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.
Barcelona-style “superblocks” could make a surprising number of cities greener and less car-centric
Identify a handful of adjacent city blocks, restrict traffic to the perimeter, and make the interior for walking, biking, and green space. A new study finds it could work even in cities with an irregular street grid.
How mass urbanization can be good for the climate
An analysis of China’s recent history overturns the conventional wisdom about the carbon cost of urbanization
Habitat with Humanity
Making creative accommodations for the urban wild
The Circular Economy Made Real
In more and more pockets of the industrial landscape, the byproducts of one process are becoming the raw materials for another, trash is getting a useful second life, and waste is becoming a thing of the past.
Are We Approaching Peak Stuff?
Almost imperceptibly, we are stepping off the consumption treadmill
To make carbon taxes fairer and more effective, give people free green services rather than cash
A well designed carbon tax could reduce carbon emissions and poverty at the same time; A new study shows how.
These Buildings Generate More Energy Than They Use
Norway ushers in an era of energy-positive architecture
The Rise of the Wooden Skyscraper
New, mass-timber engineering could transform the twenty-first-century city from a carbon source into a carbon sink
Habitecture
Tiny houses and great cathedrals, carbon-neutral skyscrapers and Airstream trailers: architecture is among the greatest of human crafts. Just imagine if the same ingenuity and vision were devoted to building homes for animals.
Far-reaching study spells out how to drastically cut the energy footprint of buildings
The formula, which calls for a combination efficiency technology and peak load management, could eliminate need for one third of US coal and natural gas power plants
