Sustainable Urban Development
With cities expected to host about 70 percent of the world's population, sustainable urban development is key to making communities worldwide more resilient against the growing threat of climate change. Find out about the latest urban practices from across the world aiming to make our cities more sustainable and inclusive in these good-news stories from The Optimist Daily.
Affordable housing and vertical farms: A match made in heaven?
We’ve written about vertical farms and affordable housing extensively at The Optimist Daily, but never have we seen these two concepts combined. Until now, that is. This is the exact combination we’re going to witness in Westbrook, Maine, where a multistory greenhouse is being constructed Read More...
Ikea is turning this Swedish city into a hub for green-minded projects
Last month, Ikea made it into the Optimist Daily after purchasing nearly 11,000 acres of forest in Georgia to protect it from being developed. Today, we bring you a whole new initiative from the furniture giant that involves turning the Swedish city of Helsingborg into a sustainable community. In Read More...
These emergency shelters can later be converted into permanent homes
When a natural disaster occurs, aid organizations typically send emergency relief tents to those who have lost their home as a result. While extremely helpful, these tents usually last a year at max, after which they become no longer functional and end up in the landfill. In a bid to extend the Read More...
Unused parking lots in Paris are becoming underground mushroom farms
Car ownership has been steadily declining in Paris for years, leaving the city with a new problem: thousands of square meters of unused underground parking space. In an effort to repurpose this space, the city began running competitions to find innovative uses for the space. This is how three major Read More...
New bike lane construction bill in D.C. aims to boost cycling and safety
Last September, Washington D.C. passed the Vision Zero Enhancement Omnibus Amendment Act of 2019. The law, modeled after one in Cambridge, Massachusetts, takes a novel approach to designated bike lane development and is expected to boost bicycle use and safety in the city. How does it work? Let’s Read More...
Stylish floating Amsterdam village produces and shares all its own energy
The city of Amsterdam is known for having beautiful homes along picturesque canals, but in the industrial north part of the city, a floating neighborhood has been completed that is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The visionary neighborhood is called Schoonschip (Dutch for “clean ship), and Read More...
The Ideal City is an urban ‘cookbook’ for planners to design better cities
By 2050, more than 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. This means that we’ll need to significantly expand our urban landscapes to accommodate for the incoming wave of urban dwellers. In an effort to inspire urban planners to design tomorrow’s cities in a Read More...
Austin redirects police funding to buy transitional housing for homeless
Last week, the Austin City Council voted unanimously to purchase the Texas Bungalow Hotel & Suites for $6.7 million. The hotel is slated to become transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness. Where did the money to buy it come from? Redirected money from the city’s police Read More...
Two historic New York City bridges to feature designated cycling paths
Since the start of the pandemic last year, an increasing number of cities worldwide have seen an uptick in the number of people embracing cycling as a means of transportation. In New York, for example, cycling has increased by 52 percent over the city’s bridges. To recognize the important role Read More...
Finnish city launches world’s first urban ski-sharing program
We’ve all heard of bike-sharing programs, but have you ever heard of a public ski-sharing program. In the Finnish city of Lahti, a first-of-its-kind program is being rolled out that allows residents to borrow some skis for a quick cross-country ski trip to the store when snow hits the city. Read More...