The mayors of the world's biggest cities convened in Sao Paolo recently to team up against climate change and sea level rise. Neal Peirce sees much promise in the effort.
As Peirce reports, the organizers behind the international compact are aiming to become the world's leading and most effective environmental organization.
"But the object isn't to expand C40 membership indefinitely, said Rohit Aggarwalla, the first director of Bloomberg's "PlaNYC" sustainable investment effort and now a leading figure in launching the new C40. Rather, he said, the new goal is to include each new world "megacity" of 10 million or more inhabitants that appears on the world stage, and in addition to include the globe's top 25 metros in GDP - places that "punch above their weight economically."
In a second major move at São Paulo, the World Bank's president, Robert Zoellick, was on hand to announce his institution was terminating its historic practice of dealing exclusively with national governments. Now, he said, there will be "one-window access" for cities to tap the bank's climate-related expertise, based on a new C40-bank agreement. Zoellick said the bank's climate investment funds - which totaled $6.4 billion last year - might now enable cities to attract as much as $50 billion in private capital for their climate projects."
FULL STORY: Climate and the World's Cities: A Week to Remember

Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.

Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.

Test News Post 1
This is a summary

Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.

Test News Headline 46
Test for the image on the front page.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service