Cities Archive

Can cities save the planet?

7 Oct 19 - By 2050 about two-thirds of the human population — that is six out of the world’s nine billion people — will be living in cities.

Welcome to Welly ... the Paris of the southern hemisphere

13 Sep 19 - Wellington is the new Paris of the South, according to the latest cities’ liveability index.

Booming tropical cities feel the heat

10 Sep 19 - Cities occupy about 2 per cent of the world’s land area, but are home to about 55 per cent of the world’s people and generate more than 70 per cent of global GDP, plus the associated greenhouse gas...

Where are the architects who will put the environment first?

3 Sep 19 - Should we stop building airports? Return to mud and thatch? The climate crisis is an opportunity for creative thinking, but the values of architecture need a radical overhaul.

Cities scrambling to protect people from heat

26 Aug 19 - With cities facing both rapid growth and radical, permanent climate change, urban authorities are faced with an increasingly vulnerable population.

Wooden skyscrapers sprout as world goes cool on concrete

23 Aug 19 - With concrete a major source of climate-changing emissions, cities around the world are looking at high-rise wooden buildings instead.

Major cities to face ‘unknown’ climate conditions by 2050

12 Jul 19 - A fifth of the world’s major cities will face “unknown” climate conditions by 205 as rising temperatures heighten the risks of drought and flooding.

Planners turning to parks as climate crisis moves uptown

24 May 19 - As cities increasingly feel the impacts of rising seas and temperatures, planners are rethinking the roles of urban parks.

Threatening tide levels see UN launch push for floating cities

10 Apr 19 - A UN-backed partnership will study the futuristic prospect of floating cities, looking at how platforms at sea might help to bail out coastal cities at risk of flooding.

Termites show humans how to keep their high-rise cool

4 Apr 19 - Scientists are studying the architectural skills developed by termites so we can keep cool, dry and well-ventilated in tall buildings without using fossil fuels.

Smart planners rethink city parking - by getting rid of it

6 Mar 19 - Joni Mitchell sang, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” But could parking lots soon become extinct, with the lost paradise making a return?

Cities need to grow up - not out

8 Feb 19 - Urban areas are expected to grow by 80 per cent by the end of the next decade, and unless they grow up rather than out, they could be in trouble, says a new report.

Threatened cities trade sea walls for parks

5 Nov 18 - Under a new plan to deal with higher tides, Boston will allow the rising water to come in to the city, rather than fighting to keep it out.

Experts want to turn Henderson carparks into housing

29 Aug 18 - Five teams have been short-listed in a global design competition that could see two Auckland carparks redeveloped as eco-housing centres.

Global cities commit to net-zero building emissions

27 Aug 18 - Nineteen of the world’s largest cities have made ground-breaking pledges to cut carbon emissions from new buildings.

Cities can work with nature when droughts hit

6 Aug 18 - Faced with a drought, it’s tempting for city managers to reduce the amount of space that needs water. Parks, public areas and private gardens are usually the first to go.

Urban trees match rainforests as carbon stores

4 Jul 18 - Not just decorative, urban trees do much more: they enrich civic life, moderate climate change and save the taxpayer millions.

Personal grooming products might be polluting urban air

15 May 18 - New evidence suggests that compounds in deodorants, lotions, hair gels and perfumes are major sources of air pollution in urban areas.

California orders solar panels on all new homes

14 May 18 - California will require solar panels on new homes and low-rise apartment buildings starting in 2020.

London plans to be one of greenest cities

14 May 18 - Ambitious plans have been released which seek to transform London into one of the world’s greenest cities.

4 May 18  Auckland vows to free city centre of emissions

1 May 18  What price trees in our megacities?

30 Apr 18  Making our cities cooler is a no-brainer

13 Apr 18  ROBOT CITIES: Three urban prototypes for future living

6 Apr 18  Five lessons cities can learn from Cape Town

3 Apr 18  Can a city ever be truly carbon neutral?

21 Mar 18  London leads new global green finance rankings

13 Mar 18  Heart attacks can rise during extremes of heat

9 Mar 18  Cities study reveals much bigger carbon footprints

8 Mar 18  Auckland City eyes green bonds issue

1 Mar 18  Three NZ cities get high world ranking for renewable energy

23 Feb 18  Climate will push European cities to breaking point

20 Feb 18  Want to know about city pollution? Ask a pigeon

31 Jan 18  Urban forests add to cities’ health ... and wealth

15 Dec 17  Bank partners with global mayors to green cities

7 Dec 17  Outlook grim for warmer Auckland, warns report

5 Dec 17  Nature's drying up, so maybe we should be mining our cities

4 Dec 17  Don't bury bike-sharing, there's still room on the road

27 Nov 17  City trees feel the heat ... and love it

21 Nov 17  Three ways cities are leading the climate change fight

20 Nov 17  The inconvenient truth about smart cities

15 Nov 17  Cities could save billions while saving the planet

13 Nov 17  Big cities sign emissions pledge (but not ours)

8 Nov 17  Auckland - clean power but lacking environmental protection

2 Nov 17  Merchants believe in the business case for bikes

1 Nov 17  CARS CRUNCH: More and more cities say they don't want them

25 Oct 17  Twelve major cities vow to buy zero-emissions buses

18 Oct 17  World's choking cities need fewer cars, not cleaner cars

27 Sep 17  Green-building rating is sustainability's secret weapon

22 Sep 17  TRASH TOWERS: Eleven-storey mansion made from rubbish

20 Sep 17  Vancouver wants to be the world's greenest by 2020

14 Sep 17  PEDESTRIAN POWER: Where is the world's most walkable city?

6 Sep 17  Going to Dubai? Take a bike

21 Aug 17  How will the world's hottest city survive climate change?

15 Aug 17  Minorities and the poor victims of worsening city heat

25 Jul 17  Mayors demand English acts on climate change

21 Jul 17  Satellites zero in on dangerous urban heat islands

21 Jul 17  Cape Town shares water lessons of record drought

20 Jul 17  Let buyers borrow more on greener homes, says report

17 Jul 17  Steel town sets out to redesign the rustbelt

17 Jul 17  Communities and cities are getting on with the job

27 Jun 17  Apartment-dwellers can now join the solar boom

23 Jun 17  Across the world, thousands of cities take up the climate call

20 Jun 17  Government cripples cities' climate campaigns

20 Jun 17  American cities find ways to play the game

19 Jun 17  No doubt about it, green streets are the way to go

7 Jun 17  Asian cities set to benefit most from green growth

6 Jun 17  New York invests $1.5b in new-energy projects

24 May 17  Hong Kong charts road to green future

28 Apr 17  Put your mattress to bed and help save the planet

12 Apr 17  Auckland says yes to ethical investments

17 Mar 17  China takes fresh approach to pollution

15 Mar 17  Cities outpace governments in climate action

8 Mar 17  Agrihoods one way to revitalise urban centres

3 Mar 17  We need to get wise about our heated cities

22 Feb 17  COOL CITIES: Trees, green roads and fewer cars

15 Feb 17  In some cities it pays not to exercise

20 Dec 16  Driverless buses arrive in Australia

9 Dec 16  London to double funding to tackle air pollution

8 Dec 16  GLASS GIANTS: How cities are forcing skyscrapers to evolve

2 Dec 16  Why the world's cities need to go on a resource diet

18 Nov 16  Cities run ahead of targets to cut emissions

1 Nov 16  WANTED: Strategies to put climate change into reverse

25 Oct 16  The world meets in Quito to discuss the future of cities

19 Oct 16  Oslo to reduce emissions by 50% in four years

17 Oct 16  Climate change could crunch Auckland housing market

4 Oct 16  Can artificial grass and fake trees replace ‘real’ nature?

29 Sep 16  Businesses dragging chain on sustainability

29 Sep 16  Air pollution kills million Chinese in one year

29 Sep 16  How cities are eliminating car parks

21 Sep 16  We've taken 15 million plastic bags out of play

20 Sep 16  Goff promises his mayoral car will be electric

20 Sep 16  Climate-conscious Chloe gets a pass mark for mayor

19 Sep 16  Amsterdam has big plans to go green

22 Aug 16  Vancouver adopts zero-emissions building plan

5 Aug 16  Cities rush to join climate drive after Paris

21 Jul 16  New York island puts up climate defences

15 Jul 16  Sustainable cities must beat the pain points

30 Jun 16  Why naming and shaming cities is a terrible idea

27 Jun 16  California trees have billion-dollar street value

24 Jun 16  Mayors launch global coalition of cities

24 Jun 16  Oslo city votes to ban cars by 2019

20 Jun 16  How to design cities for a car-light future

13 Jun 16  Plastic-bag recycling heads to southern stores

27 May 16  UP or OUT: Which way for our growing cities?

24 May 16  Cities ‘woefully unprepared’ for rising disaster risk

20 May 16  The Earth is not flat, it is urban, says UN report

13 May 16  Air pollution rising at alarming rate in cities

12 May 16  New York targets bike lanes record

11 May 16  How your garden could help to stop city flooding

6 May 16  London's dirty mayoral fight sidelines green policies

2 May 16  Why cities need to add up the economic value of trees

7 Apr 16  Vancouver chases crown as world's greenest city crown

16 Mar 16  Vancouver can show us how to green our cities

15 Mar 16  Give cities their own planning rules, says commissioner

10 Mar 16  If planners understand it's cool to green cities, what's stopping them?

1 Mar 16  Capital first, people second, says cities report

25 Jan 16  What is a garden city – and why is money being spent on building them?

25 Jan 16  Climate-conscious cities take lessons from New York