When we think of cities, we think of a lot of steel and concrete. We know that cities have trees and other forms of greenery and the important role they play for our health, in reducing GHG emissions and many other benefits. Of concern in the US is the increasing loss of trees, as researchers … Continue reading
Urban mobility is an extremely important topic for towns and cities around the world. Cities are filled with traffic congestion, noise pollution, and most importantly a deterioration of urban air quality. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation in the U.S. generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (28%)[i], while … Continue reading
Annie Gowen writes in The Washington Post about the level of pollution in the world’s megacities. The worst one is New Delhi. The importance of this article is not to name and shame the most polluting but to show that there are approaches, as we are now seeing in China, that can make significant improvements. … Continue reading
Oliver Milman provides an important article in The Guardian about the current situation in the United States relating to climate change, urban air quality and the low-carbon energy transition. Readers will be amazed to know the gains that have been made in the US in recent decades. They will also be concerned that those gains … Continue reading
In the most comprehensive survey to date, over 30 researchers investigated the local climate plans of 885 cities in Europe. Oliver Heidrich, Senior Researcher in Urban Resource Modelling at Newcastle University and Diana Reckien, Associate Professor for Climate Change and Urban Inequalities at University of Twente provide a summary of the results in an article … Continue reading
Heavily urbanised areas within cities are between 1℃ and 3℃ hotter than other areas, as most of us understand so well. Tiziana Susca, Research Fellow and Francesco Pomponi, Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University write in an article on The Conversation website about the importance of reducing urban heat but the mixed record … Continue reading
Cities are playing an ever-increasing role in our low-carbon strategies. Many are working towards being 100% on renewables or carbon neutral. Joe Blakey, PhD Researcher and Sherilyn MacGregor, Reader in Environmental Politics at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester question whether cities can truly be carbon neutral. They present a good argument … Continue reading
We realise more and more that we have much to learn from past experience. Landscape architect Kongjian Yu is making ‘friends with water’ to mitigate extreme weather events in modern metropolises. Brigid Delaney explains in an article in The Guardian. Turning cities into sponges: how Chinese ancient wisdom is taking on climate change How … Continue reading
There is more emphasis in the role of cities to address climate change and our energy transition. Chris Mooney writes in the Washington Post about recent research that compares the quality of growth between suburbs and city centres. You should enjoy this. Scientists just showed what building a new suburb does to the atmosphere A … Continue reading
While noting that cities are increasingly playing an important role, the authors worry that many cities are dangerously complacent about the need for speed in decarbonisation. Brendan F.D. Barrett, Senior Lecturer at RMIT University in Australia and Andrew DeWit, Professor, School of Policy Studies at Rikkyo University in Japan explain their views in an article … Continue reading
