Urban

Two fundamental goals of humanity are to eradicate poverty and reduce climate change, but achieving these goals will involve trade-offs. New research by Narasimha Rao of F&ES provides insights into these tradeoffs — including the tools needed to relate basic needs directly to resource use. 

Across the U.S. some of the most successful sustainability-related projects are the fruits of partnerships between cities and universities. A one-day conference at Yale will highlight some of these success stories — and provide insights into how they might be replicated elsewhere.

Nineteen students from F&ES this month will participate in the upcoming United Nations (UN) conference Habitat III, a global summit aimed at outlining best practices for urban sustainability, resilience, and development.

An F&ES analysis of 478 cities with populations of more than 1 million people finds that urban growth across the world is predominantly moving outward rather than upward, a trend that is generally considered inefficient and unsustainable.

Urban expansion will cause the average summer temperature in these areas to increase about 0.5 to 0.6 degrees C by midcentury — but up to 3 degrees C in some locations, according to a new F&ES study.

Eleanor Stokes PhD ’18 has been named one of Geospatial World’s 50 Rising Stars for her work on Black Marble, NASA’s first nighttime light dataset, which provides insights on human settlements and the interactions between urban activities and the environment.

Urbanization trends in the Himalaya are exposing more people to risk from compound hazards such as flooding, landslides and wildfires, a new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment has found.

A new Yale study predicts that a transition to timber-based wood products in the construction of new housing, buildings, and infrastructure would not only offset enormous amounts of carbon emissions related to concrete and steel production — it could turn the world's cities into a vast carbon sink.

Karen Seto, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE), spoke at the recent Nobel Prize Summit, a worldwide gathering of Nobel Prize laureates, scientists, policy makers, business leaders, and youth leaders.

• Read more about Spotlight: DeNeile Cooper ’22 MEM