sustainable city

Biodiver City – Is It Really The Best Solution?

“Biodiver City” is a proposed project by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to create a small chain of biodiverse island habitats off the northwest coast of Malaysia to alleviate overcrowding on the country’s mainland. The Malaysian island of Penang, typically known for its beaches and food, is set to host this new project, where three …

low income housing

White House Recognizes the Need for Zoning Reform

Just before Juneteenth, in a very extraordinary moment for the Nation, the White House recognized “exclusionary zoning” and its effect on racial discrimination in the housing market for the first time. In the White House blog (yes they have a blog), authors Cecilia Rouse, Jared Bernstein, Helen Knudsen, and Jeffery Zhang wrote about Juneteenth — …

Chicago Transit Equity

Explore the New TransitCenter Equity Dashboard

Historically, questions about transit equity have been pretty difficult to answer. That’s because the opportunity gaps that exist across race, income, and other characteristics were beyond the computational capabilities of transit agencies. But advances in how agencies report service information have finally made it possible to quantify these access-to-opportunity metrics. Insert the TransitCenter Equity Dashboard. …

monkey in conservation

Ex Situ Conservation: Is it better than In Situ Conservation?

Ex situ conservation and in situ conservation are two important strategies that are used to protect endangered animals and plants around the world. Yet, despite their similar-sounding names, they are fundamentally different in how they approach conservation. While both ex situ and in situ conservation are a means to protect endangered animal and plant species, …

EXPLORE THE COMPREHENSIVE INTERACTIVE DATABASE OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Interactive Maps to Better Understand the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raging on, we’ve put together a quick list of interactive maps to better understand what’s happening in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. And, as always, feel free to explore more web mapping applications and interactive data tools found on this site. 1. Conquer and Divide: Interactive map illustrating …

retention pond in Florida

Retention Pond vs Detention Pond: Which is Better for Stormwater

Retention Pond vs Detention Pond As our cities continue to grow, there is an increasing need to divert water. That’s because stormwater runoff — surface water that collects during a heavy rain event — is accumulating at an unprecedented pace. In a natural environment, rainwater is absorbed by vegetation and soil, allowing only a small …

redlining in Atlanta

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America Tool Review Between 1935 and 1940, in the midst of the Great Depression recovery, the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) used data from local real estate appraisers, developers, and lenders to assign housing “grades” to residential neighborhoods across the U.S. in an effort to show a particular neighborhood’s …

A cow

Just Like Big Oil, Big Meat Is Trying to Squash Climate Action

We already know that Big Oil spends millions to lobby against climate policy each year, but what about Big Meat? According to a new study by New York University, beef and dairy companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying against good climate policy, specifically trying to blur the connection between animal agriculture and greenhouse gas …

homeless encampments in Seattle

Clearing Tent Cities Has Become Costly

A recent study of homeless encampments found that removing tent cities can cost millions of dollars — only to shuffle homeless individuals from one encampment to another. According to the article The High Cost of Clearing Tent Cities by Kriston Capps, the process of removing tent cities has become increasingly expensive and has turned into …

Extreme drought in a cornfield

Top 10 Federal Climate Change Organizations With Funding Opportunities

Climate change organizations are out there, but they may look different than you think. That’s because most organizations don’t have the words “climate change” attached to them. This is especially true in our federal government, where funding opportunities are often absent the ‘buzzworthy’ label. But the truth of the matter is that many organizations do …