Friday Fun: Scaling Sustainable Building Solutions—Collecting Actionable Building Data without Ever Stepping Foot Inside
Friday Fun: Scaling Sustainable Building Solutions—Collecting Actionable Building Data without Ever Stepping Foot Inside
What do a sun-harnessing mapping tool and a nighttime-venturing, camera-rigged SUV have in common? They both may hold an answer to scalable, cost-effective solutions to make our built environment more sustainable. As cities and citizens look to make buildings more ...
In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Breaking Car Addictions Starts in the Workplace
In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Breaking Car Addictions Starts in the Workplace
The WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities’ Sustainable and Livable Cities Initiative supports key leaders in China, India and Brazil in improving urban quality of life and environmental sustainability. WRI’s blog series on the Initiative will highlight some of the ...
Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It
Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It
The New Urban Agenda – a vision of inclusive, resilient, sustainable cities where everyone has access to resources and economic opportunity – will be center stage next month at the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, known as Habitat III. ...
Nossa Cidade: The Challenges of Connecting Brazil’s Metropolitan Regions
Nossa Cidade: The Challenges of Connecting Brazil’s Metropolitan Regions
  Nossa Cidade (“Our City”), from TheCityFix Brasil, explores critical questions for building more sustainable cities. Leaning on the expertise of specialists at WRI Brasil Sustainable Cities, the series features in depth articles on urban planning, sustainable mobility, resilience, road ...
History in the Making: Habitat III Negotiators Release Final Draft of the New Urban Agenda
History in the Making: Habitat III Negotiators Release Final Draft of the New Urban Agenda
Last week, the final draft of the New Urban Agenda (NUA)—the document at the center of Habitat III in Quito next month—was released. After an unexpected stalemate at the Preparatory Committee in Surabaya in July, Habitat III negotiators convened this ...
Driverless Uber and nuTonomy: A Future to Cheer or Fear?
Driverless Uber and nuTonomy: A Future to Cheer or Fear?
The future is here, or it is very close: Uber announced “driverless” car services in downtown Pittsburgh; nuTonomy, a MIT spin-off technology company, just started commercial trials of autonomous taxis in Singapore.  These developments come way before car manufacturers and ...
Friday Fun: 4 Olympic Viewing Parties Transformed Public Spaces into Virtual Arenas
Friday Fun: 4 Olympic Viewing Parties Transformed Public Spaces into Virtual Arenas
The Summer Olympics are the largest sporting event, with 205 participating nations and billions of television viewers around the world. From the 1996 Games in Atlanta to the 2008 Games in Beijing, the Olympic TV audience grew from 3.2 to ...
An Olympic Legacy: Why Rio’s Residents Now Have a Different City at the End of the Games
An Olympic Legacy: Why Rio’s Residents Now Have a Different City at the End of the Games
The Olympics have given us the opportunity to meet the wonderful city of Rio de Janeiro. The landscape of Guanabara Bay, the famous beaches, Sugarloaf Mountain, Lagoa and the tropical forest are so beautiful, it feels natural that the Portuguese ...
Rio Olympics’ Legacy: Urban Mobility
Rio Olympics’ Legacy: Urban Mobility
The Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first South American city to host the modern games, famously faced challenges in the run-up to the event – from construction delays to a polluted venue to worries about the Zika virus ...
Historic Reform to Transform the Urban Model in Mexico
Historic Reform to Transform the Urban Model in Mexico
Mexico is an eminently urban country. 78 percent of the Mexican population lives in an urban locality of more than 2,500 inhabitants, and 63 percent live in urban centers with more than 15,000 inhabitants. Urban development should be a priority ...