News & Blogs
Featuring voices from cities, experts, and partners, these stories of innovation and impact are drawn from across the GPSC’s global network. News and blogs showcase progress, lessons, and thought leadership on sustainable urban development.
Featured blogs
From Silos to Systems for Livable Cities: Embracing nature and biodiversity
Today, more than 162 million people in Indonesia live in cities, more than 10 times the number when the country became independent in 1945. Rapid urbanization has put intense pressure on cities across the tropical archipelago, resulting in urban sprawl, unsafe living conditions, and environmental challenges including strains on nature. The decisions made about the future of Indonesian cities, therefore, are as important for people as they are for nature and biodiversity. Jakarta, for example, is home to over 10.5
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The Wetland Advantage: Nature-Based Solutions Power Rwanda’s Urban Future
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Kigali is bringing nearly 500 hectares of urban wetlands back to life—the largest city-wide urban wetland rehabilitation in Africa and one of the largest in the world. This “living infrastructure” has new spaces for tourism, education and recreation, improves water quality and biodiversity, and enhances the usability of adjacent land while bolstering the city’s frontline defense against floods. Through RUDPII, 220,500 people in flood-prone neighborhoods will directly benefit from reduced flooding and a healthier environment. That’s roughly a
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Transforming our cities: a collective path to sustainability
What do sustainable cities mean to you? For many, it is about more than just green spaces and clean air. Sustainable cities are the nexus where innovative solutions converge to create resilient communities, fostering a delicate balance between economic prosperity, ecological integrity, and social equity. With urban sprawl encroaching upon natural habitats and climate change-induced disasters becoming more frequent, which pose threats to ecosystems, biodiversity, human health, and overall well-being, the need for building sustainable cities has never been more
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Featured news
Inception Workshop Launches Sustainable City Project in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region
The inception workshop for the Sustainable City Project for the Coordinated Development of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) Region marked the formal launch of an ambitious initiative under the GEF-8 Sustainable Cities Integrated Program (SCIP) . Jointly organized by UNIDO and the China Society of Automotive Engineers, the event brought together approximately 100 representatives from national ministries, municipal governments, international organizations, and technical institutions to align on a shared vision for low-carbon, resilient urban development. Participants included the Ministry of Finance, serving
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The World Bank and the GEF launch next phase of Sustainable Cities Integrated Program
The World Bank and the GEF expand support to 40 additional cities with targeted grants and co-financing pathways to drive sustainable urban development Mayors and city leaders from 23 cities met in Rio de Janeiro ahead of COP30 alongside representatives from major multilateral development banks to launch the next phase of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Sustainable Cities Integrated Program. “Cities are at the forefront of sustainability, leadership and innovation,” said GEF CEO Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, opening the event. “Complex
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Photo by Ignat Kushanrev Solid waste workers have been indispensable to protecting cities around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their heroic examples
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Photo by Darya Tryfanava Transitioning to zero-carbon transport globally is essential to keep climate change in check. Yet five years after the Paris Climate
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The World Bank’s GPSC Global Online Series explores how cities can leverage the COVID-19 pandemic’s unprecedented disruption to facilitate a more
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Explore the GPSC Newsletter to discover how cities worldwide are advancing integrated, resilient, and nature-positive urban development through innovation
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On the occasion of World Cities Day 2020, the World Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are launching the Sustainable Urban
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Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash Increasing health and wellbeing in cities that experience water scarcity presents challenges, but can be done, say Howard
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This project is helping to move China’s emerging megacities off of a high-polluting car-oriented trajectory by applying eight low carbon design principles
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Daily life in Freetown. Photo by Abdul Karim Jalloh on Unsplash The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency, an economic plight, and is revealing
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The aim of the C40 Action Selection and Prioritisation (ASAP) resources is to support cities in selecting and prioritising actions to include in their ambitious
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Photo by Thomas Despeyroux on Unsplash The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted the arts and culture sector around the world. With museums, cultural
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