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by and - Cities in Brazil, India and Indonesia are using the new Urban Community Resilience Assessment tool to prepare for a warmer world.
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by Lubaina Rangwala, Lauretta Burke, Retno Wihanesta, Katerina Elias-Trostmann and Mandakini Chandra - December 2018This report highlights how the Urban Community Resilience Assessment (UCRA) was piloted in three cities, its potential to build more climate-resilient cities and communities, and ways to enhance the tool for future implementation.
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by Anne Maassen and Madeleine Galvin - December 12, 2018From a waste-pickers’ cooperative in India to a cable-car system in Colombia's slums, we're beginning to see what innovative urbanization can look like.
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by Aniruddha Dasgupta - October 31, 2018A clear message from cities emerges from the IPCC 1.5 report: Cities must live and build differently to mitigate and adapt to climate change. A manifesto from WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities lead Ani Dasgupta.
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by Shuaib Lwasa and Kate Owens - October 2018This case study in the World Resources Report, Towards a More Equal City, examines transformative urban change in Kampala, Uganda, by following its sanitation reforms. The research follows the political process that created favorable conditions for the implementation of innovative solutions to sanitation service provision. The unfolding change remains vulnerable to shifting fiscal priorities and local political instabilities, however, with continued support from all stakeholders, it seems likely that the urban change in Kampala will be sustained.
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by Elizabeth Moses - October 2018This document synthesizes key insights and entry points to address air pollution and its range of environmental, public health, and socioeconomic impacts from a multi-stakeholder workshop hosted by WRI and partners.
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by Schuyler Null, Anna Bray Sharpin and Paula Cunha Tanscheit - October 03, 2018Shorter blocks, narrower lanes, chicanes, roundabouts, speed humps and raised crossings can make roads safer.
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by Suzanne Ozment and Rafael Feltran-Barbieri - September 25, 2018Restoring forests in 4,000 targeted hectares would over time reduce sediment pollution by a third and turbidity by half in São Paulo's stressesd water system.
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by John-Rob Pool, Frances Seymour, Todd Gartner and Mariana Campos - September 12, 2018Most people don’t associate cities with trees, but urban areas are actually dependent on healthy forests. A new initiative helps cities protect trees—both those within city boundaries and others hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
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by Tom Cyrs, James DeWeese and Kevin Kennedy - September 12, 2018A new report from America's Pledge shows that states, cities and businesses are on track to reduce U.S. emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, approximately two-thirds of the way to the national pledge of cutting emissions 26-28 percent by 2025. And they could easily get even further.
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by Valeria Lvovna Gelman and Anjali Mahendra - August 30, 2018Ahmedabad uses a unique process to make sure that new developments receive city services.
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by Darshini Mahadevia, Madhav Pai and Anjali Mahendra - August 2018This case study in the World Resources Report, Towards a More Equal City, examines transformative urban change in Ahmedabad India, by analyzing the land pooling and readjustment mechanism called Town Planning Scheme (TPS). This paper reviews the evidence on whether the TPS mechanism has enabled transformative change with equitable outcomes in Ahmedabad City—and if so, how.
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by Valeria Lvovna Gelman and Robin King - August 16, 2018Civil society organizations in Pune pushed for reforms to waste management and transport. Government worked with them—to a point.
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by Lalitha Kamath, Robin King, Himanshu Burte and Avinash Madhale - August 2018This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” examines the processes of transformative change and the conditions enabling and inhibiting it in Pune, the second largest city in Maharashtra state, India. Many initiatives across diverse sectors have had a positive, qualitative impact on sustainability and service provision in Pune, particularly in its solid waste and transport sectors. These initiatives reflect important shifts in the local government’s attitudes and systems towards greater sustainability and equity and have had a positive impact on many lives.
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by Ginette Walls and Cassandra Etter-Wenzel - August 09, 2018Quito, Semarang City, Vienna and São Paulo are just a few of the cities that have used data to reshape transportation policy to reduce sexual violence, improve road safety and increase access for the disabled.
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by Ben Welle, Guillermo Petzhold and Francisco Minella Pasqual - August 08, 2018New taxes and fees shouldn't just raise revenue. They can do more than that: they can make cities more livable and transport more sustainable.
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by Robin Chase - July 31, 2018WRI Board Member and Zipcar co-founder Robin Chase argues that we should make sure that taxes encourage all forms of sustainable mobility, including walking and biking.
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by Emma Stewart and Renilde Becqué - July 26, 2018Market signals and political will to decarbonize the buildings sector are still missing. But in surprising places, from Mexico to India to Kenya to China, net or nearly-zero-carbon buildings are emerging.
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by Valeria Lvovna Gelman and Daniely Votto - June 13, 2018Participatory budgeting programs can empower the poor to allocate funding to projects that will help them in their daily lives. But when these programs lack legal safeguards, changing political tides can draw funds and commitment away, undermining their effectiveness.
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by Rebecca Abers, Robin King, Daniely Votto and Igor Brandão - June 2018This case study in the World Resources Report, “Towards a More Equal City,” examines transformative urban change in Porto Alegre, Brazil, through the lens of participatory budgeting. The research focuses on whether and how transformative change has taken place in the city between 1990 and the present, as well examining the recent decline and suspension of participatory budgeting in the city of its birth.