Latest news with #cityplanning
Free Malaysia Today
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Free Malaysia Today
Urban temperatures turning cities into ‘ovens'
England has seen the driest February to April period since 1956 the UK government's Environment Agency has reported. (AFP pic) WASHINGTON : Whether in Miami, Athens, or Santiago, dedicated ambassadors are stepping up to tackle extreme urban heat around the world. Eleni Myrivili, one of the field's pioneers who currently serves as the Global Chief Heat Officer for UN-Habitat, spoke to AFP about the urgent need to redesign cities to keep asphalt-riddled areas from turning into impossible-to-escape 'ovens' for the most vulnerable populations. Q: Why are cities at the centre of your work? A: We identified that cities are basically the Ground Zero of heat, where we have the most dire impacts. Cities today are heat traps and they are built for other types of temperatures, for a different climate. So we need to understand and totally change our perspective as to how we retrofit and develop new areas. We do it in ways that take into account the fact that we will be dealing with a totally different climate in the next decades. Q: Can you give us examples of solutions your team worked on? A: In Athens, we worked on the categorization of extreme heat, so that there are specific thresholds that trigger different types of policies and actions during heatwaves to make sure that we protect the most vulnerable populations. We created heat campaigns, so people understand how dangerous heat can be for their health and what they should be doing during heatwaves. Creating shading structures specifically for people waiting for trains or waiting for buses, so that these have special cooling aspects, like misters or like white or green roofs on them so they do not absorb heat while people are standing right under them. Of course, almost all of us have created plans for nature-based solutions and for bringing more nature into the cities. Q: How has climate change impacted your region? A: On average in the Mediterranean part of Europe, we have about 29 days of strong heat stress (relative to the average for the 1991–2020 reference period), but we jumped from the 29 (average) to 66 (days) in the summer of 2024. That's what we mean when we say that the average global temperatures have surpassed 1.5°C from the pre-industrial era, it means that on the ground we see these extraordinary heat seasons. Q: How can cities prepare against these new norms? A: We need to be prioritising shade, wind and water, and, of course, nature. This also means that we have to bring within our development and city planning projects other types of expertise. We have to bring in landscape architects. We have to bring in ecologists, foresters, people who understand thermodynamics. On a very large scale, but also on a very local scale, we have to consider water as the most crucial element that will break us or make us as we deal with rising heat. In contrast, can you give us an example of what maladaptation can look like in urban spaces? Air conditioning is a great example of maladaptation because it creates more problems than it solves. Air conditioning is extremely important to the most vulnerable populations, we have to make sure they have access to air conditioning. But we have to understand that air conditioning has to be used carefully, and not as a panacea that is just going to help us deal with extreme heat. We can't air condition ourselves out of this mess that we've created, because air conditioners are an extremely selfish way of dealing with extreme heat. You cool your own little space, while at the same time, you're blowing more hot air into the public spaces.
CBC
19-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Construction season is back in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview
Construction season this year in Moncton and Dieppe will see major work done on some of the busiest streets in the two cities. Projects in riverview are smaller in scale.
Free Malaysia Today
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Syerleena's take on urban renewal only touches the surface
From Anand Krishnan I am writing in response to YB Syerleena Abdul Rashid's opinion piece titled Urban Renewal isn't a threat – it's the help our cities desperately need, published by FMT recently. I found her opinions rather light and imprecise. They merely touched the surface of what cities have to deal with. It did not articulate the breadth and depth of factors that make up a city. I'll explain. We have structure plans that guide development in our cities; we have many existing laws like the Streets, Drainage and Building Act 1974, the Strata Titles Act 1985, the Town & Country Planning Act 1976, and the Uniform Building By Laws 1974, amongst others, that provide a framework for regulating development; and we have local authorities and other agencies to enforce these Acts. There are also other checks and balances to ensure all works well. If this existing framework of acts, plans, and local authorities, has been so bad, how come our cities have developed into what they are now? Our cities — if she looks at them more — are lovely and well regarded by any standard. Her opinion piece was essentially to support one act, the URA, but does she not realise that urban renewal is but just one mode in the entire matrix of development planning and economics? The way she writes suggests it is the only way forward for a city to grow. It is not, there are many other modes available to urban designers and planners. The real question that she failed to ask is do we really need another act to complement all the other Acts we already have? In its current form, I don't think so. 'Supporting the URA means choosing a Malaysia that works for everyone,' she writes. This is another example of her impreciseness. She doesn't articulate her notion of 'everyone'; it is highly questionable and glaringly vague. Just who is the 'everyone' she talks about? Clearly, the URA is not out to help everyone. When developers get hold of a large tract of urban land in an already urbanised city in Malaysia through the provisions of the URA, they are not going to build low-rise affordable multiracial housing, swathes of parks and lakes, community and institutional facilities or even aged-care facilities for 'everyone'. It doesn't make economic sense. It is just not going to happen. In such land, procured cheaply through the provisions of the URA, the type of development that will get the best returns on investment, would be expensive high-rise offices, high-rise condominiums, high-rise commercial blocks, high-rise hotels and high-rise malls. These buildings would be for a select group of 'someones', not everyone. If we are honest with ourselves, we should accept this reality. She talks about 'reversing the decline' of cities. Again, she is imprecise. If she really wants to reverse the decline, she should start with the suburbs. Build better buildings there. Make better development decisions now so that in 30 years we are not faced with demolishing our mistakes. She should push for developing existing vacant land for affordable housing in the suburbs, not in the downtowns of cities. She should get developers to rehabilitate existing buildings in the city that are old, dilapidated and neglected. Give them a new lease of life through innovative, adaptive reuses. Repurpose abandoned buildings into vibrant community facilities. Build new high rises in empty land in-between these old buildings. This is what urban renewal really means. It is not about displacing communities, bulldozing everything you see and building anew. It is about integrating the new with the old, Respect the old streets, old trees, and the old people. These old buildings will become the heritage buildings of the future. We owe it to ourselves to make the right choices today. Anand Krishnan is an architect, urban designer and more recently, a conservation advocate. He is also an FMT reader. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Royal Oak plans to change 'nightmare' parking system in downtown
The Brief Parking in downtown Royal Oak is called a nightmare by residents. The city is planning to switch its parking system over starting in 2026. That experience is aimed to be much more personal than the current system. OAK PARK, Mich. (FOX 2) - Parking in downtown Royal Oak has been called a "nightmare" by many for years. But the city says changes are on the way, and they want to hear from the community. Timeline Annette Frank, a Royal Oak resident, is taking the new proposed parking meters and kiosks for a test drive. "I live in downtown Royal Oak, and I almost never drive here. I rode my bike here today because I don't like to park here," she said. "I've only done it once and didn't like it." What they're saying The city is planning to switch its parking system over starting in 2026, with three pre-approved vendors already offering demos to residents hoping to win the bid. "Rather than do the typical thing where were going to be scoring them on the cost and the system's abilities, we wanted to begin with the user experience first," said City Manager Joseph Gacioch. That experience is aimed to be much more personal than the current system, which has received complaints for being too automated. Cameras will capture your plate and send you a ticket in the mail. What's next The city is planning to return to having real people available to work the meters and issue tickets. The event could be your chance to see what the next system will be.
CTV News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Saskatoon lowers expectations for snow removal response on some roads
WATCH: Saskatoon councillors are calling on administrators to come up with a plan to speed up the city's snow removal response.
