Rikers Island prison to close, New York mayor says
De Blasio set a timeline of 10 years to reduce the overall jail population in the city, which he said would allow for a “complete departure of all inmates from Rikers Island.”
Cities
This archive collects milestone stories where cities are the driving force behind positive change. From urban planning breakthroughs to local policy wins, these stories highlight how municipal governments, city agencies, and urban communities around the world are solving real problems.
25 U.S. cities have now committed to 100% renewables
Madison, Wisconsin and Abita Springs in Louisiana will transition to 100 per cent renewable energy following respective city council votes on Tuesday 21 March.
Barcelona to ban old polluting cars in 2019
Barcelona will begin banning cars older than 20 years on weekdays in 2019 in a bid to curb the city’s air pollution problems.
London’s black cabs go electric
Any motorized vehicle will have to meet strict exhaust emissions standards or pay a heavy surcharge to commute around the city center. Electric vehicles (EVs) are one way for drivers to stay compliant and move about freely on the city’s streets.
India’s capital Delhi just banned all disposable plastics
“The National Capital Territory of Delhi shall take appropriate steps against storage, sale, and use of such plastic material at the above-mentioned places and it shall stand prohibited with effect from January 1, 2017,”
Washington D.C. passes one of the most generous paid parental leave laws in the U.S.
Paid parental leave came to Washington D.C. in December 2016, when the city council voted 9-4 to guarantee eight weeks off for nearly every worker, including part-timers and the self-employed. Lower earners receive up to 90% of their wages, funded by a small payroll tax. It remains one of the most inclusive leave laws any American city has passed.
Portland becomes first U.S. city to tax companies over CEO pay gap
Portland’s CEO pay surtax, passed by the City Council in December 2016, became the first U.S. tax tied directly to corporate pay ratios. Companies paying chief executives more than 100 times their median worker owed a 10 percent surcharge on their business license tax, with steeper rates above 250:1. A small city turning federal disclosure data into local consequence.
Dubai breaks ground on the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant
Concentrated solar power is getting its biggest test yet in Dubai, where an 800-megawatt facility is rising inside the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. Using mirrors and molten salt, it can keep generating electricity after sunset — a quiet but remarkable pivot for a city built on oil wealth.
Copenhagen’s city centre now counts more bikes than cars
Bicycles outnumbered cars in Copenhagen’s historic centre for the first time in 2016, with about 265,700 bikes entering daily compared to 252,600 cars. The shift followed a billion-krone investment in dedicated lanes and 17 new bicycle bridges built between 2006 and 2019. A reminder that cycling cultures are engineered, not inherited.
Seattle schools vote to delay start times so teenagers can sleep
Seattle pushed back high school start times in November 2015, moving secondary students to an 8:45 a.m. bell across a district of roughly 52,000. The shift grew from three years of advocacy by a biology teacher, pediatric sleep specialists, and parents, and helped pave the way for California’s statewide later-start law in 2019.