BOSTON (November 18, 2008)— LEED 2009, the long-awaited update to the internationally recognized LEED green building certification program, has passed member ballot, and will be introduced in 2009 as the next major evolution of the existing LEED rating systems for commercial buildings. It includes a series of major technical advancements focused on improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and addressing other environmental and human health outcomes.
LEED 2009 will also incor more...
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'In a bold effort to privatize Rio de Janeiro's urban transport sector, the state government showed that political decisiveness, transparency, and ingenuity in developing
incentives are crucial to make loss-making operations attractive to the private sector. It also learned that not having a credible staff redundancy program might seriously
undermine the benefits expected from concessions.'
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In 1991, the Republic of Brazil asked the World Bank’s assistance in the decentralization program of its urban rail systems run by the Companhia Brasileira de Trens Urbanos (Brazilian Urban Trains
Company-CBTU). The systems were to be transferred (decentralized) from the Federal Government to the local (State and Municipal) authorities. The local authorities agreed to receive the systems as long as they were
rehabilitated and modernized but also requested that the Bank acted as “honest bro more...
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'Policy-makers in Asia and the Pacific need to take a more integrated approach in managing urban growth in order to ensure that the rapid expanding cities in the region are both economically and environmentally sustainable, a United Nations official told the largest gathering on air quality management in the region.'
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'Take one of the most unplanned urban centres in the world, wedge it between four flood-prone rivers in the most densely packed nation in Asia, then squeeze it between the Himalaya mountain range and a body of water that not only generates violent cyclones and the occasional tsunami, but also creeps further inland every year, washing away farmland, tainting drinking water, submerging fertile deltas, and displacing villagers as it approaches – and there you have it: Dhaka, the capital of Bangla more...
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The LAC urban rail program began in the early 1990s in response to a request from the Brazilian government to help decentralize the urban train system operating in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza as the federal government transferred their operations to the states and municipalities.
'The government and the Bank team, led by Rebelo, saw an opportunity to radically revamp urban rail transport in Brazil. They knew that better metropolitan transportatio more...
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This is the first issue in an evolving series of state of the African cities reports, intended to provide both a tool and a platform for debate on urban issues within Africa. It aims to provide focus and encouragement to African governments at the central and local level as well as to other key actors in the broad area of sustainable human settlements development. We hope to promote new thinking about sustainable urbanization by drawing attention to critical housing, urban development and govern more...
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