NewsSeptember2017

Technology, declining ridership and changing demographics have spurred cities across the country to redesign bus systems that are more convenient. It's no easy task.
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-big-city-bus-systems.html

Paving the Path for Government Digital Transformation via the Cloud

Digital technology has the potential to fundamentally transform the way the public sector operates and delivers services to constituents. Government agencies that are not undergoing a digital transformation risk becoming stale and outdated; but even worse, they will fail to meet the needs of an increasingly digitally savvy citizenry. This new report from GovLoop and Infor presents how digital transformation is changing the way government works and how this transformation can be achieved via cloud computing.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/08/31/paving-path-government-digital-transformation-via-cloud/

Transitioning Building Design to a Future of Compact, Driverless Cars

Compact driverless electric cars will usher in many changes in U.S. urban centers, from how cities are designed to how real estate is developed. Curbside parking may disappear. Parking spaces will be narrower. Therefore, parking garages and parking lots will be converted to other uses.
https://urbanland.uli.org/planning-design/transitioning-building-design-future-compact-driverless-cars/

Milan and Florence launch free floating bicycles

Two dockless bike operators have responded to the public tender published by Milan City Council last June. The first fleet of 4,000 free floating bikes was deployed in the streets of Milan on August 30th. A total of 12,000 bicycles will be progressively introduced by the end of the year 2017.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1470/45/Milan-and-Florence-launch-free-floating-bicycles

Trees Contribute the Wellbeing of Urban Population, Especially in Megacities

More than half of the world’s population live in the cities and the number is undoubtedly rising. The United Nations projects the percentage of the urban population to be around 66% by 2050. The picture is certainly extra distressing for megacities which already host at least 10 million inhabitants. Among many other, the most disturbing consequence of having too many people in a city is the decline in air quality. So, how will we be able to breathe?
http://thegreencity.com/trees-contribute-the-wellbeing-of-urban-population-especially-in-megacities/

What Makes a Smart City Truly Smart?

Kansas City, Missouri, may have lost last year’s DOT Smart City Challenge to Columbus, Ohio, but that hasn’t slowed its momentum toward becoming “the world’s most connected smart city.” Nor has it curbed the enthusiasm of its chief innovation officer, Bob Bennett. When CityLab caught up with Bennett last week at the U.S. Commerce Department’s Global City Teams Challenge Expo, he exuded a kind of energy that would otherwise be hard to find on a dreary Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2017/09/kansas-city-smart-city-bob-bennett-technology/538563/

Why Can’t We Get Cities Right?

The waters are receding in Houston, and so, inevitably, is national interest. But Harvey will leave a huge amount of wreckage behind, some of it invisible. In particular, we don’t yet know just how much poison has been released by flooding of chemical plants, waste dumps, and more. But it’s a good bet that more people will eventually die from the toxins Harvey leaves behind than were killed during the storm itself.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/opinion/houston-harvey-infrastructure-development.html

Can nature make your city climate-resilient?

Among the headlines of summer 2017: disastrous floods in the South of England, Istanbul and Berlin, extreme water scarcity in Rome, wild fires damaging homes on the Croatian coast, the Côte d'Azur and elsewhere… The magnitude and frequency of these and other events indicate that climate change is already a reality, and the impacts will be even bigger in the future. Yes, we need to reduce greenhouse gases to limit climate change, but equally urgent: we need to adapt to the remaining impacts. All cities, depending on their geographical position, are likely to experience prolonged and more intensive heatwaves or droughts, more frequent wild fires, coastal flooding, or an increase in the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall with the associated threat of urban flooding, river flooding or landslides. How can cities cope with these huge predicted impacts of climate change in the future, even when they are faced with tight budgets? Can nature be a solution?
http://urbact.eu/can-nature-make-your-city-climate-resilient

City hires America's first official 'chief storyteller'

Irritated by the relentless focus on ruin porn, or pre-emptive stories about the city’s tech resurgence, Aaron Foley will attempt to offer a more nuanced portrait
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/sep/05/detroit-redefined-america-first-official-chief-storyteller

Developing city green space in Tehran

Tehran Parks and Green Space Organization is committed to achieving sustainable development of Tehran green space and improving environmental protection. The organization also conducts awareness raising campaigns and training activities to broaden citizens' knowledge about parks development.
http://policytransfer.metropolis.org/case-studies/sustainable-development-of-tehran-city-green-space

Austin’s one of a kind 685-foot residential tower

Set to be the tallest of its kind, located west of the Mississippi in Austin, construction has begun on a 685-foot residential tower called The Independent.
Designed by local practice Rhode Partners, major progress in shaping the building’s stacked and offset form has been made.
Inspired by Austin’s bold and innovative spirit, The Independent’s tiers is an outward reflection of the vibrant lifestyle within the building and surrounding community. In a city currently having a tech resurgence with a number of entrepreneurs and startups calling Austin home, not to mention the new Google offices quickly moving in at the end of this year, The Independent is in a prime location in Austin’s burgeoning downtown neighbourhood.
http://www.urbannewsdigest.in/?p=23339

A Cloud-based 3D Visualization Engine for Smart Cities

Nowadays, many cities collect measurements from several sources of data about the environment, through IoT and other sensing devices that are placed around the city. However, accessing raw data on its own is not sufficient to meaningfully show the data being collected and to allow a range of users to explore what this data may mean for them. This paper presents a novel approach for visualizing urban data and has been implemented as a pilot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/08/30/cloud-based-3d-visualization-engine-smart-cities/

Call For Proposals: CitiesIPCC and Climate Change Science Conference

The partner organizations of the IPCC “Cities and Climate Change Science Conference” are pleased to announce a call for proposals for sessions and abstracts. The conference aims to inspire the next frontier of research focused on the science of cities and climate change and aims to assess the state of academic and practice-based knowledge related to cities and climate change. The event will take place between March 5-7, 2018 in Edmonton, Canada (for more info please email info@citiesipcc.org).
http://www.c40.org/blog_posts/call-for-proposals-citiesipcc-and-climate-change-science-conference

How developing cities can improve their finances and attract investment

Improving urban finance for the least-developed countries is a “global development imperative”.
That’s a key message of a recent United Nations report, which argues that cities need more funding options as they grapple with challenges such as rapid growth, climate change and improving public health.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/how-developing-cities-can-improve-their-finances-and-attract-investment

Knock Down Urbanization Problems, Become a Smart City

Smart city development is no longer an option. Cities are sprouting at practically every nook and corner and in any given week, approximately 1.5 million people become urban dwellers. At this pace, the urban cohort will account for over two-thirds of the global population by 2050, and the usual problems of urbanization will persist, except at a larger scale.
Many cities are waking up to this reality with 40 of them set to evolve into smart urban spaces by 2020. While the approach toward smart city initiatives may vary between developing and developed nations, or even between nations at the same stage of development, the underlying focus remains the same. Largely, these revolve around the deployment of information and communication technologies (ICTs), analytics, and supporting organization structures.
https://lnttechservices.info/blog/digital-engineering/knock-down-urbanization-problems-become-a-smart-city/

What are innovation districts?

Brookings, a century old research institute decribing itself as ‘think tank’ said to continue its work on innovation districts. But, what are innovation districts? Immediately, towns like Silicon Valley pop into mind, which developed on the outskirts of large metropolitan areas for the sake of establishing small companies that developed into large empires through the innovative synergies they produced. Brookings describes these districts as “dense enclaves that merge the innovation and employment potential of research-oriented anchor institutions, high-growth firms, and tech and creative start-ups in well-designed, amenity-rich residential and commercial environments.”
https://www.brookings.edu/innovation-districts/

Sponge cities: can China’s model go global?

"China’s ambitions to slow, sink and store urban runoff amplify the struggle of urban planners, and water professionals against a volatile climate." James Workman shares the story of Asia's bold, new priorities as America's fourth largest city, Houston, Texas copes with Hurricane Harvey's rising floodwaters.
https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/sponge-cities-can-chinas-model-go-global/

CoEXist project: the new website is now live!

CoEXist stands for “AV-ready” transport models for the coexistence of automated and conventional vehicles and it aims at preparing cities and mobility stakeholders to get ready for a shared road network with an increasing number of connected and automated vehicles. The project will develop an AV-ready framework (automated vehicle - ready framework) for road authorities. To achieve its objective, CoEXist simultaneously develops microscopic and macroscopic traffic models that take the introduction of automated vehicles into account.
https://www.h2020-coexist.eu/

The Cities Of The 21st Century Will Be Defined By Water

Rives Taylor, a principal at the architecture firm Gensler and a 40-plus-year resident of Houston, is lucky.
His home in Houston Heights, an older neighborhood northwest of downtown, was spared from Hurricane Harvey’s flooding. Part of that is due to the natural topography of the area–its elevation is few feet higher than downtown–and that his pier-and-beam house is three feet off the ground. But what’s also remarkable about his neighborhood is that it isn’t connected to the city’s vast network of underground storm sewers. Rainwater flows directly into nearby ditches where it eventually seeps back into the earth.
https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-the-cities-of-the-21st-century-will-be-/f-b2b59c31e3%2Ffastcodesign.com

Artificial Intelligence for Citizen Services and Government

Across the globe, government offices are testing applications of Artificial intelligence (AI). The prevailing citizen services use cases relate to citizen inquiries and information. This paper, from Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, explores the various types of Artificial intelligence applications, and current and future uses of AI in government delivery of citizen services, with a focus on citizen inquiries and information. It also offers strategies for governments as they consider implementing AI.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/08/25/artificial-intelligence-citizen-services-government/

Hurricane Harvey Escalates the Imperative for Smart City Technology

There is a reason that safety and security are at the foundation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Survival is a basic human need and a fundamental aspect of building successful communities. DC’s Chief Technology Officer, Archana Vemulapalli, echoed these thoughts this week at at the 2017 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) Expo.
“Public safety transcends all other metrics and areas. If your residents don’t feel safe, it makes you reassess and think about things differently… It has made us ask if we are leveraging technology the way that we should,” she adds.
Given the tragedies that Hurricane Harvey has unleashed in Texas and Louisiana, the timing of this conversation could not be more relevant. Smart city technology can play an important role in helping communities not only react to disasters but put predictive measures in place to hopefully prevent or decrease the negative effects. Existing tools including Ready.dc provide one-way communication on how to prepare for disasters. While a valuable and informative tool, it is not interactive and may not even be available in times of crisis due to the loss of power or connectivity.
http://smartcitiesconnect.org/hurricane-harvey-escalates-the-imperative-for-smart-city-technology/

Climate Summit at COP23 to be widely supported

Preparations for the Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leaders are picking up steam: the first confirmations of attendance are coming in. The agenda for the day, as well as the program for the Climate Summit Dialogues to take place before and after the Climate Summit, is shaping up.
The Climate Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, taking place on 12 November 2017, in Bonn, Germany, will be the focal point for local and regional governments at COP23. The Summit is co-hosted by the City of Bonn and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, with support from the German Federal Government. It is endorsed by the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, UN agencies and EU institutions. Considerable financial support is also provided by a special partner, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
http://www.iclei.org/details/article/the-climate-summit-of-local-and-regional-leaders-at-cop23-promises-to-be-the-most-widely-supported-c.html

How a city in Spain got rid of its cars

It’s just a regular Wednesday morning in downtown Pontevedra, but the streets are so crowded with people that you might think a festival is going on. Everywhere you look there are pedestrians: walking their dogs, pushing baby strollers, heading to work, shopping or simply sitting and watching other people go by.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/how-city-spain-got-rid-its-cars

What makes a creative city?

What can cities do to encourage cultural experiments and investment? And what kind of spaces do artists need for creativity to flourish?
Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon of OMA architecture practice are in conversation at the Manchester International festival, talking about the major contract they landed for the Manchester arts centre Factory: a hub for cultural activity and soon to be home of the Manchester festival. “We need to give more attention to the technology of buildings, robotics, new spatial management,” Koolhaas says. I feel the bristling of the humans in the room.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/06/what-makes-a-creative-city

Making the case for Freight Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe

At the moment, the vast majority of freight deliveries in urban environments are made by conventional petrol and diesel vehicles. Yet as the EU seeks to transition towards low and ultimately emission free transport, alternatives are needed. That is where FREVUE comes in.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/making-case-freight-electric-vehicles-urban-europe-frevue

Pune looks to become world’s first smart sanitation city

The Toilet Board Coalition and Pune Municipal Corporation have announced a new collaboration towards making Pune, India, the world’s first smart sanitation city.
The Toilet Board Coalition, a business led public-private partnership supporting business solutions and innovation within the sanitation sector, and Pune’s governing body, the Pune Municipal Corporation, confirmed that they will work together to develop smart sustainable and resilient sanitation systems, delivered through the market in Pune.
https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/worlds-first-smart-sanitation-city-built-pune-india/

Workshop on automated vehicles & cities and regions - 10/10/17

Polis is hosting a workshop on the implications of automated vehicles for urban and regional mobility. The workshop is a joint event of the three H2020 projects: CoExist, MAVEN and TransAID. The primary aim of this workshop is to gather the views and requirements of local authorities and other urban transport stakeholder regarding automated vehicles.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1461/45/Workshop-on-automated-vehicles-amp-cities-and-regions---10-10-17

The European cities with the worst traffic

Traffic is a growing problem in cities worldwide.
Some cities have taken steps to cut congestion. Among those is London, which puts a fee on most vehicles driving in a designated congestion charge zone. But others have yet to find a real solution.
TomTom, a navigation and mapping company, has ranked the European cities it says have the worst traffic. The company collected data over nine years and gave each city a congestion score out of 100. The annual score, most recently updated with 2016 data, shows how much extra travel time it takes to get around a particular city.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/08/these-are-the-european-cities-with-the-worst-traffic

Population Growth Means a City Is Thriving, or Does It?

Public officials and reporters alike adopt the myth that bigger is better. That’s not always the case.
Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau releases its latest data on cities and population growth. The reaction is always the same: News outlets look at the numbers showing which places gained and which ones shed residents, and use them as instant proxies for a decline, a boom or a turnaround in cities all over the country.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-population-city-growth-thriving.html

Cities, actors of change

It’s 2030 and we are in Brussels; it’s early afternoon and Béroukhia Seidha finishes her mint soda, firmly seated in her chair which is facing the uncharacteristically radiant sun. Is she aware of the progress made since the beginning of the millennium to anchor democracy in her city?
There are 30 others like her who enjoy the charm of this planted courtyard surrounded by old industrial buildings that were renovated 20 years ago to house the services and activities that breathed new life into the neighbourhood.
http://www.blog.urbact.eu/2017/08/cities-actors-of-change/

Does world heritage status do cities more harm than good?

The gambling-ridden clan jetties of Malaysia’s George Town were saved from ruin by the award of Unesco world heritage status, but their new fame left locals overwhelmed by a tide of invasive tourism. Can we ever get the balance right?
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/30/unescocide-world-heritage-status-hurt-help-tourism

Pro-Housing Urban Millennials Say "Yes In My Backyard"

Housing—dense, near transit, and green—can be a climate solution
When President Trump announced he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, he framed it as a stark choice: "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," he declared.
The mayors of those cities don't see it that way. In a joint op-ed in the New York Times, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto declared their unity in the fight against climate change—and talked about how it was improving both cities. "The experience of Pittsburgh in the three decades since the collapse of the steel industry reveals how a commitment to science, research, and green technology can transform our cities," they wrote.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2017-5-september-october/grapple/pro-housing-urban-millennials-say-yes-my-backyard

New York’s Plan to Save Subway Seen as a Test for New Ways to Support Transit

For the first time in over two decades, transit ridership in New York City is on a downward trend—and we should have seen it coming.
Once a trailblazer for investment in mass transit, New York’s subway system is starting to show its age with consistent delays, numerous breakdowns and overall crumbling service. Despite its relatively high rate of farebox return (73 percent), the Metropolitan Transit Authority is scrambling to pull together resources to keep the system afloat for its 5.7 million daily riders. So far, fare hikes and cutbacks on train frequency have proven to be about as successful as Band-Aids covering a crack in the Hoover Dam.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/new-yorks-plan-to-save-subway-seen-as-a-test-for-new-ways-to-support-transit-seth-contreras/

Transition time for chief resilience officers

Just four years ago, it was a new and somewhat radical idea for cities to hire a “chief resilience officer” — a high-level local government official tasked with preparing the city for shocks like natural disasters or long-term stresses such as migration.
Now, there are more than 80 “CROs” around the world — and the number is growing.
Dozens of them gathered last week in New York for a meeting hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities programme. That initiative has almost single-handedly invented the CRO position. Hiring one is a requirement for cities to receive a multi-year cash grant and technical assistance to build planning capacity.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/transition-time-chief-resilience-officers

Innovate UK’s Predictions for our Cities of the Future

Over two thirds of the population will live in urban areas by 2050, which will cause a massive increase in demand for services. So what needs to change? Technological developments such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things will allow cities to become smart, almost thinking like a human brain
http://www.urenio.org/2017/08/25/innovate-uks-predictions-cities-future/

This is how stations can be at the heart of urban housing supply

Coping with the housing demands of an ever-growing population looms large as one of the greatest challenges facing Britain. But housing is far from the only pressure point: population growth affects a huge variety of industries. From healthcare to farming, transport to infrastructure, few sectors are left untouched by the need to accommodate an increasing number of people.
http://www.citymetric.com/fabric/how-stations-can-be-heart-urban-housing-supply-3262

Starting a city-to-city cooperation - deadline extended

Cities in the member states of the European Union who wish to exchange with a city facing similar challenges in another global region are encouraged to apply by 21 September 2017 for the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) city-to-city cooperation programme on sustainable urban development. The programme aims to foster links between EU cities and those in Latin America and the Caribbean, India, Japan, North America, and Asia. Through the programme, local leaders will be able to connect and gain new perspectives on pressing sustainable development issues.
Successful candidates will be paired with an international city that faces related challenges, allowing both parties to cooperate, build connections and share knowledge. Representatives from each city will take part in study tours, staff exchanges, trainings and seminars, etc. and will develop together a Local Action Plan to drive sustainable urban development in the selected area.
http://iuc.eu/city-pairings/

Improving Biking Is as Much About Slowing Cars as Building Better Bike Lanes

Since its founding 50 years ago, the top U.S. agency for investigating transportation injuries had been suprisingly quiet about a phenomenon that’s behind 30 percent of U.S. traffic fatalities.
Like much of the country’s transportation safety establishment, the National Transportation Safety Board had frequently avoided the subject of the speed of private cars. It did so even though the issue has been coming up since the very first collision the agency investigated, in Joliet, Illinois, in 1967.
Avoided the subject until this summer, that is.
http://smartgrowth.org/improving-biking-much-slowing-cars-building-better-bike-lanes/

Rebuilding Babel: The Megacities of China

In discussions of human survival beyond this century, urban expansion may not seem a significant threat. But even as China sets the pace for rapid urbanization, a painting from the Renaissance era urges caution.
The Tower of Babel, by 16th-century Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, is a monumental painting. Its depiction of an enormous tower mid-construction might have been a celebration of human endeavor, but a closer look reveals something very different: a doomed city, flawed and confused in its design.
http://www.vision.org/human-survival-urbanization-megacities-6433

Participate in the Global Conference on Cities and Migrants

The City of Mechelen (Belgium), supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Belgian Federal Government will host the “Global Conference on Cities and Migrants” on 16 and 17 November 2017. This important international gathering on the place and role of local authorities in migration governance will be organized by UCLG, UN-Habitat and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The conference is framed by the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (adopted in September 2016), through which UN Member States have committed to a process of intergovernmental negotiations leading to the drafting of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), to be adopted at an intergovernmental conference to be held in 2018. Further, the New Urban Agenda gives a key role to local authorities on migration and includes commitments by Member States to ensure the full respect of migrants’ human rights and support to their host cities, including through international cooperation, taking into account that migration brings significant social, economic and cultural contributions to urban life.
https://www.uclg-cglu.com/en/media/news/uclg-calls-participation-global-conference-cities-and-migrants

New tool for cultural and creative exchange between cities

Have you heard of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor? A new tool that helps European cities assess their performance in terms of culture and creation, it also creates opportunities for exchanges and learning with other cities. This tool was launched by the European Commission.
https://composite-indicators.jrc.ec.europa.eu/cultural-creative-cities-monitor/

Moss may prove cheap city pollution monitor, study finds

Common moss changes shape in areas of high nitrogen pollution and drought and has potential to be big bioindicator, say scientists
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/21/moss-may-prove-cheap-city-pollution-monitor-study-finds

How to Build More Connected and Inclusive Cities

When thinking about the cities of the future, I know that they will be more connected, and I strongly believe that they must be more inclusive. We can’t have the Internet of Everything without the Inclusion of Everyone. Already today, a growing number of cities are using smart technologies to better connect people to places and to each other – and more importantly also connecting people to opportunities for better and safer lives.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/build-connected-inclusive-cities-22240

Utrecht opens the world's biggest bike parking garage

As a university town and major traffic hub in the Netherlands, bike usage in Utrecht is incredibly high. Yet keeping the two-wheeled vehicles at its main station has become a problem.
An ocean full of bikes enveloping the square in front of the station has become a common sight. Finding bikes again after depositing has become a problem, whilst they are also regularly targeted by thieves. That is all set to change, however; the city has just opened the world's largest parking garage for bikes.
The storage facility is split across three floors. Numbered storage racks and various colours differentiate the different sections, whilst monitors at the entrance display how many of the total 12,500 places are still available.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/utrecht-opens-worlds-biggest-bike-parking-garage-netherlands

Partnership Against Violent Radicalisation in Cities

A particularly sensitive issue, the fight against all forms of extremism and radicalisation requires the participation of all citizens and professionals in Europe, including those involved in the field of knowledge.
It is on this basis and in response to a European call for tenders following the attacks in January 2015, which was supported by the French government, that the PRACTICIES (Partnership Against Violent Radicalisation in Cities) Network was created. It involves more than 25 partners from various European countries (Italy, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Portugal) as well as Tunisia, all experts in the humanities, political science, information sciences and information technology.
https://efus.eu/en/topics/risks-forms-of-crime/radicalisation/efus/14147/

The Rise of the 'Night Mayor' in America

The concept caught fire in Europe and is gaining relevance in large and small cities across the Atlantic.
Mirik Milan has become a kind of city management celebrity.
As Amsterdam’s first "night mayor," he's been managing the after-hours economy of the Netherlands capital since 2014. His job seems straightforward and imminently practical -- Milan manages relationships in an effort to minimize quality-of-life complaints from residents and boost nighttime business -- yet no one else on the European continent was doing it.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-night-mayor-economy-america.html

The world’s healthiest future is urban, dense and green

The world is increasingly urban, with cities projected to gain 2.5 billion more residents by 2050 – mostly in Asia and Africa. As we face escalating global crises such as climate change, chronic disease, poverty, inequity and homelessness, popular opinion often reflects the stereotypes of urban living as a major contributor. This cliché contrasts smoggy skylines, traffic-choked streets and sedentary city dwellers with clean, verdant, suburban or rural communities with active and fit residents.
http://www.atimes.com/worlds-healthiest-future-urban-dense-green/

Solving the Clean Air Zone Conundrum

For a number of local authorities, the UK plan for tackling roadside NO2 concentrations presents a significant challenge, requiring them to improve poor air quality as quickly as possible.
Whilst the latest ultra-clean Euro VI buses and advanced electrified options comfortably meet clean emission requirements, a significant majority of the older, existing bus fleet are seen as being a significant source of pollution and need a rapid and cost-effective solution.
http://thinkingcities.com/solving-the-clean-air-zone-conundrum/

SULPiTER Enlarged Transfer Programme Call now open!

The SULPiTER project is designed to improve urban freight mobility planning in Central Europe. The SULPiTER Enlarged Transfer Programme (ETP) aims at developing a direct dialogue with at least 20 non partner authorities.
http://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/SULPiTER.html

Electric trams: a new urban freight solution?

Across Europe, electric trams are being used for something that perhaps not many people think of at first: the transportation of urban freight. Certain businesses now see tram networks as a means of moving their goods.
One example is the TramFret project in Saint-Étienne, central France, which uses old trams to carry cargo on the city's network. Currently, TramFret is making daily deliveries with water, snacks, canned goods, and soft drinks from a warehouse on the edge of Saint-Étienne to the city centre. The items' final destinations are shops owned by the supermarket chain Casino. TramFret itself is a partnership between Casino, the local authority, and the tramway's operator.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/electric-trams-new-urban-freight-solution

The future of housing: Seven big ideas

From 3D technology to going underground and a new NHS, The Big Issue (and architect George Clarke) delve into the potential solutions to Britain’s housing woes. Welcome to the future.
This seemingly dull photograph, below, records a remarkable meeting of brilliant minds in sleepy Somerset, an encounter which generated groundbreaking, innovative ideas, which would go on to shape the modern world and forever changed the way we live.
https://www.bigissue.com/news/future-housing-seven-big-ideas/

Revealed: the insidious creep of pseudo-public space in London

Pseudo-public space – squares and parks that seem public but are actually owned by corporations – has quietly spread across cities worldwide. As the Guardian maps its full extent in London for the first time, Jack Shenker reports on a new culture of secrecy and control, where private security guards can remove you for protesting, taking photos ... or just looking scruffy
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/24/revealed-pseudo-public-space-pops-london-investigation-map

Rethinking sustainable urban development paradigms

This year, the ECOCITY World Summit in Melbourne, Australia, served as a reminder that there is no such thing as a standardized model for sustainable urban development. A range of solutions and innovations are taking shape, but we need to dig deeper and rethink our approach.
Every two years, leading urban thinkers and practitioners convene at the ECOCITY World Summit to examine the complex challenges posed by a rapidly urbanizing world – from informal settlements to emerging technologies such as autonomous driving and smart energy systems.
http://www.iclei.org/details/article/rethinking-sustainable-urban-development-paradigms.html

Urban policies for the inclusive integration of migrants

How can integration policies implemented by cities contribute to a better inclusion of migrants at national level? The side event organised by the Intercultural Cities Division on “Urban policies for the inclusive integration of migrants” showcased innovative ways of dealing with the challenges and opportunities of human mobility.
http://www.coe.int/en/web/interculturalcities/-/urban-policies-for-the-inclusive-integration-of-migrants

Rediscovering the Potential of Urban Riverfronts

In the past few decades industrial waterfronts and their latent natural features within cities are being rediscovered. Areas that were once an eyesore are being reborn as city planners, activists, business leaders and philanthropists band together to revitalize aging industrial lots and paved over features into beautiful community parks and greenways that are reconnecting people to their rivers and waterways.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/rediscovering-urban-riverfronts

What Qualifies as Urban Habitat?

Most of the world’s human citizens now live in cities, and the percentage of people who do (as well as the percentage of urbanized land) is only going to grow. An awareness of urban biodiversity helps to dispel the myth that “nature” only happens away from the human-built environment. By that telling, humans are not part of nature, and this perspective has led to some of the most damaging environmental issues we’re currently facing. Understanding that humans are a part of the urban ecosystem, and that we affect the ecosystem just as it affects us, is an important step towards dismantling and replacing this mythology.
http://cligs.vt.edu/qualifies-urban-habitat/

Siemens builds eHighway in Germany

Siemens has been commissioned by the German state of Hesse to build an overhead contact line for electrified freight transport on a ten-kilometer stretch of autobahn. The line will supply electricity for the electric drive of a hybrid truck. Siemens originally presented its innovative “eHighway” concept in 2012. The system will be installed on the A5 federal autobahn between the Zeppelinheim/Cargo CitySüd interchange at the Frankfurt Airport and the Darmstadt/Weiterstadt interchange.
http://erticonetwork.com/siemens-builds-ehighway-germany/

How Cities Can Rebuild the Social Safety Net

In an age of employment uncertainty and a growing income gap, urban America needs to find new ways to support its citizens.
Think about the “good” jobs of the past. Whether it's a much-lamented coal miner or a factory worker that pops in your head, what made their work good? It wasn’t the day-to-day tasks themselves, but the economic security it provided—not just the benefits and pay, but the stabilizing value it brought to individual households, communities, and society itself. In short, the good jobs of yesterday strengthened the safety net.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/08/how-cities-can-rebuild-the-social-safety-net/537018/

Cities Will Get Chance to Raise Money for Green Infrastructure

For nearly 800 cities around the United States, the storm drains you see along the streets send stormwater into the same sewer pipes handling the wastewater coming from homes and businesses. All of it ultimately ends up at a plant where it’s treated and sent back out into a river, lake or other body of water. When it rains hard and the system can’t handle all the water, overflow goes directly into natural bodies of water. If it’s raining hard enough, and long enough, you may be flushing your toilet straight into the nearest river. The systems are called “combined sewer overflows” — and the Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate to eliminate them carries a total price tag in the billions. Still, many cities are working on the problem.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/invest-green-infrastructure-bonds-cities-issue

Africa’s New Cities: The Contested Future of Urbanization

The future of urbanization is in Africa; high urban population growth numbers imply a steep increase in demand for urban housing, infrastructure and services (UN DESA, 2014). New private investments in housing and urban development are increasingly reaching Africa and are presented as a rational response to these projections. This often takes a particular form: entirely new cities are built from scratch as comprehensive self-contained enclaves. The construction of new cities by itself is not new, but the scale, extent and the drivers behind such constructions are different from before, as is the current interest by international property companies.
http://urbanstudiesjnl.blogspot.co.nz/2017/07/africas-new-cities-contested-future-of.html

Let's scoot! Paris's scooter sharing scheme

In terms of transport sharing, car and bike sharing schemes are the ones that most often come to mind. Yet the electric scooter also has a contribution to make; both to sustainable mobility and as part of a diverse transport mix.
Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, certainly thinks so. Just over a year ago, she introduced the CityScoot electric scooter sharing scheme to Paris. In the past year, its popularity has increased by 500%, and there is now a network of over 1,000 scooters in the city.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/lets-scoot-pariss-scooter-sharing-scheme-france

Why urban freeway expansion is futile

Outdated software and modeling overestimates the value of urban freeway expansions—and underestimates the effectiveness of alternatives like boulevards.
Everyone hates freeway traffic congestion. Highway engineers promise to fix this problem by widening freeways and building new ones. For the past 80 years, engineers have been promising that the next round of freeway expansion will solve the problems. This has never worked.
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2017/08/03/why-urban-freeway-expansion-futile

One way to promote green infrastructure in your city

Natural assets – “green infrastructure” – can provide communities with invaluable ecosystem services that clean our air, filter our water, mitigate natural disasters and improve our quality of life.
The Trump administration has called for a major investment in infrastructure. That includes systems that handle our rainfall and melted snow, such as stormwater management systems, water filtration plants and roadway curbs and gutters.
http://theconversation.com/one-way-to-promote-green-infrastructure-in-your-city-78975

Criticism of India’s Smart Cities Mission is mounting

The development of “smart” cities was one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first initiatives upon taking office in 2014. Launched the next year, the stated focus of the Indian government’s Smart Cities Mission is “on sustainable and inclusive development, and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities.”
However, as the Mission’s portal candidly acknowledges, “There is no universally accepted definition of a smart city. It means different things to different people.”
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/criticism-indias-smart-cities-mission-mounting

Why Cab Drivers Regret Going Electric in D.C.

When taxi driver Habtamu Tarekegn decided to “go green” by buying an electric car, he was excited about the potential for economic independence at a time when D.C. cabbies are struggling to compete with Uber.
After years of renting older taxis from large fleets, Tarekegn welcomed the opportunity to finally obtain his own license, or H tag. The District’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles (DFHV) issues new tags in only a handful of circumstances — including the purchase of a new, 100 percent electric vehicle.
There also were financial incentives: the District had a limited number of $10,000 grants to help cabbies like Tarekegn cover the cost of a new car. Additionally, he would eliminate the cost of gasoline.
Now, however, with D.C.’s electric taxicab program in its second year, Tarekegn is among a group of 120 drivers who say they regret going green.
http://wamu.org/story/17/08/14/no-place-charge-d-c-s-electric-cab-drivers-ask-help/

A systematic review on Sustainable development of smart cities

Sustainable development of smart cities: a systematic review of the literature, written by Evelin Priscila Trindade, Marcus Phoebe Farias Hinnig, Eduardo Moreira da Costa, Jamile Sabatini Marques, Rogério Cid Bastos and Tan Yigitcanlar, is an open access article exploring the relationship between the concepts of sustainable urban development and smart cities. Through a thorough review of the literature, they analyse 25 scientific articles that involve both the terms smart city and environmental sustainability, identifying any kind of models, frameworks or tools that these articles present.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/08/09/review-sustainable-development-smart-cities/

Building a Social Scene Around a Bike Path

The “crown jewel” of New Orleans’s cycling network isn’t just a way to get around town. It also promises a vibrant space to live, shop, and grab a drink.
In a city known for bar-hopping, endless festivals, and maybe even a little debauchery, a bike path isn’t the likeliest place for a budding social scene. But in a narrow strip of central New Orleans, the 2.6-mile Lafitte Greenway is poised to become a new hub of activity—a commuter path that’s a destination in its own right.
https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/08/lafitte-greenway-new-orleans/534735/

Creating Community Resilience in Every City

In recent months, people have taken to the streets of Washington, D.C. for marches urging the Trump administration and Congress to act on climate change. The People’s Climate March was exclusively targeted at producing action on the issues of climate change, and the March for Science addressed the importance of using scientific method and research to inform policies and actions, although many participants used the march to highlight the dangers posed by greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists, after all, are far more united in their concern over climate change than they are over nuclear power, genetically modified food, and many other issues.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/creating-community-resilience-every-city-22236

Urban Housing Crisis: Think Big, Act Local

From evictions and skyrocketing rents to substandard infrastructure and services, many residents in cities across the global south face acute housing challenges. And the problem is growing. According to estimates, one-in-three people in cities are unable to access affordable and secure housing, leading to burgeoning slums in many fast-growing cities.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/sheela-patel-on-the-urban-housing-crisis-think-big-act-local-alex-rogala/

Why the ‘best cities to live in’ list rewards the safe and the clean

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s report on the world’s most liveable cities is a go-to overview of desirable cycle lanes and botanic gardens, but where’s all the fun?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2017/aug/16/why-the-best-cities-to-live-in-list-rewards-the-safe-clean-and-bland

The Next Generation of Urban Farming Technologies

The next generation of urban farming technologies won’t rely on the use of brownfields, vacant lots, or rooftop farms. The use of “controlled-environment agriculture”, or CEA, frees the grower from the limitations of seasons and climate.
http://smartcitiesconnect.org/the-next-generation-of-urban-farming-technologies/

How Cities Should Plan and Prepare Their Transportation Infrastructure for the Future

In this Q&A, Harriet Tregoning, former principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, talks about the importance of managing change and that things need to be designed for adaptation.
http://www.govtech.com/fs/How-Cities-Should-Plan-and-Prepare-Their-Transportation-Infrastructure-for-the-Future.html#ptlink.fid=29329&isc=1&did=d4e8fd486d48cf961bfd1bf4929ffd3465506d2c&ctp=article

Giant Australian solar hub to power 90,000 homes

With the world being ravaged by the deleterious effects of global warming and other harmful human activities and practices, the quest is actively on to find alternative sources of energy that do not damage the planet or slow down human civilization. As various countries worldwide recently announce the phasing out of gasoline-powered vehicles, seek to close down fossil fuel-burning power plants, and enact a host of other energy-saving legislation, a remarkable revolution gathers steam in South Australia.
http://ecourbanhub.com/aurora-solar-energy-project-australia-solarreserve/

How Driverless Cars Could Be a Big Problem for Cities

The technology could signal the beginning of the end of parking tickets and other revenue sources. Some cities' budgets could take a big hit.
http://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-cities-traffic-parking-revenue-driverless-cars.html

The Problem of Progressive Cities and the Property Tax

The news that a posh San Francisco street was sold for delinquent taxes exposes the deeper issue with America’s local revenue system.
The news circulated last week that a couple had purchased one of the most exclusive streets in San Francisco through a delinquent property tax sale. Capitalizing on a routine if little understood aspect of municipal governance—city government’s sales of property to recoup their unpaid taxes—the couple nabbed the street right from under its tony residents’ Tesla tires. Readers chuckled that Presidio Terrace’s residents might soon be forced to either buy the street at a considerable mark-up or pay an exorbitant rent to park their cars in their regular spots.
https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/08/the-problem-of-progressivism-and-the-property-tax/536754/

Urban design is affecting our brain

Design affects the brain. We know this intuitively, as we get frustrated when poor wayfinding causes us to get us lost or we feel renewed after a run in the park, but only recently are we starting to understand how and why. Our immediate environment can prompt both negative and positive effects and it’s becoming evident that the way spaces are designed can exert a strong influence on our behavior. This is especially important in cities, where mental health problems caused by over-stimulation, isolation, and loneliness, are particularly high. To alleviate some of these city stressors, we turn to urban design.
http://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/urban-design-is-affecting-our-brains

Growing interest in CITyFiED's holistic methodology for district-scale energy efficient retrofitting

One of the key initiatives building confidence among technical, political, civic and financial actors by delivering tangible results at major demonstration sites is the CITyFiED project methodology (full overview). This novel approach pinpoints the optimum role and inputs of a range of stakeholders and evaluates the sustainability of energy rehabilitation projects in urban environments.
http://www.cityfied.eu/News/Press-Releases/Growing-Interest-In-CITyFiEDS-Holistic-Methodology-For-District-Scale-Energy-Efficient-Retrofitting.kl

Where does the ‘UN Urban’ proposal leave the New Urban Agenda?

With the release of a major report commissioned by U.?N. Secretary-General António Guterres, the United Nations appears to be on a path to integrate its 20-year urbanization strategy, the New Urban Agenda, into the global body’s development architecture.
But until that report’s recommendations are finalized and member states line up to fund its outcomes, a concentrated diplomatic effort on behalf of the agenda, adopted last year, will remain in limbo. That makes the coming months critical, several close observers say, as the United Nations gears up for its busy work season in the final quarter of the year and also appoints a new executive director at UN-Habitat, its lead agency on urban issues.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/where-does-un-urban-proposal-leave-new-urban-agenda

Cities set the pace on fighting poverty, climate change but who will pay?

Fast-growing cities will determine how the world manages to fight poverty, disease and climate change in coming decades but increased resilience is likely to come with a hefty price tag, said urban development experts.
While cities are poised to benefit from technological innovation, tackling crippling inequality is crucial to help cope with shocks and stresses which are set to rise alongside urban populations, said experts at a New York summit organised by the Rockefeller Foundation-backed 100 Resilient Cities.
https://www.zilient.org/article/cities-set-pace-fighting-poverty-climate-change-who-will-pay

Why collaboration is key to creating water-wise cities

“Water is so cross-cutting,” said IWA’s Corinne Trommsdorff, that “cities connected to their basins [can] maximise security from floods and droughts, protect the quality of their freshwater source, and minimise short-term risks while improving liveability as a co-benefit.”
https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/collaboration-key-creating-water-wise-cities/

Building Better Cities for Pedestrians Means Connecting the ‘Last Mile’

We are all pedestrians. Even if a car is your primary means of transportation, you are a pedestrian from the moment you park your vehicle and walk to your destination. This is also true if you use the bus, subway or bicycle.
But if that’s the case, why aren’t cities more walkable? The lack of attention and funds for pedestrian infrastructure in many places stems from political, economic and cultural challenges. It also stems from how we think of mobility.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/building-better-cities-for-pedestrians-means-connecting-the-last-mile-paula-santos-paula-tanscheit/

Make or break: How the city of tomorrow will shape our future

“Building cities able to accommodate half a billion people over the next 30 years is one of the biggest transformations of our planet and we have to get it right”, Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General stated at the Langenburg Forum for Sustainability. Read the full speech here on URBANET
Cities are all about people. They are home to 50% of the world’s population, yet cover only 2% of our planet’s surface. They consume 75% of our power and are responsible for 80% of C02 emissions. It is where wealth is created and where social progress is often first imagined and fought for. Cities of the future need to be conceived around people rather than around cars and roads. They need to be made sustainable with regards to energy consumption and C02 emissions.
http://www.urbanet.info/how-the-city-of-tomorrow-will-shape-our-future/

7th Green-Go Short Film Contest

The Green-Go Awards include the ‘Build Green, Live Green’ Urban Green Infrastructure category. Get your creative juices flowing and enter a short video now for the chance to win €500 and a showing at the EUGIC 2017 & Green-Go Awards Ceremony!
https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/realisations/kuala-lumpur/le-nouvel-kuala-lumpur

Cities can start to tackle climate change by plugging in their vehicles

President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate agreement reaffirmed what was already clear: The federal government is no longer leading American efforts to shrink our carbon footprint. But many state and local governments – along with businesses and consumers – aim to help fill this policy void.
At least a dozen governors have joined the United States Climate Alliance, committing their states to achieve emissions reductions consistent with President Barack Obama’s Paris pledge. More than 200 mayors are promising their cities will follow suit.
http://www.citymetric.com/transport/cities-can-start-tackle-climate-change-plugging-their-vehicles-3190

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