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Bicycling offers great benefits for urban residents in low- and middle-income countries, yet pathways to scale its adoption remain poorly understood. This study reveals the current state of bicycling infrastructure and policy, as well as key barriers, through fieldwork in four cities.
This study finds that crowd-sensed plants as living sensors uncover climate and soil patterns in 326 European cities; extend the urban heat island effect to moisture, pH, salinity and disturbance; and show built-up areas homogenize whereas urban forests preserve environmental diversity.
This study estimates construction-related emissions and carbon budgets for over 1,000 cities worldwide. Through quantitative analysis and an accessible open dashboard, this study empowers city stakeholders to craft science-based strategies for aligning future construction growth with climate goals.
Globalized production and the rise of e-commerce have intensified urban freight activity, amplifying environmental impacts and raising equity concerns. This study examines freight-related emissions at the city level across the USA, uncovering two key factors driving disparities in emissions burdens.
Large informal settlements reflect inequalities in Latin America, where transport interventions can build social capital. TransMiCable increased the probability of individuals transitioning to bridging social capital networks, suggesting an increase in trust among neighbors and an improvement in bridging community networks.
Affordable public housing in Singapore enables intergenerational upward mobility for lower-income families by easing budget constraints. Children of public housing residents have 9.5% higher probability of surpassing their parents’ housing ranks through increased investment in education.
Participatory trials in India’s informal settlements show that low-cost interventions can lower indoor temperature by up to 1.24 °C, offering a rapid, scalable solution for heat resilience in vulnerable urban communities.
Global air connectivity shapes where multinational firms locate subsidiaries, especially in knowledge-intensive sectors, by reducing coordination frictions. Eigenvector centrality emerges as the strongest predictor of a city’s attractiveness for foreign investment.
Most cities lack comprehensive health adaptation strategies in climate planning, with no global plans achieving fully integrated holistic approaches. City climate adaptation plans show the awareness of health impacts, but only 11% have strong health strategies.
Urban redevelopment is a key government policy and planning strategy to address various urban challenges. This study investigates where, how and to what extent China’s city hierarchy influences redevelopment activities within China’s rapidly evolving urban landscape.
It is unclear how early-life urbanicity influences adult neurobehavioral traits. This study reveals that earlier menarche mediates the relationship between early-life urbanicity and adult neurobehavioral traits associated with mental disorders.
Cities are engines of innovation and economic growth, but they also struggle with segregation, which works against both. This study finds rings of isolation around US cities and pockets of segregation within them, a pattern persistent over time and intensified since the pandemic.
Heatwaves pose a growing threat to cities, and vegetation is often touted as a mitigation option. This study finds that while lawns provide a burst of intense cooling, trees access deeper water and provide moderate but more prolonged relief.
Railway infrastructure and urban population evolved together in England and Wales from 1831–2021, with scaling relationships gradually converging toward proportionality. Expansion periods supported smaller cities whereas contractions concentrated growth in larger centers.
Urban climate adaptation is inherently context dependent, shaped by local experiences and realities. Through an art–science collaboration, this study explores how local climate adaptation actors around the world imagine their cities adapting to climate change.
Urban blue spaces, such as lakes and rivers, play growing roles in cities but are historically vital for providing food. Focusing on four Indian cities, this study finds diverse blue foraging practices most practiced by elderly women, especially among the most disadvantaged groups.
Urban sprawl reduces water access and increases costs by distancing populations from infrastructure. An analysis of over 100 cities shows that, by 2050, compact growth could provide piped water to 220 million more people than horizontal expansion.
City parks clearly promote health, but understanding the distribution of healthful park elements and spaces is challenging. This study scored thousands of parks across 35 major cities worldwide and found that North American parks emphasize physical activity, European parks more often promote nature appreciation and centrally located parks tend to better support health-promoting activities.
Urban heat islands and rising cooling demands highlight the need for sustainable nature-based solutions. A meta-analysis of 373 studies shows nature-based solutions cut daytime temperatures by 2.04 °C and cooling loads by 1.32%, with green infrastructure being the most effective across most climates.
