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.
In 2019, the city of Stockton, California, became the first city in America to launch an experimental guaranteed income program that would provide 125 residents with monthly payments of $500 over the course of 18 months, with no strings attached. From the first results of Stockton’s basic income Read More...
Figuring out ways to slash our over-reliance on air conditioners can go a long way in reducing the energy costs and emissions that usually go hand in hand with using these cooling machines. One way to do this is to tap into the key role that windows play when it comes to saving energy. Recently, Read More...
Power plants that rely on fossil fuels are already bad enough, but what makes these polluting plants even worse is that they are disproportionately located near communities of color. In a study from the University of Washington and Stanford University, researchers found that Black, low-income Read More...
Los Angeles County has an estimated 66,000 homeless individuals, but a new initiative is helping some find housing from an unexpected source: old shipping containers. Recycled shipping containers can be transformed into livable spaces surprisingly quickly. Each container in the seven-unit Read More...
Firefighting took a step into the future this week when the Los Angeles Fire Department became the first in the US to deploy a “robotic firefighting vehicle”. Weighing in at 3,500 pounds, LAFD’s Thermite RS3 is about the size of a Smart car but has the power to blast its way through a wall. Read More...
Last month, we featured a story out of New York City where new electric garbage trucks are being tested on the streets of Brooklyn to take the sound and smell of exhaust fumes out of the waste collection equation. The garbage truck in that story was Mack’s LR Electric, a greener take on the truck Read More...
The Google self-driving project Waymo started testing its driverless technology in the city of Phoenix back in 2017. Now, three years later, Waymo has announced plans to open its fully autonomous cars to the city’s wider population. In a similar style to Uber or Lyft, people can now book a trip Read More...
In 2018, a Vancouver-based charitable organization called Foundations for Social Change started a groundbreaking research project that gave cash payments of $7,500 CAD ($5,660 USD) to 50 homeless people. The idea was to check on recipients over the course of a year to see how they were faring. Read More...
Building resilient neighborhoods is key in enabling our growing cities to adapt to the threats of climate change. The Norwegian city of Bergen is well aware of this. That’s why it has recently devised plans to develop a former port area at the edge of the city into a regenerative, zero-emissions Read More...
From Oakland and Seattle to Bogota and York, cities around the world have been showcasing the community-building benefits that come with removing cars from the streets. In another display of car-free living, the Estonian city of Tartu transformed its main street into a pedestrian-friendly paradise Read More...