Urbanization News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

Coastal Flooding More Frequent Than Previously Thought

June 2, 2025 — Flooding in coastal communities is happening far more often than previously thought, according to a new study. The study also found major flaws with the widely used approach of using marine water level data to capture instances of ...

Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows

May 29, 2025 — A new study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders, and other amphibians migrating across ...

Trees Vs. Disease: Tree Cover Reduces Mosquito-Borne Health Risk

May 28, 2025 — A study finds small-scale tree cover in Costa Rica boosts biodiversity while limiting dangerous mosquito ...

Involving Communities in Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Challenges Leads to Greater Innovation, Study Shows

May 28, 2025 — Involving communities in nature-based solutions to tackle urban climate and environmental challenges leads to innovation and multiple benefits, a study ...

How to Use AI to Listen to the 'Heartbeat' of a City

May 21, 2025 — Researchers took a fresh approach to urban research by using artificial intelligence to explore the emotional side of city life. Their goal was to better understand the link between a city's physical features and how people feel in those ...

Nature Visits Can Improve Well-Being Disparities Among Urban Dwellers

May 8, 2025 — How relatedness-to-nature is linked to well-being is determined by district-level socioeconomic status. A new analysis is based on survey results from two major Japanese metropolitan ...

New Study Tracks Air Pollution and CO2 Emissions Across Thousands of Cities Worldwide

May 7, 2025 — In a sweeping new study of more than 13,000 urban areas worldwide, researchers have mapped air pollution levels and carbon dioxide emissions, providing comprehensive global analysis of urban ...

International Experts Lead Calls to Embed Nature in City Infrastructure for Better Health and Climate Resilience

Apr. 30, 2025 — Trees, parks, wetlands and green roofs can no longer be seen as a 'nice-to-have' aesthetic enhancement but a vital component for creating climate-resilient, healthier and more equitable cities, ...

Emotions and Levels of Threat Affect Communities' Resilience During Extreme Events

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers use mathematical modeling to probe whether cohesive communities are more resilient to extreme events, finding that emotional intensity and levels of stress play a big ...

Universal Spatiotemporal Scaling Laws Governing Daily Population Flow in Cities Revealed

Apr. 8, 2025 — While the daily ebb and flow of people across a city might seem chaotic, new research reveals underlying universal patterns. A study unveils fundamental spatiotemporal scaling laws that govern these ...

Role of Social Workers in Addressing Marginalized Communities Bearing Brunt of Climate Disasters

Apr. 8, 2025 — A researcher spent a year living in a jjokbang-chon, an extremely impoverished neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. While there, he calculated residents' carbon footprints, finding they contribute ...

How Changing L.A.'s Tree Rules Could Cool More Neighborhoods

Mar. 26, 2025 — Los Angeles has some of the strictest tree planting rules in the nation. These policies limit tree growth, worsen shade disparities and don't improve safety, researchers found. When researchers modeled looser planting restrictions in a lower-income ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:42pm EDT

Adopting Zero-Emission Trucks and Buses Could Save Lives, Prevent Asthma

Mar. 18, 2025 — Researchers used community input to design Advanced Clean Truck (ACT) air-quality model experiments. Community asked for ACT policy simulations that convert 48% of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles ...

Social Media Can Help Track Species as Climate Changes

Mar. 13, 2025 — Social media can help scientists track animal species as they relocate in response to climate change, new research ...

As Next Hurricane Season Nears, Study Explores Impacts of 2024's Storms

Mar. 13, 2025 — When major storms hit Houston last spring and summer, losing power was a nightmare for residents, but for many, the financial fallout was just as devastating. A new report finds that more than half ...

Want to Preserve Biodiversity? Go Big

Mar. 12, 2025 — Large, undisturbed forests are better for harboring biodiversity than fragmented landscapes, according to recent research. Ecologists agree that habitat loss and the fragmentation of forests reduces ...

Problem-Based Learning Helps Students Stay in School

Feb. 26, 2025 — Education experts are encouraging schools to consider problem-based learning (PBL) in a move to improve engagement and creativity among high school students. New research demonstrates how hands-on, ...

PIK PR: Little Potential for 'Climate Plantations' Within Planetary Boundaries

Feb. 12, 2025 — Planting fast-growing crops, burning them, capturing the released CO2 and storing it: this is being discussed as a way to remove greenhouse gases ...

Generating International Testing Standards for Large Outdoor Fires

Feb. 10, 2025 — The recent LA fires drove home how dangerous wildfires can be when they encroach on urban areas. So-called 'wildland-urban interface' fires are on the rise. However, building codes and standards have ...

New Study Assesses Impact of Agricultural Research Investments on Biodiversity, Land Use

Feb. 4, 2025 — New, groundbreaking research shows how, at a local scale, agricultural research and development led to improved crop varieties that resulted in ...

Earth Scientists Study Sikkim Flood in India to Help Others Prepare for Similar Disasters

Jan. 30, 2025 — Experts from the global Earth science community have pieced together what happened during the massive Sikkim flood to try to help others prepare for ...

Scientific Approach Can Optimize Bike Lane Planning

Jan. 27, 2025 — develop a model that can help municipalities choose optimal locations as they expand their cycling lane networks in response to growing ...

Stroke Deaths and Their Racial Disparities Increased Over Last 20 Years

Apr. 9, 2025 — Over the last two decades, ischemic stroke mortality rates in the U.S. have grown, with almost 3 in 10 deaths occurring at home, and increases particularly among racial minorities and rural ...

Urban Highways Cut Opportunities for Social Relationships

Mar. 6, 2025 — Urban highways promise to get people to their destinations faster -- and bring them together. But at the same time, they reduce social connections between people within the city, especially at ...

Underlying Rules of Evolutionary Urban Systems in Africa

Feb. 24, 2025 — From the perspective of complex systems, the study reveals the universality, specificity, and explanatory power of underlying rules governing urban system ...

Dense Human Population Is Linked to Longer Urban Coyote Survival

Jan. 9, 2025 — Tracking coyote movement in metropolitan areas shows the animals spend lots of time in natural settings, but a study suggests the human element of city life has a bigger impact than the environment ...

Efforts to Reduce Kids' Screen Time Weakened by Unequal Access to Green Space

Jan. 6, 2025 — When children have a place to play outside, programs aimed at reducing their screen time use are more ...

Acoustic Sensors Find Frequent Gunfire on School Walking Routes

Jan. 6, 2025 — A new study used acoustic sensors that detect the sound of gunfire to show how often children in one Chicago neighborhood are exposed to gunshots while walking to and from school. Results showed that ...

Adoption of 'Hospital-at-Home' Programs Remains Concentrated Among Larger, Urban, Not-for-Profit and Academic Hospitals

Dec. 23, 2024 — Hospitals that have adopted the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) 'hospital-at-home' program, which serves as an alternative to admission to brick-and-mortar facilities, are ...

More People Living Without Running Water in U.S. Cities Since the Global Financial Crisis, Study Reveals

Dec. 19, 2024 — More American cities -- even those seen as affluent -- are home to people living without running water as people are being 'squeezed' by unaffordable housing and the cost-of-living crisis, ...

How Loss of Urban Trees Affects Educational Outcomes

Dec. 17, 2024 — Economists looked at test scores and school attendance for Chicago-area kids before and after a bug infestation wiped out the city's ash trees. Education outcomes for low-income students went ...

Water and Forests in Southern US

Dec. 12, 2024 — Climate and land use change have and will continue to alter streamflow regimes and water quality through the 21st century, with consequences for drinking water treatment costs, flood protection, and ...

These Are Now the Smokiest Cities in America

Dec. 10, 2024 — Normally, America's smokiest cities lie out west. But Canada's unusually intense 2023 wildfire season smothered American cities in smoke farther east than is usual, according to new ...

AI Predicts That Most of the World Will See Temperatures Rise to 3°C Much Faster Than Previously Expected

Dec. 10, 2024 — AI predicts that most of the world will see temperatures rise to 3C much faster than previously ...

Regional, Racial, and Economic Disparities in Cancer Risk from Air Pollution Exposure Persist, but Improving, New Research Suggests

Dec. 3, 2024 — A nationwide U.S. assessment of estimated cancer risk from airborne toxics shows that risk is concentrated in urban communities, those with lower incomes, and those with higher proportions of racial ...

Overlooked Emissions in California's Salton Sea Air Basin

Dec. 3, 2024 — Nitrogen oxide emissions from soil in California's Salton Sea air basin are 10 times larger than state estimates, finds a new study of rural Imperial and Coachella ...

Two-Way Water Transfers Can Ensure Reliability, Save Money for Urban and Agricultural Users During Drought in Western U.S.

Nov. 26, 2024 — A study offers a solution to water scarcity during droughts amid the tug of economic development, population growth and climate uncertainty for water users in Western U.S. states. The proposed ...

'Biodiversity Is Not a Luxury': Connection Between Wealth and Ecosystem Health

Nov. 25, 2024 — This study examines the positive correlation between an area's wealth and biodiversity, known as the 'luxury effect.' The authors present an alternative framework for understanding ...

Smarter City Planning: Researchers Use Brain Activity to Predict Visits to Urban Areas

Nov. 21, 2024 — Researchers have measured the brain activity of people who had never been to a specific city and then use this brain activity to predict other people's actual visits to places around that city. ...

Climate-Driven Hazards Increases Risk for Millions of Coastal Residents, Study Finds

Nov. 21, 2024 — A new study estimates that a 1-meter sea level rise by 2100 would affect over 14 million people and $1 trillion worth of property along the Southeast Atlantic ...

Revitalizing Neighborhoods in the Wake of Aging Populations

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers examined the Senboku Hottokenai Network Project through a combination of case study and action research methodologies. The results of this study shed new light on the importance of ...

Populations Overheat as Major Cities Fail Canopy Goals

Nov. 19, 2024 — A new study measuring access to nature for eight major global cities found most still have inadequate canopy cover, despite access to an abundance of ...