Cities with highest average population densities in the world are facing the challenge of urban sprawl. Finding sustainable solutions to reduce sprawl demands rethinking urban space and weighing the private benefits of low density living–my house and garden–against social, environmental and infrastructure costs.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of congestion pricing on the demand for clean transport modes. It draws on an empirical analysis of the effect of Milan’s congestion charge on the use of bike sharing. The analysis indicates that congestion pricing increases daily bike-sharing use by at least 5% in the short term.

Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre 23 – 24 May

The policy forum officially launches the conceptual framework to the public and offers an opportunity for participants to discuss the key issues for emerging Asia: housing, buildings and energy, land use and transport, water and waste management, green goods and services.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.

Knowledge sharing is critical in fostering urban green growth. Cities in dynamic Asia urgently need to adopt and strengthen green growth models that take into account rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and motorisation.

This paper looks at a study carried out among 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Canadian cities, Montréal and Winnipeg, based on a survey and case studies, which show the importance of innovation among Canadian SMEs. These innovations in turn create new demands for skill development, both through formal training and in informal activities.

Nearly half the world’s population now lives in urban areas. What does that mean for education?

In most countries and economies, students who attend schools in urban areas tend to perform at higher levels than other students. Socio-economic status explains only part of the performance difference between students who attend urban schools and other students.

Korea has weathered the shocks triggered by the global recession and its economy is recovering more quickly and vigorously than most other OECD countries.

This report compares urbanisation trends on the basis of a common methodology which helps cross-country comparison of the socio-economic and environmental performance of metropolitan areas in 28 OECD countries.

This paper looks at a study carried out among 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Canadian cities, Montréal and Winnipeg, based on a survey and case studies, which show the importance of innovation among Canadian SMEs. These innovations in turn create new demands for skill development, both through formal training and in informal activities.

Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre 23 – 24 May

This working paper assesses national policy and governance mechanisms that can influence green growth in Chinese cities.

This report provides a framework to understand the changing relationships between urban and rural areas. Specifically, it documents the characteristics of these partnerships and the factors that can hinder as well as enable rural-urban co-operation.

The policy forum officially launches the conceptual framework to the public and offers an opportunity for participants to discuss the key issues for emerging Asia: housing, buildings and energy, land use and transport, water and waste management, green goods and services.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.

In parallel to a sweeping structural reform agenda, Mexico announced in 2013 a new approach to housing and urban policy. Calling for a more explicit qualitative focus on housing and the urban environment, the policy shift is a welcome development.

Knowledge sharing is critical in fostering urban green growth. Cities in dynamic Asia urgently need to adopt and strengthen green growth models that take into account rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, and motorisation.

This report explores this question on the basis of detailed mobility data including origin, destination and timing of all trips for a mid-sized European city. ITF developed a model to test various alternative transport system configurations that would provide the same level of mobility (locations and timing) as today.

“What is the city but the people?” asked Shakespeare in Coriolanus. All city planning focuses on people and the quality of life. The big cities in Brazil took shape from the 1950s, when the country’s population amounted to approximately 52 million inhabitants, only 36.2% of whom lived in cities.

This year London’s population overtook its historical high of 8.6 million reached at the outset of the Second World War, bucking the trend of many European and North American cities, which have experienced only slight, or even negative, growth.

The OECD has been selected to co-lead one of the ten policy units contributing Habitat III taking place in Quito, Ecuador from 17-20 October 2016.

This study provides an empirical analysis of the effects of environmental zoning on urban development. It focuses on the case of Natural Regional Parks (NRPs) in France. Of the environmental zoning instruments used in France, NRPs extend over the widest physical area. Three potential side-effects of NRPs on urban development in the regulated area are investigated.

Imagine you have an important decision to make. Do you carefully consider the long-term implications of each possible option or do you act impulsively? Would you approach the decision-making process differently if the consequences stretched out to 30 or even 50 years?

The global challenges of poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, climate change, and sustainable and secure energy are all intimately linked to cities, which are simultaneously places where these global problems emerge and solutions can be found. Blog by Ricardo Herranz, Nommon Solutions and Technologies, Madrid.

The OECD Governance and Territorial Development Directorate has worked closely with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) on urban development issues. This webpage highlights the complex governance challenges that cities present and offers guidance on how they may be overcome.

A snapshot of current and future challenges in urban development and how they are impacting on human development, well-being, and public governance systems worldwide.

Are you a city-dweller, concerned about the challenges of urbanisation, resilience and inclusiveness? Cities and urban areas represent unrivalled concentrations of people, economic growth, commercial networks, and innovation – and have the potential to make a significant contribution to the transition towards a low-carbon world.

The Second International Conference on National Urban Policy was held in Paris France on 15-16 May 2017. The conference was a joint initiative of the OECD, UN Habitat and Cities Alliance.

For one-and-a-half lakh people, we have a committee of eight people to decide? Ramesh Ramanathan points to the irony of the allegedly empowered, but actually despairing urban citizen.

Climate change and urbanisation 'threaten groundwater', say scientists  ENDS Report

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving all of these sites, three archaeologists—Leslie Reeder of Southern Methodist University, Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon and Torben Rick from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History—have issued a call to action for scientists to assess the sites most at risk around the world.

The post Scientists issue call to action for archaeological sites threatened by rising seas, urban development appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Despite the general perception of exurban development as environmentally preferable to urban sprawl, this is not necessarily correct. Housing development is detrimental for natural bird communities even at low housing levels.

The post Exurban development is changing communities of birds in Eastern Forests appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists report fledgling catbirds in suburban habitats are at their most vulnerable stage of life, with almost 80 percent killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Almost half of the deaths were connected to domestic cats.

The post Alarming number of fledgling, suburban catbirds fall prey to domestic cats, study finds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center analyzed how songbirds are affected by both general noise and the acoustics of hard human-made surfaces in urban areas.

The post Urban songbirds adjust melodies to adapt to life in the big city, Smithsonian scientists find appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Rooting through the garbage for a late-night snack or stealing food from the cat’s bowl, the suburban raccoon is a nocturnal, intelligent animal. Yet life […]

The post Suburban raccoons more social yet dominance behavior remains that of a solitary animal appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tasty and easy to find, the heath hen was a favorite dish of America’s colonial settlers. This beautiful little bird, however, was no match for […]

The post Urban landscapes becoming increasingly bird-unfriendly appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Firm though it was, Kaitlyn Wilson’s gentle grip on the rust-brown female cardinal didn’t stop the bird from twisting its head around to deliver a […]

The post Urban Nestwatch: A bird in hand awakens a lifetime of wildlife awareness appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

How do you diagnose a sick stream? Count its insects, according to Smithsonian biologist Don Weller.

The post Streams damaged by too many hard surfaces in urban areas appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As society changes, it places new demands on its surroundings. New research has found that some EU countries are better able to manage the undesirable expansion of cities, the concept known as ‘urban sprawl’, because they have a flexible spatial planning policy that can easily adapt to changes. Urban sprawl is a term used to describe the expansion of residential suburbs around city centres, driven by peoples’ desire to live in larger houses and the ease of transport made possible by cars.

The impact of polluted urban soil on trees is highlighted in a recent study from Latvia. The researchers found that high salt levels from de-icing chemicals and nutrient imbalance in soil damaged lime trees growing in the city of Riga.

High schools that successfully engage students in learning have many things in common.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announces the appointment of May R. Berenbaum as Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the official journal of the Academy. Berenbaum will begin the editorship on January 1, 2019.