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cities > newsfile
Air pollution still a big threat to Asian cities
Hundreds of millions of city dwellers breathe air so polluted with chemicals, smoke and particles that it dramatically exceeds World Health Organization limits with major impacts on health and the environment. Asian cities are no exception, a major study reveals. ... more
Massive effort needed to meet slum surge
If global development priorities are not reassessed to account for massive urban poverty, well over half of the 1.1 billion people projected to join the world's population between now and 2030 may live in under-serviced slums, according to State of the World 2007 report. ... more
Aid charity combats climate threat
On the eve of the UN's 6th World Habitat Day (October 2), a leading British aid agency is predicting that tens of millions of the world’s poorest people face death and devastation, and risk of losing their homes and means of making a living due to climate-induced floods, drought and conflict. ... more
Slum-dwellers worse off than rural poor
City populations are generally thought to be healthier, more literate and more prosperous than rural populations. However, a new report from UN-HABITAT shows that the urban poor suffer from an urban penalty: slum dwellers in developing countries are as badly off if not worse off than their rural relatives. ... more
Chennai battles for sustainable transport
Chennai, formerly Madras, on the Coromandel Coast of southern India, has grown into a metropolitan city of 7 million people. It is also the scene of a major campaign to oppose the decision by the State Government of Tamil Nadu to solve the city’s transport problem by building a 300 km monorail. The campaign’s plea for a transport system that meets the needs of all the people will be echoed in cities around the world. ... more
Beijing OKs electric bicycles
The Chinese capital has removed the ban on electric bicycles to ease city traffic, which have become increasingly congested due to fast rising numbers of cars on the road. ... more
China plans for greenest Olympic games
An agreement aimed a making the summer Olympics of 2008 environmentally-friendly was signed today by the UN nvironment Programme (UNEP) and the Beijing Organising Committee. ... more
Rentabike moves up a gear from curiosity to runaway success
by Jon Henley
The French are not short of groundbreaking cheap and efficient public transport. But now the Paris Metro and the high-speed TGV have a more humble, although no less hi-tech, equal - the Lyon rentabike. ... more
UN report celebrates multicultural cities
The world's urban population is projected to nearly double from 2.86 billion in 2000 to 4.98 billion by 2030, partly from the flow of international migrants, resulting in increased multiculturalism which should be celebrated and not feared, says a UN cities report. ... more
Sweltering Tokyo tries to go green
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Cast your gaze in the right direction and you could be standing in the middle of a rice paddy or a rose garden. But glance upwards and the idyll is shattered. This is not a horticultural show, but a tiny oasis of verdant calm in central Tokyo. ... more
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