News
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Conference explores how to reinvent cities for strong leadership in the urban century
As the host city of the International Congress for Sustainable Transport, Mexico City has made substantial progress improving sustainable mobility in the past decade. Photo by Javier Hidalgo/Flickr.
With great satisfaction, EMBARQ Mexico celebrated the International Congress on Sustainable Transport (“X Congreso”) from October 13 - 15, 2014 in Mexico City. Now in its tenth year, Congreso is one of the largest forums in Latin America for sharing best practices in sustainable mobility and urban development locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
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Workshop highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in urban planning
Through an interactive workshop, participants put their ideas for what kind of city they would want to live in to the test. Photo by Benoit Colin/EMBARQ.
At last month’s International Congress for Sustainable Transport in Mexico City, Robin King, Director of Urban Development for EMBARQ, hosted a workshop focused on the question: “What kind of city do you want to live in?” Instead of discussing this idea in theory, workshop participants were split into teams and given an hour to design their ideal city using miniature building blocks. The game is derived from one developed by Professor Juval Portugali from the University of Tel Aviv.
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EMBARQ Turkey to co-host the second Livable Cities Symposium, focused on creating bikeable and walkable cities
İzmir, pictured above, will host the Livable Cities Symposium 2014 - an international conference that will help spread best practices in shaping walkable, bikeable and livable cities. Photo by 350.org/Flickr.
Over the past half-century, the world has urbanized at an unprecedented pace. In 1970, about 37% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This number rose to 45% in 1990, 54% in 2014, and is expected to reach 66% by 2050. Much of this urban growth is occurring in less wealthy cities, and has created distinct challenges.
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Transit-oriented development, shared mobility services, and information technologies among key transport solutions for Chinese cities
With the right government leadership, the new normal for sustainable transport in Chinese cities will include more transit-oriented development, shared mobility services, and transport innovations from the private sector. Photo by Taro Taylor/Flickr.
Transit Metropolis – administered by the Ministry of Transport – is a national program that aims to promote transit-oriented development (TOD) and high quality transit services. On October 15 and 16, 2014, the Ministry hosted the 4th Transit Metropolis Forum as one of the program’s regular capacity-building efforts.
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EMBARQ Brasil hosts four-day road safety training for technical experts in Rio de Janeiro
EMBARQ Brasil’s road safety training emphasized the importance of reducing vehicle speeds and designing complete streets, and gave participants the opportunity to work in Rio’s streets. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil.
Every year, about 1.24 million people lose their lives in traffic. In Brazil, there are over 44,000 traffic deaths annually. These fatalities exceed the death toll of many wars, motivating experts to seek effective solutions.
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The popular weekly car-free streets event – now in five Indian cities – was selected for its innovative approach in engaging communities
On September 21, 2014, Bhopal (pictured) became the fifth city in India to implement the weekly open streets movement, Raahgiri Day. Photo by Raahgiri Day, Bhopal/Facebook.
Raahgiri Day was selected as a distinguished finalist and received an honorable mention at the 2014 Parivartan Sustainability Leadership Awards. The awards were announced at the evening meeting of the Annual Summit of the Sustainable Business Leadership Forum on October 16, 2014 in New Delhi, India.
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EMBARQ Brasil and WRI Brasil explore how urban mobility can support economic development during São Paulo’s Virada da Mobilidade
Making better use of urban data, learning from best practices, and investing in new creative ideas can help improve sustainable mobility in cities across Brazil. Photo by Darwin/Flickr.
“The New Urban Mobility Economy” seminar, co-organized by EMBARQ Brasil, WRI Brasil, and Caronetas, brought together transport experts from Brazil and abroad to discuss new perspectives, solutions and
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U.N. Climate Summit puts spotlight on Mexico’s efforts address climate change
Prioritizing sustainable mobility can help Mexico reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Photo by Maks Karochkin/Flickr.
EMBARQ Mexico is working to ensure that the country capitalizes on the momentum from last month’s United Nations Climate Summit in New York City. In the lead up to the Summit, EMBARQ Mexico, along with a number of other civil society organizations, authored an open letter to President Peña Nieto, urging him to recognize the need for concrete actions to mitigate climate change.
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EMBARQ Brasil helps Ministry of Cities establish criteria to evaluate federally funded infrastructure projects
New guidelines for urban mobility projects will help Brazilian cities improve sustainable mobility, reduce carbon emissions and improve quality of life. Photo by Mariana Gil/EMBARQ Brasil.
During the last decade, Brazil has witnessed unprecedented federal investment in public and non-motorized transport projects.
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EMBARQ and WRI experts advance climate finance and greenhouse gas reporting for low-carbon cities
Cities played a key role scaling up climate change solutions and building momentum for climate action at September’s U.N. Climate Summit. Pictured: Rio de Janeiro Mayor and Chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Eduardo Paes. Photo by Juliana Swenson/The Climate Group.
Editor’s note: In the article below, originally published on TheCityFix, EMBARQ Director Holger Dalkmann and EMBARQ Director of Energy and Climate Benoit Lefevre highlight important developments in urban sustainability from September's U.N. Climate Summit.