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.
Can New York City's congestion pricing plan alleviate traffic?
Talk to any New Yorker and they will tell you how bad traffic is in the city. Recently, policymakers decided to address the problem by introducing a bill that would charge vehicles over $10 to drive in the busiest parts of Manhattan. But to ensure that their congestion pricing plan is effective, Read More...
A battery-swapping scheme is electrifying rickshaws in India
In India, where fewer than four million cars are sold annually, auto rickshaws (called tuk-tuks in other Asian countries) are one of the dominant modes of transportation. As India attempts to clean up the country’s troublesome air pollution, some manufacturers are now, for the first time, Read More...
Smart city tech is getting it’s time to shine in Brooklyn
In Downtown Brooklyn, Fulton Street–the neighborhood’s commercial thoroughfare–is closed to cars. Technically, at least. Fulton is designated as a bus-only street, but around 3,000 cars each month use the corridor illegally. This creates issues for the buses and their 20,000 daily riders, Read More...
Cities are turning alleys into green spaces to help people reconnect with nature
From Montreal to Portland, cities across North America are starting to rethink all that cement that’s used to pave the streets. Alleys and alley sides, in particular, are being effectively imagined as people-friendly pathways, parks, and lushly planted urban habitats that stand in stark contrast Read More...
This smart shelter uses AI to protect stray cats from the cold
Temperatures in Beijing can drop to 15 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, leaving stray cats in pretty dire conditions. That’s why Baidu, China’s top search engine company, invented a smart shelter to spare cats the winter’s biting temperatures. The shelter uses artificial intelligence and Read More...
Elon Musk wants to upgrade sewage systems in cities across America
Speaking before a crowd of 3,800 mayors, Elon Musk announced plans to employ his ‘ground-breaking’ tunneling technology to upgrade underground sewage systems in cities across the US. Musk’s Boring Company is already busy constructing an underground rapid transportation system in Los Angeles, Read More...
The Boring Company’s first tunnel beneath LA will open to the public in December
The Los Angeles public will get their first ride on Elon Musk’s underground public transportation system quicker than expected. In December, the two-mile test tunnel built beneath SpaceX’s headquarters will offer free rides on autonomously driven electric platforms called “skates.” The Read More...
This study proves why building a hyperloop in America’s heartland is a good idea
Building a hyperloop route from Kansas City to St. Louis would be well worth the effort, according to a new study. Researchers examined the engineering, viability and economic challenges of a proposed line running parallel to the I-70, and they found that it would not only cut the journey between Read More...
What social inequality looks like from the sky
Although the realities of social inequality are not always visible in our day to day lives, from the skies they are easily distinguishable. Social inequality manifests itself in the physical structure of our cities and nowhere is that more apparent than from above. Using aerial drone photography, Read More...
New elevator design could disrupt city infrastructure
It seems the endless minutes spent waiting for elevators to arrive has been inspiring more engineers. We’ve already covered the world’s first rope-free elevator and now, UK firm PLP Architecture is using a new system to create more adaptive elevator Read More...