This Big City

May

Infographic: Cities Embracing the Green Revolution

Categories: Europe, Planning, UK, Urban Scale, USA and Canada

Tags: Amsterdam, cc, Copenhagen, infographic, London, New York, stockholm, Vancouver

by Joe Peach

Could a 'green revolution' in cities be the solution to rising CO2 levels? This new infographic provides an interesting view of sustainability in New York, Vancouver, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam and Stockholm. Read more

May

The Economic and Educational Value of Retrofitting Schools

Categories: Buildings, Non-residential, UK

Comments: No

by Forum for the Future

With the potential to reduce carbon consumption and energy costs, retrofitting older schools makes sense. And schools are increasingly discovering the education value of retrofitting too. retrofitting its school is an investment that Impington Village College, near Cambridge in England, can’t afford not to make. Especially given that its annual carbon emissions – currently at 101.33kgCO2/m2 – are double the national average. Read more

May

Greening Cities with Better Bike Lanes

Categories: Bikes, Transport, USA and Canada

Tags: Austin, cc, Chicago, Memphis, Portland, San Francisco, washington dc

Comments: No

by Dana Fatol

The Green Lane Project has brought together six U.S. cities to build more protected bike trails. Martha Roskowski, Director of the project, put some time aside to talk to This Big City. Read more

May

Texas and Bangladesh: Tragedies of Placeless Economics

Categories: Asia and the Pacific, Energy and Services, Planning, USA and Canada

Tags: cc, Dhaka, West

Comments: No

by Drew Reed

We are living under a system of placeless economics, where a few digits on an accountant’s spreadsheet negate the common sense of properly building and locating industrial facilities. Read more

May

Urban Ideology in Obama’s Brand of Regionalism

Categories: Governance, People, USA and Canada

Tags: cc

Comments: No

by Scott Beyer

According to a new book, Obama aims to “abolish the suburbs, ideally by having cities annex suburban municipalities.” Is the author right that Obama's policies are “hostile to traditions of individual freedom”? Read more

May

The DIY Disaster Plan

Categories: Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Planning, Urban Scale, USA and Canada

Comments: No

by Next City

As cities around the world grapple with rising sea levels and strengthening storms, governments are responding with an array of infrastructural solutions. But there’s a growing awareness that combating disasters with hard infrastructure alone ignores half the equation. Read more

May

Healthy Communities at the Placemaking Leadership Council

Categories: Placemaking, Planning

Tags: cc

Comments: No

by Cara Courage

One of the aims of the Placemaking Leadership Council’s April meeting was to form an agenda for a global campaign for placemaking as a movement. The 300 delegates from around the world tacked different aspects of placemaking, including healthy communities. Read more

May

Producing Sustainable Solar Panels Without Rare Materials

Categories: Buildings, Components

Comments: No

by Forum for the Future

The energy that comes out of solar panels is renewable, but what about the panels themselves? Not so much - today’s leading solar panels owe their high sunlight-to-electricity conversion rates to the use of rare elements. The pressure is on to find a way of making solar power even more sustainable. Read more