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+9 +1
City of London proposing to make skyscrapers dim their lights at night
Skyscrapers in the City of London would be required to dim their lights at night as part of proposals to reduce visual pollution and save energy. Under the proposal from the City of London Corporation, property owners across the Square Mile – a 1.12 square mile zone in the centre of the capital whose boundaries stretch from the Temple to the Tower of London and from Chancery Lane to Liverpool Street – would be asked to switch off unnecessary building lights to create “brightness zones” governed by curfews.
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+13 +1
Buzz stops: bus shelter roofs turned into gardens for bees and butterflies
Butterflies and bees are getting their own transport network as “bee bus stops” start to pop up around UK cities and across Europe. Humble bus shelter roofs are being turned into riots of colour, with the number of miniature gardens – full of pollinator-friendly flora such as wild strawberries, poppies and pansies – set to increase by 50% in the UK by the end of this year.
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+20 +1
Abandoned Walmart is Now America’s Largest 1-Floor Library
There are thousands of abandoned big box stores sitting empty all over America, including hundreds of former Walmart stores. With each store taking up enough space for 2.5 football fields, Walmart’s use of more than 698 million square feet of land in the U.S. is one of its biggest environmental impacts. But at least one of those buildings has been transformed into something arguably much more useful: the nation’s largest library.
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+3 +1
The People the Suburbs Were Built for Are Gone
Last summer, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, co-bylined an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal promising to “protect America’s suburbs," describing how they reversed policies that would allow for the creation of denser living structures in areas zoned only for single-family homes.
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+17 +1
Homeless, not phoneless: The app saving society's forgotten tech users
When Lisa Peterson became homeless, she spent months without a bed of her own. But her phone never left her sight. Driving across the country, couch-surfing and staying in crisis accommodations, Lisa would charge her phone at train stations and use free public Wi-Fi to stay connected.
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+21 +1
Apple commits $2.5 billion to combat housing crisis in California
Apple today announced a comprehensive $2.5 billion plan to help address the housing availability and affordability crisis in California. As costs skyrocket for renters and potential homebuyers — and as the availability of affordable housing fails to keep pace with the region’s growth — community members like teachers, firefighters, first responders and service workers are increasingly having to make the difficult choice to leave behind the community they have long called home.
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+25 +1
Can I plant trees anywhere and which type is best?
A warning from climate change experts that the UK needs to quickly plant a lot more trees has prompted readers to ask how they can help. At best we need to more than double the amount of trees we plant to achieve our carbon reduction targets, experts have said. Here are some of the things our readers wanted to know about tree planting.
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+4 +1
Know I'm Here - Handcraft
Documentary Film. In a moment of crisis for the subarctic town of Churchill, Manitoba, Kal Barteski brings together artists from around the world to paint massive murals on the town’s neglected buildings, to bring hope and awareness.
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+12 +1
Improved air quality leads to fewer L.A.-area kids developing asthma
Improved air quality in the Los Angeles region is linked to roughly 20% fewer new asthma cases in children, according to a USC study that tracked Southern California children over a 20-year period. The findings appear in the May 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research expands on the landmark USC Children’s Health Study, which found that children’s lungs had grown stronger in the previous two decades and rates of bronchitic symptoms decreased as pollution declined throughout the region.
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+16 +1
3 cities in the U.S. have ended chronic homelessness: Here’s how they did it
Nine more have ended veteran homelessness. It’s part of a national program called Built for Zero that uses a data-based approach to help officials figure out exactly who needs what services. Now it’s launching in 50 more cities.
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+15 +1
South Korea is building a $40 billion city designed to eliminate the need for cars
When residents of the International Business District (IBD) in Songdo, South Korea go to work, pick up their kids from school, or shop for groceries, driving is optional. That's because the $40 billion district— currently a work-in-progress about the size of downtown Boston — was designed to eliminate the need for cars.
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+18 +1
'It’s the only way forward': Madrid bans polluting vehicles from city centre
From Friday, only vehicles producing zero emissions will be allowed to drive freely in downtown Madrid – making it a pollution pioneer in Europe. By 10.15 on Wednesday morning, Enrique Pelagio had parked his lorry in the chic Madrid neighbourhood of Chueca and was stacking the trolley that would bring the local cafes, bars and restaurants their daily bread and pastries.
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+9 +1
What would a smog-free city look like?
The persistent haze over many of our cities is a reminder of the polluted air that we breathe. Over 80% of the world’s urban population is breathing air that fails to meet World Health Organisation guidelines, and an estimated 4.5 million people died prematurely from outdoor air pollution in 2015.
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+4 +1
DDOT adds to bus service as it rebrands
The city will add free Wi-Fi and 24-hour service on its 10 most popular routes this fall, and is evolving its look over the next year.
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+17 +1
This Technology Could Transform Life in Cities
Satellite images let us see Earth from above. But a technology closer to Earth can give us a much more detailed look. Aerial “light detection and ranging,” also known as lidar (rhymes with eye-dar), works by sending laser pulses from a plane, helicopter, or drone. The device then receives information back about the surfaces below.
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+20 +1
Cities Should Think About Trees As Public Health Infrastructure
Planting trees is an incredibly cheap and simple way to improve the well-being of people in a city. A novel idea: Public health institutions should be financing urban greenery to support well-being and air quality.
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Review-1 +1
My Website
The map with free Wi-Fi hotspots anywhere you go! ➔ Wi-Fi Space - restaurants, cafes and other places with free Wi-Fi. The passwords to protected Wi-Fi hotspots.
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+16 +1
Up to 3,000 homes to be built on former Irish Glass Bottle site
Thousands of apartments in blocks up to 50m or 16 storeys tall will be permitted on the former Irish Glass Bottle site, under plans for the development of a new urban quarter on Dublin’s Poolbeg peninsula. The draft Poolbeg Special Development Zone (SDZ) scheme – which will allow the fast-track planning for up to 3,000 homes on the former industrial lands – will be available for public consultation next month.
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+44 +1
Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars
Modern cities are ruled by cars. Streets are designed for them; bikers, pedestrians, vendors, hangers-out, and all other forms of human life are pushed to the perimeter in narrow lanes or sidewalks. Truly shared spaces are confined to parks and the occasional plaza. This is such a fundamental reality of cities that we barely notice it any more. Some folks, however, still cling to the old idea that cities are for people, that more common space should be devoted to living in the city rather than getting through it or around it.
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+4 +1
Can China's Futuristic 'Straddling Bus' Finally Become a Reality?
Car ownership in China is soaring, with an estimated 20 million new drivers hitting the roads each year. Cities there can expect no shortage of air pollution and hellish traffic jams. While local governments are hoping that parking regulations and plate restrictions will ease congestion, engineers and designers are trying to find relief in technology. What if there were a city bus that could carry more than a thousand passengers from one point to another without taking up any space on the road?
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