Cities

ROBOT CITIES: Three urban prototypes for future living

13 Apr 18 - Governments have started to see automation as the key to brighter urban futures. But what will this look like?

Five lessons cities can learn from Cape Town

6 Apr 18 - Other cities can learn from Cape Town where water supplies remain at high risk because the long-term predictions for rainfall remain uncertain.

Can a city ever be truly carbon neutral?

3 Apr 18 - Upon becoming Greater Manchester’s first elected mayor, Andy Burnham announced his ambition to make the city-region one of the greenest in Europe.

London leads new global green finance rankings

21 Mar 18 - London’s reputation as a leading financial centre has now extended to include the field of sustainability.

Heart attacks can rise during extremes of heat

13 Mar 18 - Extremes of heat are dangerous. Just how dangerous is still being established. But since heat waves are on the way, city-dwellers need to know.

Cities study reveals much bigger carbon footprints

9 Mar 18 - Cities are generating up to 60 per cent more greenhouse gases than thought, thanks to their reliance on goods and services from outside their borders.

Auckland City eyes green bonds issue

8 Mar 18 - Auckland Council could issue green bonds to cover the cost of cutting emissions and adapting to climate change.

Three NZ cities get high world ranking for renewable energy

1 Mar 18 - Three New Zealand urban areas are among 101 global cities getting more than 70 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources.

Climate will push European cities to breaking point

23 Feb 18 - A new study highlights the urgent need to adapt urban areas across Europe to cope with floods, droughts and heatwaves.

Want to know about city pollution? Ask a pigeon

20 Feb 18 - Pigeons might be seen as the scourge of cities, but researchers say they could help us to explore a host of toxins in the air, from lead to pesticides.

Urban forests add to cities’ health ... and wealth

31 Jan 18 - Planting more urban forests is a simple way not only to improve the health of a city’s people, but to make them wealthier, too.

Bank partners with global mayors to green cities

15 Dec 17 - A European development bank has partnered with city mayors from all over the world to mobilise more than $1.5 billion in urban investment to help combat climate change.

Outlook grim for warmer Auckland, warns report

7 Dec 17 - Floods, fires, droughts, storms, slips, pests and diseases are Auckland’s future, threatening primary production and human health, warns a new report.

Nature's drying up, so maybe we should be mining our cities

5 Dec 17 - Instead of extracting dwindling raw materials from nature, the time has come to start re-using materials from buildings and infrastructure in cities.

Don't bury bike-sharing, there's still room on the road

4 Dec 17 - Dramatic images of bike graveyards shouldn't be taken at face value – there's hope for bike-sharing schemes yet.

City trees feel the heat ... and love it

27 Nov 17 - City trees are responding to climate change and urban growth, making the most of the heat island effect.

Three ways cities are leading the climate change fight

21 Nov 17 - Cities account for 75 per cent of the world’s energy use and 76 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions.

The inconvenient truth about smart cities

20 Nov 17 - Plans for more wired, networked, connected urban areas face challenges if they fail to account for existing, local, non-digital elements such as government and socioeconomic conditions.

Cities could save billions while saving the planet

15 Nov 17 - Climate change action at the local level has the potential to save as much as £7 billion each year across the 50 largest cities in the UK.