Environment

Roberta Brandes Gratz examines the many differences, and few similarities, between the two most devastating urban storms of recent memory. Among the most elemental differences: one devastated neighborhoods, one a city; one was man-made, one natural.

January 25, 2013 - Citiwire

Once controlled by "industrial behemoths", Christine H. O'Toole examines the role that Pittsburgh's three rivers - its genius loci - have played in spurring the redevelopment of the city's downtown.

January 23, 2013 - The New York Times

Justin Gillis tags along with researchers who are trying to pinpoint just how much of the world's coastlines will be inundated by dramatically rising sea levels. By looking at historical records scientists are beginning to paint a grim picture.

January 22, 2013 - The New York Times

Philadelphia spends $64 on parks and recreation facilities per resident, one of the lowest totals in the nation. Ryan Briggs uses the city as a lens to examine the growing impact of budget cuts to park systems on their surrounding communities.

January 22, 2013 - Next City

Matt Bevilacqua found much to cheer in the 'renewed focus on urbancentric topics' that President Obama delivered in his second inaugural address. Climate change, immigration, and inequality were among the speech's primary topics.

January 22, 2013 - Next City

"America is renewing itself from the bottom up." That is the premise underlying the second annual “Innovations to Watch” list just released by The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Rockefeller Foundation.

January 20, 2013 - Brookings

India’s foremost environmental think tank is touting a recently developed sustainable building certification program "Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment" (GRIHA) as more holistic than LEED. Could it also help enforce labor laws?

January 19, 2013 - Green Futures Magazine

The EPA has released plans for how it intends to clean up Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal Superfund site. Branden Klayko reports on the $500 million, two pronged approach.

January 18, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper

31 atmospheric scientists have written a new study on the major component of soot called 'black carbon', long identified with causing respiratory problems - and have shown how it is the 2nd most important agent of climate change after carbon dioxide.

January 18, 2013 - The New York Times

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a two-part bill to fund the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. In an essay written prior to the vote, Rob Young criticizes the rush to approve rebuilding the entire coast as it was before the storm.

January 17, 2013 - Bloomberg

With yesterday's announcement that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will soon step down, the three top environmental posts in the federal government are waiting to be filled. The vacancies are further muddling the administration's second term agenda.

January 17, 2013 - The Washington Post

While the wind energy credit was extended thanks to the fiscal cliff deal, don't expect to see a flurry of wind projects built and certainly it won't match last year's production. Much uncertainty remains for this renewable power industry.

January 17, 2013 - The Wall Street Journal

Kaid Benfield proposes not only more walkable neighborhoods in the United States, where a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle every 7 minutes, but also more walking to reverse the country's alarming obesity trend.

January 17, 2013 - NRDC Switchboard

What do three-pack-a-day smoking habits, triple-decker cheese burgers and sprawl have in common? They all offer immediate gratification and deferred consequences. But now the bill's coming due. Ben Brown lays out some ways to face the music.

January 17, 2013 - PlaceShakers

From roof mounted gas-powered generators to emergency floodgates and watertight mechanical rooms, developers and their designers in New York are already incorporating preventative measures into new and revised designs for their buildings.

January 17, 2013 - The New York Times

Facing federal regulatory action for violating Clean Water Act standards, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors will consider a parcel tax weighted towards a property's amount of impervious pavement to fund programs to reduce stormwater pollution.

January 16, 2013 - The California Report

The "great global project" of this century, says Patrick Doherty, is how to "accommodate 3 billion additional middle-class aspirants in two short decades." In a bold essay, he outlines how the U.S. must lead the global transition to sustainability.

January 15, 2013 - Foreign Policy

Kaid Benfield examines a model 'pocket neighborhood' - Little Rock's Pettaway - which simultaneously improves a declining neighborhood, provides affordable infill housing and applies advanced measures for stormwater control.

January 15, 2013 - NRDC Switchboard

Town Branch Creek was once the lifeblood of Lexington, Kentucky. Now, more than a century after it was rerouted and buried, city leaders want to resurrect the historic waterway as the focal point of downtown redevelopment.

January 15, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper

In Beijing, the level of air pollution is the highest the monitors at the U.S. embassy have ever recorded since put in place in 2008. The pollution results from a combination of weather conditions and particulate matter - most from coal burning.

January 15, 2013 - The New York Times - Environment