, as are the solutions. Here are five cities with five different congestion innovations, each of which has been featured on This Big City in the last two years: Amsterdam – Congestion in Amsterdam is not only caused by cars. With the average Amsterdammer owning 1.5 bicycles, it’s... [read more]
4 Cities That Could Use Congestion Pricing
Delhi – People often come to Los Angeles and shake their head solemnly at the effect that urban sprawl has had on the environment and low-income residents. They have obviously never been to Delhi. It’s a city “on its back” as Paul Theroux once said about Guatemala City, sprawled spread eagle over nearly 600 square miles. Traffic also... [read more]
What Happened To New York's Congestion Charge?
The defeat happened years ago, but for most people in transportation policy the wound is still open and the opportunity is still missed. Congestion charging isn’t something that has taken a serious foothold in the States, though there are some fledgling pricing based systems in placed like San Francisco and Miami. A congestion charge in New York City is a bit like a gold dipped domino: it would instantly become the most impressive and sought after system in America and pave the way for other cities to initiate systems of their own. If New York can do it, then there’s no reason that Los Angeles or Des Moines, Iowa couldn’t do it as well. [read more]
5 Cities with Congestion Pricing
Congestion pricing is gathering some inertia in cities worldwide for a few reasons; safety, money, and public desire are among the main ones. Unlike traditional mechanisms to deal with more cars such as, well, building new roads, congestion pricing has had a profound effect on the cities it has come to. Pricing schemes operate on the... [read more]
Sustainable Cities Collective
Kaid Benfield is director of sustainable communities and smart growth at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. More »
Chris Cheatham is a LEED Accredited Professional and green building authority who frequently speaks to groups and associations. More »
Jared Green is Web Content and Strategy Manager at the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) More »
Rodrigo Herrera Vegas is a writer for for one of Argentina's main newspapers, La Nación, and a radio show host. More »
Warren Karlenzig Warren Karlenzig is the founder and president of Common Current. More »
Geoff Wilkinson is the Vice Chair of the Building Standards Faculty of the Chartered Institute of Building.i More »
Chuck Wolfe Chuck Wolfe is a lawyer, professor, and photographer who blogs at MyUrbanist. More »
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Transformation Through Technology: Delivering Better Public Services
When: Thu, 2012-05-24 08:00
Webinar: ISO 20121 - Sustainability & Event Management
When: Thu, 2012-05-24 08:00
Sustainability and Affordable Housing: an Interactive Charrette
When: Sat, 2012-06-02 11:00
Tourism and Sustainable Futures: Beyond 2015
When: Fri, 2012-06-15 09:00
Public Sector Leadership: driving cultural change
When: Thu, 2012-06-21 14:36
Youth Policy Summit on Urban Sustainability at UC Denver
When: Sun, 2012-06-24 12:00

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“Ever since it appeared in The Road. Braddock has been on my radar for some time. They have been working hard up there for a long time. Very good to see the community pushed into the spotlight. Looking forward to watching this series of articles!”
“I don't walk by choice. My vision forced me to give up my car years ago. I won't lie, I miss being able to drive. I hate the bus, though Santa Clara's VTA is one of the best systems in the country. But I am able to get around. And I walk to shop, sometimes as far as 3 miles away. Sometimes I take the bus back, sometimes I just walk back. This changes ...”