The only way to meet the challenges of the 21st Century is to address poverty, pollution and environmental sustainability in the world's cities, writes Worldwatch Institute president Christopher Flavin.
"Urban centers are hubs simultaneously of breathtaking artistic innovation and some of the world's most abject and disgraceful poverty. They are the dynamos of the world economy but also the breeding grounds for alienation, religious extremism and other sources of local and global insecurity. Cities are now both pioneers of groundbreaking environmental policies and the direct or indirect source of most of the world's resource destruction and pollution.
This modern 'tale of two cities' is something that every policymaker and citizen needs to understand. The battles against our greatest global problems, from unemployment and HIV infections to water shortages, terrorism and climate change, will be largely won-or lost-in the world's cities. Yet from 1970 to 2000, urban aid worldwide was estimated at $60 billion-just 4 percent of the $1.5 trillion in development assistance."
Read the full story: Our Urban Future
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Record-breaking wildlife overpass in Colorado brings 91% reduction in animal collisions
Prior to the overpass, vehicles were hitting one deer per day on Colorado’s Interstate 25.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Trump wants to cancel nearly 98% of funding for HUD housing support program
Multiple housing groups are suing the administration in an effort to preserve the funding.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello