Europe's New Trams Are Reviving a Golden Age of Transit

A collaborative effort among the United Nations' District Energy in Cities Initiative, the Malaysian government, and private partners has facilitated planning in Malaysia's rapidly developing southern state of Johor for a "District Energy System": a single heating and cooling network which decreases energy consumption by converting waste heat from large power stations. Because of this intervention, Iskandar is projected to decrease its energy use by almost 40% -- all while saving money on energy costs, recycling heat energy, and contributing to the nation's goals under the international Paris Accord.

City Plants, an organization in Los Angeles, is partnering with other nonprofits, government agencies, scientists, and residents to create a more equitable urban forest throughout the city. By working together and using technology, they have planted more than 65,000 trees to combat climate change, systemic racism, and high temperatures that affect all Angelenos.

As part of a collaboration between Zion National Park and the nearby town of Springdale, shuttle buses were introduced to limit the amount of noise in the canyon and deal with issues of over parking. However, those shuttles have now reached the end of their lifespan and threaten to disrupt the flow of tourists into the park. Efforts to replace the buses with an electric fleet, that could also reduce carbon emissions, have hit roadblocks as they’ve been denied federal funding.

Faced with poor air quality, the city of Oslo instituted a set of policy measures that have resulted in a dramatic improvement. Many of these policies center around transportation including incentivizing the production and purchase of electric cars, reducing the number of cars in the city, and creating car-free zones.

Los Angeles has faced deepening issues of severe traffic and extreme smog pollution in the past several decades, but for years intentions and promises to broadly improve transportation have fallen flat. At long last, the most congested city in the world - once home to the most extensive urban rail network on the planet - is reviving rail lines and trains as a solution to both issues. Robust public transport has proven to have multi-layered economic, cultural, environmental, and social benefits to communities.

Toronto wants to improve its transit system, perhaps there are solutions that can be applied from other cities. Changing the way parking is priced, improving bus shelters, implementing more highway tolls, and having automated subways are all possible options.

In what was once a violent neighborhood ruled by drug cartels and fear, prosperity and community are now blossoming in Medellin, thanks to an effective new form of public transportation: cable cars. The gondola system has allowed those neighborhoods on the steep slopes surrounding the city center - those which were not accessible by traditional rail systems and which suffered severe vehicle traffic congestion - to link to the rest of the city, improving job opportunities, access to basic and emergency services, and more.

Medellin, Colombia has looked to architecture to help combat its high homicide rate and other problems. Over the past few decades there have been massive public architecture development, transit improvements, creation of public spaces that have all contributed to renewing this city.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough implemented a comprehensive strategy to combat winter air pollution from wood-burning stoves, including: a stove replacement program that swapped over 4,000 inefficient stoves for more modern, clean-burning models, promoting kiln-dried wood with lower moisture content that burns better and adopting low-sulfur fuel requirements. The efforts have cut particulate levels in half and sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere has been reduced by 50%.

In Stockholm, an electric ferry that uses hydrofoils—underwater wings that increase the ship’s speed by allowing it to glide above the water’s surface—causes 98 percent fewer carbon emissions than a traditional diesel ferry. Other cities, such as Lake Tahoe and Berlin, are now considering implementing the technology.