English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
Esperanto
French
German
Greek
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
UrduIn anticipation of the 2023 World Happiness Report, experts from Aalto University in Finland are available to comment on what happiness means in this context and how this small country ensures its residents’ well-being. Finland has topped this subjective well-being…
Tag: Urban Planning
To promote exercise, planners must look beyond cities
To encourage more active lifestyles, public health agencies recommend mixed-use neighborhoods and “complete” streets that are friendlier to walkers and bikers, but new Cornell University research finds that while those strategies increase physical activity, an urban bias limits their applicability in many parts of the country.
Over 4% of summer mortality in European cities is attributable to urban heat islands
Over four percent of deaths in cities during the summer months are due to urban heat islands, and one third of these deaths could be prevented by reaching a tree cover of 30%, according to a modelling study published in The Lancet and led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by “la Caixa” Foundation.
Researchers Find that to Achieve Long-term Sustainability, Urban Systems Must Tackle Social Justice and Equity
An international coalition of researchers — led by Georgia Tech — have determined that advancements and innovations in urban research and design must incorporate serious analysis and collaborations with scientists, public policy experts, local leaders, and citizens.
Connecting the Dots Between Car Crashes and Systemic Transportation Challenges
To most of us, the twisted metal and broken glass of a car crash is evidence of driver error, bad luck or both. To Kelcie Ralph, an associate professor of urban planning and policy development at Rutgers, every car crash is a datapoint in the larger story of America’s poorly designed roads.
Pedestrians choose healthy obstacles over boring pavements, study finds
Up to 78% of walkers would take a more challenging route featuring obstacles such as balancing beams, steppingstones and high steps, research has found.
To be equitable, US urban green infrastructure planning must transform
Across the US, cities have embraced green infrastructure as a way to mitigate flooding, excessive heat, extreme weather, and other urban hazards.
First global survey of mayors shows urgent climate, infrastructure, equity challenges
A new global survey of city leaders underscores pressing challenges facing municipalities, including rising inequality, extreme heat and flood risks exacerbated by climate change, and a need to rebalance transportation systems that overly favor private automobiles.
Climate deal promotes ‘car-centric’ system, falls short on transit
As senators gear up to vote on a long-anticipated climate, tax and energy bill as soon as this week, electric vehicles are poised for a boost. One of the landmark provisions in the package is an extension and expansion of…
‘Urban Canyons’ Prolong Sonic Booms in Cities
Recent efforts have sought to make low-boom supersonic aircraft, but noise issues due to sonic booms may become more pronounced in cities, where buildings form canyons that distort the booms. In The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, researchers conducted simulations comparing how sonic booms reflect differently over a single building, two neighboring buildings, and multiple buildings spaced at regular intervals. The researchers found the wider the streets compared to the height of buildings, the less booms are affected. Narrower streets introduced more complex boom propagation.
How Buildings Contribute to Urban Heating during Heat Waves
Previous research has found that heat waves and urban heat island effects reinforce each other’s effects. New research developed a method for modeling urban building energy demand and associated heat dispersal during heat waves.
How Can Changes to Urban Neighborhoods and Buildings Affect Microclimates and Energy Use?
Heating and cooling for buildings accounted for the United States’ biggest share (41 percent) of energy consumption in 2010, and energy use by buildings amounts to 40 percent of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. A new method allows researchers to test the design of neighborhoods and buildings to understand how they affect local and regional weather and energy use.
15-minute city within reach for Vancouver
The idea of a 15-minute city – one where everyone’s essential needs can be met within walking distance – is within reach for Vancouver, but more needs to be done to provide access in neighbourhoods with higher proportions of children, older adults, and racialized populations.
Howard County, Johns Hopkins APL Join Forces to Leverage Smart City Innovation in Gateway District
APL is bringing its expertise in public health, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and climate change into a collaboration with the Howard County Economic Development Authority to incorporate smart and connected community concepts within the county’s Gateway District.
Wooden buildings are a sustainable alternative in the face of global steel shortages
The war in Ukraine and the resulting European sanctions on Russia have dramatically affected energy and commodity prices. The combination of supply uncertainty, expensive energy, and rising material costs has added urgency to the already critical need to embrace sustainable,…
National Zoning Atlas to demystify America’s patchwork of codes
Cornell University’s Legal Constructs Lab has announced the launch of a National Zoning Atlas, which will enable people to better understand zoning codes and the regulatory constraints embedded in them.
Urban planning experts aid first US city decarbonizing all buildings
The city of Ithaca, N.Y., is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to decarbonize and electrify all buildings — part of an effort to be carbon neutral by 2030. It’s the first project of its kind in the nation, and…
Long commutes, household crowding tied to COVID transmission
Long commute times and household crowding may be good predictors for a higher number of transmissible coronavirus cases in metropolitan settings, according to Cornell urban planning, architectural and public health researchers, in a study published in the journal Buildings and Cities.
Story tips: Getting to the root, empowering savings potential and hotter urban hydrology
ORNL story tips: Getting to the root, empowering savings potential and hotter urban hydrology
How cities can transform urban green spaces into carbon sinks – Expert available to comment on lessons learned from Helsinki pilot
Senior lecturer Mikko Jalas is available to comment on how cities can use biochar in urban green spaces to help reach carbon neutrality. Jalas has co-led efforts on Carbon Lane, a project to build and monitor an urban carbon sink…
Census shows city growth trends that could threaten climate efforts
New 2020 census data released on Thursday shows that nearly all the nation’s growth was in cities. Population growth in urban environments can signal an important trend in fostering sustainable, dense communities, but only if that growth occurs in the…
Poor and Minority Communities Suffer More from Extreme Heat in U.S. Cities
Low-income neighborhoods and communities with higher Black, Hispanic and Asian populations experience significantly more urban heat than wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods within a vast majority of populous U.S. counties, according new research from the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy.
What’s next: The ongoing urban exodus
Many employees have come to prefer working from home after being forced to do so more than a year ago when the pandemic started. By some estimates, at least one-quarter of employees will still be working remotely multiple days a week at the end of 2021. For those whose jobs allow it, being untethered from the office might mean moving farther away from it – by a few miles or a few hundred.
Trees, plants and soil could help cities cut their carbon footprints — when used smartly
Carbon footprint declarations are used in construction to ease product selection for low carbon building, but these standards don’t yet exist for green elements like soil, bushes and plants. A new study led by Aalto University is the first to map out how green infrastructure can be a resource for cities on the path to carbon neutrality.
Megaprojects threaten water justice for local communities
Urban megaprojects tend to be the antithesis of good urban planning. They have a negative impact on local water systems, deprive local communities of water-related human rights, and their funders and sponsors have little accountability for their impact.
UIC Urban Forum to address wealth gap, equity concerns
New York Times best-selling author Heather McGhee to deliver keynote for virtual event April 14
Americans’ Responses to Covid-19 Stay-Home Orders Differed According to Population Density
Americans strongly reduced their visits to grocery stores, pharmacies, and transit stations following stay-at-home orders from mayors and governors earlier this year, but did not reduce their visits to parks and beaches.
The rise of ‘Zoom Towns’ in the rural west
COVID-19 has expedited a trend of migration into western gateway communities—remote workers are fleeing cities to ride out the pandemic. A new study using data from 2018 found that growing populations caused urgent planning pressures, and officials felt unprepared to respond to and prepare for problems associated with rapid growth.
Subsidized cars help low-income families economically, socially
Nicholas Klein, assistant professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University, conducted interviews with 30 people who gained access to inexpensive, reliable cars through the nonprofit Vehicles for Change (VFC).
Wildfires reveal safety in city living
As urbanites flee pandemic prone cities, wildfires in the Western U.S. may just give them a reason to come back. Suburb and foothill communities have seen increasing susceptibility to wildfires, and as infernos continue their blaze in California, Oregon and…
Sea Level Rise Report: Impacts to Property and Regional Planning Solutions
A new study reveals that urgent action is needed to protect billions of dollars in real estate investment across South Florida due to impacts of sea level rise over the next several decades. The report casts light on the issues and clarifies the alternatives available to South Florida, which embraces the four counties of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Together, these counties generate more than $337 billion in personal income annually with a combined real property value assessed at more than $833 billion.
How a few negative online reviews early on can hurt a restaurant
Just a few negative online restaurant reviews can determine early on how many reviews a restaurant receives long-term, a new study has found.
FAU Smart City Project Paves the Way for Forecasting COVID-19 Infection Transmission
Researchers are exploring the untapped potential of emerging smart cities to enable hyper-contextualized computational epidemiology to tackle COVID-19. The idea is to partner with the computational epidemiology community to integrate evidence-based models of COVID-19 transmission with hyper-local mobility data to provide place-specific forecasts of disease transmission. When these tools are integrated into city planning efforts, they will provide real-time insights into how mobility changes within the city affect the local population’s susceptibility to future outbreaks.
Staying home? A geography expert in Buffalo creates a customizable ‘coloring book’ of city neighborhoods
Anyone can use the map. Kids can use the map as a learning activity by identifying their house; drawing in missing features, like cars, dogs or potholes; or color-coding their neighborhood according to themes such as the number of trees on a block.
Trump floodplain buyout plan bold, but ‘uncoordinated’
The Trump administration is pushing cities to use eminent domain in order to remove homeowners from flood zones — threatening to withhold federal funds those municipalities need to combat climate change if the cities refuse. Linda Shi, assistant professor in…
Neighborhood Features and One’s Genetic Makeup Interact to Affect Cognitive Function
Few studies have examined how the neighborhood’s physical environment relates to cognition in older adults. Researchers categorized 4,716 individuals by apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype – a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to determine if there are cognitive benefits of living in neighborhoods with greater access to social, walking and retail destinations. Results showed that the positive influence of neighborhood environments on cognition are strongest among those who are at the lowest risk for AD, specifically APOE ε2 carriers.
If it takes a hike, riders won’t go for bike sharing
Even a relatively short walk to find the nearest bicycle is enough to deter many potential users of bike sharing systems, new Cornell research suggests.
Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Earthquakes in Puerto Rico, Need for Preventative Policy Changes in Urban Planning
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media contact: Cynthia Medina, [email protected], 848-445-1940 Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Earthquakes in Puerto Rico, Need for Preventative Policy Changes in Urban Planning New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 13, 2020) – Rutgers scholar Zaire Dinzey-Flores, an expert on…
Smart intersections could cut autonomous car congestion
A new study by Cornell researchers developed a first-of-its-kind model to control traffic and intersections in order to increase autonomous car capacity on urban streets of the future, reduce congestion and minimize accidents.
Software helps create walkable cities of the future
Urbano, a free software launched Oct. 26 by Cornell researchers, employs data, metrics and an easy-to-use interface to help planners and architects add and assess walkability features in their designs as effectively as possible.
UCI-led team to study socioeconomic effects of coastal flooding in California
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine are leading a new project with three other UC campuses to study the impact of coastal flooding on disadvantaged communities in California. Launched with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Coastlines & People initiative, the effort will employ advanced simulation systems to deepen understanding of increasing flood risks within the state’s two most imperiled areas: Greater Los Angeles and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Hazards Mapping, History and the Future of Rust Belt Cities
Using geographic information systems (GIS) and archaeology to model industrial hazards in postindustrial cities to guide planning and development.