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.
Why safe streets are a powerful tool for combatting climate change
It’s not hard to understand why many parents don’t let their kids walk and bike to school in Los Angeles where streets are designed for the fast movement of cars. In LA, crashes are the leading cause of death for kids aged 4 to 15. To keep kids safe, parents revert to cars—even if the trip is Read More...
Concrete of the future may be recyclable and even biodegradable
Society has been using concrete to build infrastructure and homes for about 100 years and, throughout its long history, the process has pretty much stayed the same. But it seems concrete is set to get a makeover as the industry attempts to go greener. A few weeks ago we shared how researchers were Read More...
How local breweries improved water quality in this Montana town
Faced with an aging water treatment plant and polluted water from ten nearby breweries disrupting treatment operations, the small town of Havre, Montana came up with a solution to use beer to its advantage. Engineering consultant Coralyn Revis figured out a plan to use the beer water runoff from Read More...
What cities can learn from Spokane’s approach to homelessness
The common approach cities take to deal with homelessness is tough enforcement: ticketing people for panhandling or sleeping in doorways or busing them to shelters, sometimes in other cities. But as Spokane has found it first-hand, this approach just doesn’t work. That’s why Washington’s Read More...
Public vehicles in New York are doubling as air pollution monitors
New York City operates over 30,000 city-owned vehicles, the largest municipal fleet in the country. Police cars, fire engines, and public buses drive up and down the city streets performing their public services duties. But what if while completing their routine routes, doing their regular jobs, Read More...
New York is bringing down the hammer on plastic bottles
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order banning the sale of single-use plastic beverage bottles on city-owned and -leased properties — which means the bottles could vanish from an area nearly equivalent to a quarter of the city. The move also bars city Read More...
This Chicago artist is bringing music education back to public schools
When governments make budget cuts, all too often it is schools and their creative programs that pay the price. Such is the case in Chicago, where many elementary schools are without any music programs, which is a crying shame considering music education has been found to benefit a child’s memory, Read More...
The largest oil refinery on the East Coast is closing for good
It’s official! On Thursday, a federal judge finally confirmed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan of Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), the company that ran the benzene-polluting mega refinery that closed after bursting into flames last June. The plan includes the sale of PES’s 1,300-acre Read More...
How Japan operates the world’s most effective lost and found system
Have you ever lost a cell phone, umbrella, or jacket and wondered where it ended up in the world? Well, if you live in Japan, you stand a much higher chance of reconnecting with your long lost item. The country’s elaborate lost and found system has efficiently mastered how to reconnect items with Read More...
How Vienna is using culture to go car-free
Last year, we wrote about a new transit app being used in Miami called Velocia, which rewards commuters for ditching the car in favor of taking public transit, biking, or simply walking. It was an exciting piece for us to share with you because it represented a novel approach to motivating people Read More...