Cities

Counting What We Consume: A Conversation with NYC Chief Climate Officer Rohit Aggarwala and Food Policy Director Kate MacKenzie

In April 2023, New York City launched its new integrated greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for measuring local contributions to climate change. For the first time, the city is counting emissions from the food and other goods and services that New Yorkers consume. While buildings (35%) and transportation (21%) remain the top sources of local emissions, …

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Organic Waste in NYC: A Conversation with DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch & Council Member Sandy Nurse

Every year, New York City residents and businesses generate 1.8 million tons of organic waste, with nearly all of it ending up in landfills. In particular, organic waste, including food scraps, food-soiled paper, yard debris, is estimated to make up one-third of the waste collected from New York City residences each day. To reduce the …

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Global Sustainable Cities: Cities and Our Environmental Future

Over half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and this share is expected to increase in the coming decades. With growing urbanization, cities and their residents face substantial environmental challenges such as higher temperatures, droughts, wildfires, and increased flooding. In response to these pressing challenges, some cities have begun to develop local environmental …

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Urban Biodiversity: A Transatlantic Dialogue on the Role of Cities in Promoting Global Biodiversity Goals

Though seemingly at odds with one another, a wide variety of living organisms and habitats exist in and around dense urban areas. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, and the urban footprint steadily growing, policymakers must think about how to protect the biodiversity that remains within urban areas and …

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Beyond Gas Bans: Expanding Local Strategies for Building Decarbonization and Energy Efficiency

At the federal level, opportunities and incentives to decarbonize buildings expanded in 2022 due to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.  However, many municipalities have seen their powers to steer building decarbonization curtailed in recent years. Notably, between 2020 and 2021, 20 states passed laws that limited local governments’ authority to regulate the installation …

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Impact Fees in New York City? Legal Authority, Constraints, and Potential Options

The Guarini Center is currently soliciting comments from the public on a new draft article that examines questions surrounding the legality of local impact fees in New York City. Comments, suggestions, or other feedback can be submitted to Adalene Minelli at am8898@nyu.edu. Broadly defined, impact fees are one-time charges imposed on new development as a …

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Impact Fees: A New Direction for NYC?

Impact fees are one-time charges imposed on new development as a condition of approval to offset the development’s impact on local infrastructure, services, and the environment. A revenue-raising tool, they are broadly based on the idea that new development should be responsible for paying for a share of the new or additional public infrastructure and …

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