City Stories
A key challenge in this new Human Age is to lessen the ecological footprint of the world’s cities, even as their populations expand. The Anthropocene tells the stories about resilient urban coastal infrastructure, low carbon transportation systems, and nature-inspired architectural designs.
Cities need new types of pavement capable of absorbing a flood. This team has a customized recipe.
Australian researchers devised an algorithm for permeable pavement tailored to local soil and rainfall conditions
When life hands you disposable diapers, make affordable housing
Researchers constructed a prototype dwelling to demonstrate the unlikely material’s promise as a concrete component.
This Is How Blockchain Could Upend the Grid
by allowing people to buy and sell energy in small increments from, and to, their neighbors
Ecology for Insiders
The indoor biome covers as much as six percent of the world’s landmass—and we know almost nothing about it.
New Year’s fireworks can give migratory birds a surprisingly long hangover
The link between fireworks and wildlife disturbance is well-established. This study of migratory geese is the first to look at long-term effects
Does driving an electric car help decarbonize the economy?
You would need to drive an electric car more than 50,000 km in Quebec and 150,000 km in Germany to outcompete a conventional car in terms of greenhouse gas emissions
Imagine There’s No Drivers
And no traffic lights. And no parking lots. It isn’t hard to do.
The key to sustainable cities may lie in increasingly sophisticated digital twins
Researchers offer the first rigorous analysis “In silico" equivalents of urban areas as a powerful tool for sustainable development
Cities have a green infrastructure blind spot
Carbon footprint standards exist for buildings, but not for the landscaping that surrounds them.
Researchers test animal smarts to find what makes some better suited to urban living
A new study suggests that city life favors quieter, cleverer raccoons—and that means culling the aggressive ones could be a poor strategy.