Sustainable Futures

Rhine-Ruhr, or Essen-Düsseldorf, is among the world's least recognized larger urban areas (Figure 1).  Germany does not designate urban areas according to the international standard, and for that reason the Rhine-Ruhr does not appear on the United Nations list of largest urban areas. Yet, in reality this contiguous urban area is Germany's largest urban area, a position as it has held since at least the end of World War II. The Rhine-Ruhr is the third largest urban area in Western Europe, trailing only Paris and London. The area was one of the strongest early urban industrial areas in the 18th century and continued as a major manufacturing and coal mining center through the first half of the 20th century.

Why does PRADAN support small decentralized farm-based rainwater harvesting rather than big projects? In short, we made a commitment to poor, small-holder farmers to ensure happy, self-sustainable livelihoods in their own farms. Fifty seven percent of Indian rural households own some land, the majority of farms less than one hectare and about half depend entirely on seasonal rain [1]. Many of these farmers do not have access to irrigation projects tied to big dams and government-sponsored canal programmes.

The above map shows the levels of food insecurity in America. The darkest areas on the map mean that at least 30 percent of that area's population is food insecure. While the lightest areas are between 4 and 14 percent.

The Shared Value Summit gathered top executives from around the world to discuss the future. Learn how companies are profiting by serving their communities.

Rising interest in eco-city initiatives prompts questions about what innovation processes are needed and how these can be facilitated by appropriate governance mechanisms.

By 2050, one in five Americans will be 65 years of age or older, but, unfortunately, less than half of our country’s jurisdictions are prepared for this massive demographic shift. At The Atlantic’s...

New research suggests LEED-ND-certified buildings dramatically cut down on driving rates.

Last week, EPA released the fifth drinking water infrastructure needs survey and assessment. This survey indicates that $384 billion is needed to invest in things like pipes, treatment plants and storage tanks to meet the needs of 73,400 water systems across the country over the next 20 years. This huge need represents challenges to delivering safe drinking water to homes and businesses, especially as we face aging infrastructure worldwide.

Is there a store in your city that offers products made out of recycled materials? Are there grocery stores that sell local and organic foods?

In 1975, there was a Vietnamese exodus after the fall of Saigon. Many of the Christian Vietnamese who supported the U.S.-allied government in the south fled. Some of them ended up in camps in the M...

“The move to the smart grid is impossible to achieve in one big operational mass,”...“Breaking it into bite-sized pieces — this is the future of the microgrid market.”

From northern Europe to Florida, highway planners are rethinking roadsides as potential habitat for native plants and wildlife. Scientists say this new approach could provide a useful tool in fostering biodiversity.

Rev. Luis Cortés at Bread for the World's 2013 National Gathering. (Joe Molieri/Bread for the World). Immigration and hunger are closely related.

Biomimicry offers a solution to use flood water in an industrial park.

Seattle City Light and the Bullitt Foundation have announced a first-of-its-kind model for financing advanced energy-efficiency improvements in new and existing commercial buildings.

The model has to key differentiators from typical financing plans. First, an energy-efficiency meter measures real-time energy savings and allows it to be sold as it occurs. Second, a 20-year contract is inked between the utility and energy-efficiency investors.

We know what is killing the bees.

A great example of how green infrastructure can be incorporated from the start in new street design.

Permaculture is notoriously hard to define. A recent survey shows that people simultaneously believe it is a design approach, a philosophy, a movement, and a set of practices. This broad and contradiction-laden brush doesn’t just make permaculture hard to describe. It can be off-putting, too.

  There is little question that suburban strip malls represent an unsustainable architecture.  Totally automobile-dependent, marked by large surface parking lots, and remarkably inefficient at using land, strip malls generate much more pollution...

Housing is a key component of any governments’ comprehensive urban plan.  The cornerstone of any good housing sector is a plan to provide affordable housing options so that all citizens have a place to call their own.  Traditionally, housing was considered affordable if it cost no more than 30% of an individual’s or family’s income.  Such a simplistic measure fails to account for a wide range of factors that can potentially affect the affordability of an area, key among them being transportation costs.  The Center for Neighborhood Technology believes that they may have rectified this problem with the creation of their Housing + Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index.