Tag: urban planning
The threat of sea-level rise–actually, its ongoing reality–has been on many more minds since New York and surrounding areas were walloped during Hurricane Sandy by a record-high storm surge, abetted by a water level that has risen steadily over the last century. That level will keep rising if climate keeps warming, and so, probably, will the frequency of extreme weather. That is why the new book Rising Seas: Past, Present Future by geologist Vivien Gornitz is a timely and important contribution to helping people understand the issue.
Category> Climate, Earth Sciences, General Earth Institute, Natural Disasters
Tags> climate change, Infrastructure, sea level rise, Urban, urban planning
(Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2013) Before Hurricane Sandy, scientists at The Earth Institute were at the forefront of studying the dangers posed by such storms, especially in the New York City area, where they are based. Among their specialties: the physics of storms and storm prediction; impacts of climate on weather and sea level; [...]
Category> Climate, General Earth Institute, Natural Disasters
Tags> Climate, Hurricane Sandy, hurricanes, Infrastructure, Media Advisories, MPA in Environmental Science and Policy News, urban climate change crossroads, urban planning
Graduate students in architecture and urban design recently presented their findings and design work issuing out of a collaboration between the Urban Design Lab (UDL) and MCI in the Millennium City of Kumasi, Ghana. At the city’s invitation, and with MCI’s facilitation, the UDL came to Kumasi in early February, to devise solutions to revitalize the severely degraded and impoverished areas of Akrom, Adukrom and Sewabah and to design a comprehensive Women’s and Girls’ Center for the vibrant downtown commercial neighborhood of Bantama.
Category> Urbanization
Tags> Ghana, Kumasi, Millennium Cities Initiative, Urban Design, urban design lab, urban planning
The results are in for the first study to systematically measure the effects of the city’s fledgling effort to introduce more reflective rooftops in order to reduce cooling costs and the overall heat burden on the city.
Category> Climate, Energy
Tags> Adaptation, Energy, green roofs, Infrastructure, New York City, Urban Design, urban planning, white roofs
Urbanization poses both challenges and opportunities for sustainable development and environmental management. Improved data on patterns of human settlement and trends in population can help researchers and policy makers better understand differences between urban and rural areas in terms of their impacts on the environment and vulnerability to environmental variability and change. The newly released [...]
Category> Earth Sciences
Tags> mapping, urban planning
The following is a guest blog, authored by Victoria Okoye, a Millennium Cities Initiative researcher, who has been investigating urban transportation issues in Accra, Ghana.
Researching urban transport in Accra, Ghana, this summer on behalf of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Millennium Cities Initiative, I learned a lot about the city’s most well-known, loved, hated, but essential modes of transport. Tro-tros, as they are called here, are minibuses that seat 10 to 19 persons and operate along set routes inside the city. They transport 70% of Accra residents traveling to work and shopping, making it the most widely used form of transportation.
Category> Poverty / Economic Development, Urbanization
Tags> Accra, Ghana, Millennium Cities Initiative, Millennium Development Goals, tro-tro, urban planning, urban transport, urbanization
Accra, Ghana, MCI’s newest Millennium City, presents a unique set of challenges in its quest to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. With a population of well over three million, Accra has had to deal with public sector challenges typical of many urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa, including finding solutions to the many pressing [...]
Category> General Earth Institute
Tags> Accra, Ghana, millennium cities, Millennium Cities Initiative, Millennium Development Goals, urban development, urban planning
The Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) and the Earth Institute (EI) were honored to host Accra Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije this week, for a series of lectures and meetings focused on Ghana’s capital. Mayor Vanderpuije met twice with the leadership of the MCI Accra team – Professor Patricia Culligan, Vice-Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied [...]
Category> General Earth Institute, Urbanization
Tags> Accra, Ghana, Millennium Cities Initiative, Urban Design, urban development, urban planning
Even on a sunny day, nearly 13 million gallons of water are pumped from New York City subways. As global warming brings rising sea levels and stormier weather, more flooding is expected for New York’s transit system. To adapt, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs to develop a master plan that lays out the costs of [...]
Category> Climate, Earth Sciences, Water
Tags> Climate, climate change adaptation, lamont doherty earth observatory, urban planning
