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.
Following a devastating dose of heavy rain in 2011 that cost Copenhagen $1 billion in damage, the Danish capital decided to begin investing in hundreds of climate-resilient projects that could mitigate the city’s vulnerability to flooding as a result of extreme rainstorms — which are only Read More...
The cement used to construct concrete sewerage systems around the world does a mighty job of helping wash away our waste but does have its shortcomings. Scientists in Australia have developed a new cement-free solution they say is better equipped to handle the corrosive nature of these Read More...
While artificial intelligence (AI) is nowhere near ready to tackle the complicated task of designing an actual city, it can assist city planners, especially when it comes to the quantitative aspects of urban planning. In order to improve the urban planning abilities of AI, programmers are turning Read More...
City planners around the world should take note of an exciting new development taking place in the German capital of Berlin. As the city looks to cut down on waste, it has opened a state-run department store that sells items that might get thrown away otherwise. Located on the third floor of the Read More...
While we’ve seen architects use wasted materials to construct buildings, never have we seen a complex use its own construction waste to build parts of a building. But that’s exactly what’s happened in the North India city of Kishangarh, where an innovative industrial complex has created Read More...
Looking to develop something meaningful out of an abandoned train track running through its center, the small Swedish town of Tibro has decided to turn the abandoned site into an arena for sustainable urban experiments. The Tibro Train Tracks project, undertaken by Stockholm-based architecture Read More...
What if a building could host more plants than the entire nearby park? This is the vision of designer Koichi Takada Architects who plans to build a beautiful green Urban Forest in Brisbane, Australia. The proposed building would be covered in 1,000 trees and 20,000 plants, including 259 native Read More...
If you’re curious about what green urban planning may look like in the future, Barcelona-based architecture firm Guallart Architects has recently unveiled a neighborhood design for a new city in China, called Xiong’an New Area, that’s expected to serve as a model of sustainability - powered Read More...
As the tourists stay home due to the coronavirus, hotels across America are closing down. Fortunately, a company by the name of Repvblik is ensuring some of these hotels get a new lease on life. What the Los Angeles-based company does is convert empty commercial spaces into affordable housing Read More...
As energy blackouts become more common in California, a German energy company called Sonnen believes virtual power plants (VPPs) can solve the issue. Rather than rely on utility companies, virtual power plants involve connected sets of solar panels and batteries that produce and store energy Read More...