Monthly focus

Sustainable cities

01 August 2019

More than half the world’s population lives in cities, making them focal points for cutting emissions and resource-use. Image credit - Unsplash/ Jurriaan Snikkers, licensed under Unsplash license

In August, Horizon takes a look at the quest to make Europe’s cities environmentally sustainable, while also ensuring a healthy and prosperous population. We speak to geographer Professor Harriet Bulkeley on why cities have such an important role in fighting climate change, what it means for a city to be sustainable and the big challenges that lie ahead. We look at the construction of zero-energy housing, homing in on the case of Nottingham, UK, and find out how scientists are putting nature back into the old Spanish capital of Valladolid. We also talk to the city officials breathing new life into historical buildings in Bologna, Italy, and learn how urban planners and architects are taking emotional feedback into account when designing new public spaces and homes.

Reusing historical buildings for new purposes - an urban planning approach known as adaptive reuse - is breathing new life into cities like Bologna. Image credit - Flickr/ Yuri Virovets, licensed under CC BY 2.0

science in society | environment

28 August 2019

Plants and sensors are being used to help Bologna locals rediscover their city

Lining rundown historic areas of cities with plant life and smart sensors and reusing old buildings for new purposes are helping to breathe new life into Europe’s decaying urban spaces.

Integrating nature into cities can provide citizens with urban cooling, cleaner air, regulated water supplies and flood protection. Image credit - Max Pixel, licensed under CC0

environment

19 August 2019

Mobile forests could help cities cope with climate change

Cities across Europe are trialling schemes such as roof gardens and ‘mobile forests’ to embed more nature into urban areas in an effort to protect their citizens from climate change events like heatwaves, floods and droughts.

Retrofitting of houses on a large scale needs to start now to meet 2050 net zero energy target.Image credit - REMOURBAN

energy | environment

12 August 2019

‘Reverse fridges’ and insulated walls – how to make a house carbon neutral

As the world moves towards a carbon neutral future, many different areas from industry to manufacturing are working to reduce their emissions. But scientists are beginning to look at a different area – houses – to work out if it’s possible to reduce emissions from Europe’s homes to zero by retrofitting on a mass scale. And the early signs are promising.

Neurologists, architects, artists, and epidemiologists are collaborating to design cities that could be used to improve well-being among older people. Image credit - Senior Guidance, licensed under CCby2.0

health | ict | industry

06 August 2019

Emotional response to city design could guide urban planning

Virtual reality and scenario-testing models are being built to help urban planners and architects get real-time feedback about the impact of their designs on mental health, particularly for older people.

Focusing on 'boring emissions' rather than 'sexy' ones could do more to tackle climate change, says Prof. Bulkeley. Image credit - Prof. Harriet Bulkeley

interview | environment | policy

01 August 2019

People in cities hold the key to ensuring a sustainable future

Cities have a critical role to play in fighting climate change but hard conversations lie ahead about the best way to achieve the transition to sustainability, according to Harriet Bulkeley, professor of geography at Durham University, UK.

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Cleaning Europe's air

As commutes dropped during coronavirus lockdowns, many of Europe’s city-dwellers breathed cleaner air. In July, Horizon takes a look closer look at our air pollution problem, what it is, how it affects human health and whether now is the time to make the move to greener transport. We spoke to social epidemiologist Dr Basile Chaix about what it will take to capitalise on the post-coronavirus calls for greener cities to really change our urban spaces – and transport habits. We dissect the properties of particulate matter to understand how characteristics such as particle size or number relate to toxicity, and what they do to human cells. With wildfires known to strike particularly in the summer, we look at how scientists are tracking this lesser-known source of air pollution to better understand the impact on human health. And we find out how a soybean-related asthma outbreak in 1980s Spain is influencing air pollution research today.

Image credit - Unsplash/ Fabrizio Verrecchia

The age of anxiety

In June, against a backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, a climate emergency and an uncertain future, Horizon takes a look at anxiety. Are we becoming more anxious? What do we really know about the condition and who suffers from it? And how can we best treat it? We speak to anxiety disorder expert Professor David Baldwin about when anxiety turns from a normal response into a long-term problem and what we know – and don’t – about why this happens. We take a look at one particularly vulnerable group – teenagers – to understand how anxiety affects them and how they can best be treated. We explore the link between anxiety and our awareness of bodily sensations to understand, for example, why breathing can calm the mind, and we also talk to the researchers who believe the key to improving anxiety therapies is to look at how different people respond when under threat.

A coat of special green paint used on panels at a school gym in Almere, the Netherlands, helps the panels absorb sunlight for heating and for hot water. Image credit - Emergo

How Europe’s city façades and pavements are being used to harvest clean energy

Building façades and pavements in Dutch and Italian cities are being turned into smart, energy-harvesting surfaces and equipped with sensors to power, heat and cool spaces and even monitor roads.

More than half the space in some European cities is devoted to cars, which are parked 90% of the time, says Dr Chaix. Image credit - Wikimedia/Lionel Allorge

Q&A: What lockdown air pollution reductions mean for the future of urban transport

People in cities experienced cleaner air during lockdowns, but a permanent shift to greener modes of transport and habits is ‘extremely complex to achieve’ given how much space is devoted to cars and the groups resisting change, says Dr Basile Chaix, who studies the health trade-offs we make as we travel.

Sustainable cities

Republish this content

Plants and sensors are being used to help Bologna locals rediscover their city

Mobile forests could help cities cope with climate change

‘Reverse fridges’ and insulated walls – how to make a house carbon neutral

Emotional response to city design could guide urban planning