What are the most effective strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing, and eventually reversing climate change? The stories below illustrate how people around the world are implementing climate change solutions aligned with Project Drawdown, a research organization that ranks current solutions to climate change by impact. This month we are highlighting innovations in the transportation sector. Personal and commercial transportation — which includes road transport, aviation, shipping, rail, and pipeline — are responsible for about 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Solutions to this growing sector focus on shifting to alternative modes of mobility, enhancing efficiency of engines, and electrifying vehicles. They have the potential to not only curb pollution and save governments and individuals money, but they can also create a more equitable community that’s accessible to all of its residents.
According to Project Drawdown, transportation is one of the key areas for greenhouse gas...
Solutions Journalism Network
Bicycle use is on the rise as cities and their dwellers seek transportation solutions to clogged...
Solutions Journalism Network
Walkable cities' aim is to minimize the need to have or use cars and to make car alternatives...
Solutions Journalism Network
Urban transport is the single largest source of transportation-related emissions, and growing....
Solutions Journalism Network
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pete-buttigieg-south-bend/2021/01/15/6bb014b2-55d5-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html
Ian Duncan
The Washington Post
16 January 2021
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Reconfiguring streets to slow automobile traffic through its downtown business district and encourage pedestrians and bicycling enlivened South Bend's street life and proved a boon to its restaurants and other businesses. Then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg pushed for the $25 million plan to make the streets safer and encourage people to spend more time and money in the area. The "smart streets" plan, like other cities' "complete streets" approaches, faced drivers' complaints about increased driving time. But Buttigieg and his supporters hope to push the concept when he runs the federal Transportation Department.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-05/a-tiny-twist-on-street-design-the-one-minute-city
Feargus O'Sullivan
CityLab
5 January 2021
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The Street Moves initiative in Sweden is pushing local communities to become the designers of their own streets’ layouts and look at urban planning through the lens of the “one-minute city.” Through a public-private partnership, residents in four sites in Stockholm can help determine how much street space is used for parking, outdoor dining, and children’s play spaces. The goal is to increase participation in the community, address climate resilience, and create a more livable city.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-55418334
Elizaveta Vereykina
BBC
1 January 2021
Video / Under 3 Minutes
An initiative on the Moscow metro system has posters on the train featuring cats and dogs that are looking for a home. Known as the “Tails and Paws” train, these animals come from 13 animal shelters in the city and riders can use their phone to scan the poster to learn more about the animals up for adoption. “It’s about forming a new culture of responsible attitude to animals,” says one of the workers at a shelter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/29/business/new-york-passive-house-retrofit.html
Patrick Sisson
The New York Times
29 December 2020
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A housing project in Brooklyn is taking nine apartment buildings and retrofitting them to be more sustainable and cut carbon emissions. Casa Pasiva is a $20 million project that aims to reduce heating and cooling costs because of updated machinery and thick exteriors that will improve air quality. Funding for these types of initiatives is not always certain, but a collaboration between a developer and a nonprofit, with some city financing, made this first-of-a-kind green building renovation in New York possible.
https://www.wired.com/story/could-carbon-dioxide-be-turned-into-jet-fuel
Eric Niiler
Wired
22 December 2020
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Scientists at Oxford University have come up with a process that could turn carbon dioxide into jet fuel. The greenhouse gas, which is a major contributor to climate change, is constantly emitted by the aviation industry and this method would allow for that gas to be recycled into a liquid fuel for flights. Scaling the experiment has its challenges, but the process could result in net-zero emissions from airplanes.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/urban-farm-north-philadelphia-food-insecurity-supermarket-desert-20201124.html
Alfred Lubrano
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network)
24 November 2020
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The Life Do Grow Farm in Philadelphia, run by the nonprofit Urban Creators, is a two-acre plot that yields food needed to feed the community who might not be able to make ends meet. Since June, the farm has distributed 65,000 pounds of produce, along with free children’s meals. But the farm is also a community gathering space for artists and entrepreneurs. While the land’s lease runs out in 2022, the nonprofit hopes to own it and highlight it as a “reimagination of city land, a radical collaboration in the service of empowering Black and brown communities in North Central Philly,” said the farm manager.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08z3rtk
Richard Kenny
BBC
24 November 2020
Podcast / Over 15 Minutes
As a way to reduce the amount of diesel fuel that powers trains, governments and transit companies around the world are turning to solar panels as a way to utilize renewable energy. In Australia, a solar train launched in 2017 that uses lithium-ion batteries that are charged by solar panels on the roof of the carriages. And a rail line in the United Kingdom uses energy from a solar farm to keep the train running. Scaling solar panels for nation-wide transit systems can be challenging, but many countries are committed to eliminating the use of fossil fuels on their rail networks.
https://www.urbanet.info/gamification-in-urban-planning-participation-through-minecraft
Laura von Puttkamer
Urbanet
3 November 2020
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Urban planning using gamification is a viable way of engaging diverse parts of the population and placing people and communities at the center of the process. “Block by Block” is a collaboration between UN Habitat and the game company Mojang that holds participatory workshops, where people design public spaces using the game Minecraft. Over 25,000 people from diverse backgrounds and age groups have participated. Professional advisers are present and they adjust the designs for implementation. The method has been used by the City of Stockholm and to create the first skatepark in Kosovo.
https://www.biographic.com/chennai-ran-out-of-water
Erica Gies
Dhritiman Mukherjee
bioGraphic
30 October 2020
Multi-Media / Over 3000 Words
The city of Chennai in India is engaging in wetlands restoration and stormwater management by using traditional knowledge and community action to reduce flooding and ensure that people have access to drinking water. Through a development program called Water as Leverage, they are implementing “slow water” projects that restore flow paths for water, which could provide greater water resiliency for humans and protect and restore natural ecosystems. While it can be difficult to get government engineers to embrace green solutions, public awareness of the environmental work is helping move the projects forward.
https://www.governing.com/community/Slow-Streets-Were-Success-Should-Cities-Keep-Them.html
Skip Descant
Governing
29 October 2020
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A pilot project in several American cities has provided a large amount of data on how residents use streets where vehicular traffic is restricted. The initiative tested out ways to calm traffic, provide space for families to convene and exercise, and provide safer bike lanes. A transportation analysis firm was able to provide detailed analysis for how each city responded to the changes, opening up ways for governments to "implement the best project for that specific need and measure against those goals."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/jaywalking-laws-don-t-make-streets-safer?sref=EHcL0Cmk
Angie Schmitt
Charles T. Brown
CityLab
16 October 2020
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Jaywalking laws fail at their ostensible goal of protecting pedestrians, while increasing the risk of volatile encounters between the police and people of color, who are disproportionately targeted by enforcement efforts. Heavy-handed and selective enforcement in U.S. cities has failed to slow the rapid increase in pedestrian deaths. Far more effective responses to pedestrian safety include changing the design of streets and crosswalks. Examples of safer streets combined with legalized jaywalking exist in multiple countries around the world.
https://wearenotdivided.reasonstobecheerful.world/oakland-essential-places-covid-urban-planning-equity
Rikha Sharma Rani
Reasons to be Cheerful
8 October 2020
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Oakland is making an effort to make city planning more equitable to include the needs of communities of color. "Esential Places" is the second iteration of a program that started off as "Slow Streets" and was criticized by local residents for catering to "white and moneyed interests." The initial attempt was informed by survey respondents who were overwhelmingly white and rich. Meetings with community members in distressed neighborhoods resulted in different traffic challenges and pedestrian needs. The shift in policy planning has led to safer intersections with no collisions at previously dangerous sites.
https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/a-tiny-house-a-big-step
Emma Athena
Boulder Weekly
1 October 2020
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Tiny home communities across several American cities have helped alleviate homelessness amongst veterans with the work done by the Veterans Community Project (VCP). The organization has successfully housed and served homeless veterans by designing and building tiny home villages which partner with existing local organizations to provide wraparound services to help keep people off the streets. VCP has successfully deployed the housing-first model in Kansas City, Portland, Detroit, and LA and is now breaking ground in Boulder County for its latest project.
https://laist.com/how-to-new-la/reinvent/traffic-safety-los-angeles-police-roles-reexamined-vision-zero.php
Ryan Fonseca
LAist
24 September 2020
Text / Over 3000 Words
Five years after Los Angeles launched its Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities, the numbers of pedestrians and cyclists killed on city streets have soared. By relying too heavily on the racially fraught and often ineffective practice of police stops of vehicles, and by not spending enough on street redesigns and automated enforcement technologies, L.A. has failed to make the kind of progress that cities like New York and Seattle have made with engineering innovations, stricter speed limits, and camera enforcement.
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/housing-reform-philadelphia-portland
Jessica Blatt Press
The Philadelphia Citizen
16 September 2020
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Portland's new policy allowing for multi-family homes resulted from a long campaign of coalition building to address a need for middle-income housing that often gets overlooked in many cities. Although the Residential Infill Project will not take effect until August 2021, its enactment offers cities like Philadelphia lessons in strategic policymaking that overcomes entrenched views at opposite ends of the income and class spectrum, from property owners concerned about declining home values and advocates for low-income housing concerned about gentrification.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200908-the-buildings-warmed-by-the-human-body
Chermaine Lee
BBC
8 September 2020
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Harnessing body heat provides energy-saving heating to commercial and residential buildings. The Stockholm Central station in Sweden and the Mall of America in Minnesota both capture body warmth to provide some of the buildings' heat. Each has over 100,000 daily visitors during non-coronavirus times, generating substantial heat that can be captured by energy-efficient construction. Body heat is also utilized in residential spaces, where thermal insulation helps keep the warmth inside. Using body heat requires energy-efficient building materials and generally cannot provide all of a building's heating needs.
https://www.governing.com/now/Rural-California-Transit-Agency-Reinvents-Itself-During-COVID.html
Carl Smith
Governing
31 August 2020
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The coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced the ridership of the Monterey-Salinas Transit District, so the system shifted services to help the mostly rural community it serves. Despite cash-flow problems, unused drivers and vehicles helped Meals on Wheels deliver 8,000 meals to seniors and persons with disabilities, wi-fi-enabled commuter buses parked in rural areas to provide hot spots for students, and the system donated unused vehicles to groups serving veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and at-risk youth. The system continues to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances.
https://www.govtech.com/health/Project-Uses-AI-to-Maximize-Meal-Delivery-to-Students-in-Need.html
Ben Levine
Government Technology (GovTech)
27 August 2020
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Using AI technology, home address data, and algorithms, the Metro21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon was able to find the best school bus routes to deliver school meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution wouldn’t have worked with the help of a community of partners, leaders, and volunteers. “It truly has taken a village.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-10/to-tame-traffic-bogot-bets-big-on-bike-lanes
Andrea Jaramillo
Bloomberg
10 August 2020
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To help essential workers navigate the notorious traffic of Bogota, the city built over 50 miles of an emergency bike network. The plan was in place before the arrival of coronavirus but the execution was sped up to meet the demands of increased bike usage. Other measures were also put into place to make the roads more bike and pedestrian-friendly: Reduced speed limits for cars, a 20 percent increase in private parking for bikes, and a bike registration system to deincentivize bike theft. Efforts to expand bike lanes not only eased traffic, they also helped relieve pressure on the overcrowded bus system.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/bellevue-uses-ai-technology-to-identify-problem-intersections-and-make-them-safer
Michelle Baruchman
The Seattle Times
7 August 2020
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Artificial intelligence and traffic cameras are being used to identify dangerous intersections in Bellevue, Washington. Data from thousands of hours of footage revealed that intersections where drivers, bikers and pedestrians had near misses were the most problematic spots in need of improvement. Leveraging traffic data allowed the city to pinpoint potentially dangerous situations relatively quickly and implement the changes that are needed to secure those intersections.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-europes-greenest-capital-is-saving-city-trees
Edward Belleville
Next City
3 August 2020
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Cities around the world are using apps and interactive platforms to encourage resident volunteers to care for their urban forests. For example, in Berlin, Gieß den Kiez (Water the Neighborhood) is an app that allows users to watch their local trees and water them in times of need. When the app launched, there were 1,000 unique users and over 7,000 individual tree waterings in the first six weeks. However, the cost of planting and maintaining trees can be expensive and where the trees are located in cities and who benefits from them is not always equitable.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/07/31/urban-planning-segregation-white-supremacy
Julian Agyeman
Yes! Magazine
31 July 2020
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Urban planning policies can lead to greater racial segregation, sometimes intentionally. While older policies could be explicitly racist, today policies such as zoning, which designates land for residential or industrial use, effectively excludes communities of color, immigrants, and households with lower incomes. Residential segregation leads to education, income, and health disparities. Minneapolis ended single-family zoning so lots can be converted to more affordable duplexes and triplexes and is working towards requiring new apartment projects to reserve units for low- to moderate-income households.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-15/mayors-tout-the-15-minute-city-as-covid-recovery
Patrick Sisson
CityLab
15 July 2020
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Some cities are using coronavirus shutdowns as opportunities to start infrastructure projects that support car-free living and encourage walking or biking to jobs, shopping, and city services. Car-free urban development benefits the environment, revitalizes cities by keeping resources local, and has become more appealing because of fears of virus spread. Paris, Milan, Tallinn, Ottawa, and Portland are among the cities using coronavirus-related lockdowns to kickstart bike lane and pedestrian zone projects. As the pandemic has decimated city budgets, it is a challenging time to begin infrastructure projects.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-07-15/the-design-history-of-athens-iconic-apartments
Feargus O'Sullivan
Bloomberg
15 July 2020
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Athens's distinctive apartment buildings, known as polikatoikia, have unintentionally solved problems most cities grapple with. The housing complexes have given rise to a city that has socio-economic integration, decent living conditions, and well-lit apartments with ample outdoor space for fresh air. The varying heights of the buildings have allowed the city to avoid the austerity common for affordable housing projects and efforts to control costs resulted in a modernist design that gives Athens a unique roofscape. Additionally, the outdoor spaces foster a warm and welcoming sense of community.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/could-leaving-room-for-the-river-help-protect-communities-from-floods
Samantha Harrington
Yale Climate Connections
15 July 2020
Text / 800-1500 Words
While many communities in the Midwest use dams and levees to control the Mississippi River, some are trying new approaches to flood control as climate change threatens to increase rainfall and the severity of storms in the region. Some cities are turning to the Dutch solution of leaving “room for the river” to allow the body of water to flow naturally and design public spaces to handle inundation. While this technique doesn’t always work during major flooding events, traditional flood control strategies can be more harmful and actually worsen flooding.
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