State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: urban development

  • Rising Seas Will Tighten Vise on Miami Even for People Who Are Not Flooded, Says Study

    Rising Seas Will Tighten Vise on Miami Even for People Who Are Not Flooded, Says Study

    Most research on rising sea levels focuses on the direct effects of inundation. A new study adds social and economic vulnerabilities to the equation.

  • Climate Change May Soon Hit Billions of People. Many Cities Are Already Taking Action.

    Climate Change May Soon Hit Billions of People. Many Cities Are Already Taking Action.

    Billions of people in thousands of cities around the world will soon be at risk from climate-related heat waves, droughts, flooding, food shortages and energy blackouts by mid-century, but many cities are already taking action to blunt such effects, says a new report from a consortium of international organizations.

  • Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    An effective transportation system is to the sustainable city what a well-functioning circulatory system is to a healthy human being. New York City has developed along the path of its subway system.

  • New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City is always in the global media and the images of this place are the inescapable backdrop of the emerging global culture. And that culture does not require the luxury consumer goods that are now available in all of the world’s major cities. Its core culture values a place that is safe to…

  • The Importance of New York City’s Water Infrastructure

    New York City has a magnificent system of water supply. It is an example of farsighted long-term leadership and investment without which the modern city of New York could never have been built.

  • We Need to Finance and Subsidize Mass Transit

    While it would be nice to see a mass transit financing solution included in an effort to rebuild the nation’s depleted highway trust fund, a nation that refuses to tax itself to repair deteriorating roads and bridges appears unlikely to provide funding for mass transit. Still, no effort to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse…

  • Students Tour Via Verde, New York’s Most Sustainable Urban Housing in the Bronx

    By Noah Morgenstein This May, students in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management and the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development toured Via Verde, one of New York’s greenest housing complexes. From the photovoltaic solar panels to the rooftop gardens and water reclamation system, Via Verde embodies many of the practical approaches to sustainable development that…

  • A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    My lasting impression of Kumasi, Ghana, is one of incredible warmth; traveling there with the MCI team for the Kumasi Stakeholder Workshop, which was held October 11-13, I was happy to discover that the much talked-about “Ghanaian friendliness” was a generalization that proved to be true. I was also inspired by the number of Kumasi…

  • Columbia Planning Seminar on Accra, Ghana, Sparks Ideas to Further the City’s Development

    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…

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
  • Rising Seas Will Tighten Vise on Miami Even for People Who Are Not Flooded, Says Study

    Rising Seas Will Tighten Vise on Miami Even for People Who Are Not Flooded, Says Study

    Most research on rising sea levels focuses on the direct effects of inundation. A new study adds social and economic vulnerabilities to the equation.

  • Climate Change May Soon Hit Billions of People. Many Cities Are Already Taking Action.

    Climate Change May Soon Hit Billions of People. Many Cities Are Already Taking Action.

    Billions of people in thousands of cities around the world will soon be at risk from climate-related heat waves, droughts, flooding, food shortages and energy blackouts by mid-century, but many cities are already taking action to blunt such effects, says a new report from a consortium of international organizations.

  • Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    Mass Transit in the Sustainable City

    An effective transportation system is to the sustainable city what a well-functioning circulatory system is to a healthy human being. New York City has developed along the path of its subway system.

  • New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City’s Sustainable Dream

    New York City is always in the global media and the images of this place are the inescapable backdrop of the emerging global culture. And that culture does not require the luxury consumer goods that are now available in all of the world’s major cities. Its core culture values a place that is safe to…

  • The Importance of New York City’s Water Infrastructure

    New York City has a magnificent system of water supply. It is an example of farsighted long-term leadership and investment without which the modern city of New York could never have been built.

  • We Need to Finance and Subsidize Mass Transit

    While it would be nice to see a mass transit financing solution included in an effort to rebuild the nation’s depleted highway trust fund, a nation that refuses to tax itself to repair deteriorating roads and bridges appears unlikely to provide funding for mass transit. Still, no effort to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse…

  • Students Tour Via Verde, New York’s Most Sustainable Urban Housing in the Bronx

    By Noah Morgenstein This May, students in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management and the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development toured Via Verde, one of New York’s greenest housing complexes. From the photovoltaic solar panels to the rooftop gardens and water reclamation system, Via Verde embodies many of the practical approaches to sustainable development that…

  • A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    A Lasting Impression: Kumasi Stakeholders Truly Committed to Bettering their City

    My lasting impression of Kumasi, Ghana, is one of incredible warmth; traveling there with the MCI team for the Kumasi Stakeholder Workshop, which was held October 11-13, I was happy to discover that the much talked-about “Ghanaian friendliness” was a generalization that proved to be true. I was also inspired by the number of Kumasi…

  • Columbia Planning Seminar on Accra, Ghana, Sparks Ideas to Further the City’s Development

    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…