WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

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WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities Helping cities make big ideas happen™

X, Instagram, LinkedIn: Together with partners, it enables connected, compact and coordinated cities.

WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities helps create accessible, equitable, healthy and resilient urban areas for people, businesses and the environment to thrive. The Center expands the transport and urban development expertise of the EMBARQ network to catalyze innovative solutions in other sectors, including water, buildings, land use and energy. It combines the research excellence of WRI with two and half decades of on-the-ground impact through a network of more than 200 experts working from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Turkey to make cities around the world better places to live. More information at www.wrirosscities.org.

Did you know that by reflecting rather than absorbing the sun’s energy, cool roofs can lower temperatures inside buildin...
10/16/2026

Did you know that by reflecting rather than absorbing the sun’s energy, cool roofs can lower temperatures inside buildings? When deployed citywide, they reduce heat across entire neighborhoods 🏙️.

Cool roofs won’t solve urban heat on their own — but few interventions offer so many benefits at once. They:
🌡️ Significantly reduce heat-related deaths
⚡️ Lower energy use, emissions & cooling bills by decreasing demand for air conditioning
💰 Are inexpensive to install when included with roof replacements or repairs
🏘️ Can be prioritized in vulnerable communities

Cool roofs are a relatively simple solution to extreme heat in . The opportunity now is to make them a routine part of building codes, public investments and renovation decisions.

Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4ylMBW3

World Resources Institute

The strongest urban solutions often start with a very specific problem — from a dangerous journey to school 🚸 to a lack ...
10/15/2026

The strongest urban solutions often start with a very specific problem — from a dangerous journey to school 🚸 to a lack of accessible public space 🛝 to a transport system that prioritizes private vehicles 🚗.

“What makes these solutions powerful is when solving that problem also changes something bigger: how a city plans, invests or serves its residents. That is the kind of lasting change the Prize is looking for,” 💬 our Global Director Rogier van den Berg.

Applications for the $250,000 WRI Ross Center 🏆 are now open. Is your project delivering a big idea with life-changing impact and ripple effects?

Apply by January 13, 2027 ➡️ PrizeforCities.org

World Resources Institute Alcaldía Distrital de Barranquilla Move As One Coalition

🇰🇪 Earlier this year, Kenya launched its National Electric Mobility Policy.The 🆕 policy reflects strong national intent ...
10/14/2026

🇰🇪 Earlier this year, Kenya launched its National Electric Mobility Policy.

The 🆕 policy reflects strong national intent — but the transition to EVs will hinge on and counties, which control the physical spaces where e-mobility takes root 🔌. By issuing permits, allocating land and licensing operators, subnational governments set up the local conditions that determine whether a national investment in EVs pays off or evaporates.

National ambition is real. The technology is ready. The investment interest is growing. What remains uncertain is whether Kenya’s 47 counties will be equipped, resourced and motivated to do the work that only they can do.

Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4yhsLeE

WRI Africa ARC Ride Kenya Stats

Is your city safe from climate disasters?This Disaster Risk Reduction Day, we’re highlighting nature-based solutions tha...
10/13/2026

Is your city safe from climate disasters?

This Disaster Risk Reduction Day, we’re highlighting nature-based solutions that African are deploying and scaling to build a safer, more resilient future. From green corridors to restored wetlands 🌿, green infrastructure can help reduce climate risks and protect communities. When combined with traditional infrastructure, these can strengthen how cities prepare for and respond to a changing climate.

As Africa’s cities grow, so does the urgency to protect the people who live in them from floods, extreme heat and drought. Nature is part of the solution 💡.

Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4dZVg8v

WRI Africa Cities4Forests World Bank Group International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

For decades, transport reform in the Global South has followed the same script: formalize, replace or repress informal t...
10/12/2026

For decades, transport reform in the Global South has followed the same script: formalize, replace or repress informal transport services. The results are mixed at best.

The Bogotá Living Lab bets on a humbler premise: you cannot regulate what you refuse to understand, and you understand faster when operators and users are co-researchers 🤝 rather than enforcement targets 🎯. That’s why the team built a long-term platform where drivers, passengers, community leaders, researchers and city officials sit at the same table.

This month, at the first-ever global convening on informal and shared mobility, we’ll examine how governments, funders and other partners can work alongside ISM operators and workers to expand economic opportunity, improve access to essential services, accelerate decarbonization and advance more equitable mobility in around the 🌍.

Register for now ➡️ https://bit.ly/4x8TZ7A

Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4hTrt3x

Universidad de los Andes UCL Clean Mobility Collective Southeast Asia Shared-Use Mobility Center Chulalongkorn University Transportation Institute Columbia Climate School SPARC Trufi Association World Resources Institute

🚌 Did you know ESBs produce
10/09/2026

🚌 Did you know ESBs produce

Making work better for people and the planet will require solutions from every sector and at every scale.Since 2018, t...
10/08/2026

Making work better for people and the planet will require solutions from every sector and at every scale.

Since 2018, the WRI Ross Center 🏆 has received 1,200+ submissions and recognized 25 exceptional initiatives across regions, sectors and issue areas. Together, these projects have helped show what urban transformation looks like in practice, from people-led mobility reform and inclusive recycling to citywide parks, urban agriculture and safer streets.

Our 🆕 cycle builds on that record.

Is your project driving urban solutions for people, nature and climate?

Apply now 👉 PrizeforCities.org

World Resources Institute

From bike lanes, sidewalks and raised pedestrian crossings to curb extensions, shorter blocks and narrower lanes, dedica...
10/07/2026

From bike lanes, sidewalks and raised pedestrian crossings to curb extensions, shorter blocks and narrower lanes, dedicated bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure is critical to making active transportation accessible for students.

Students who walk and bike to school experience a myriad of benefits, including:
🫀 Improved cardiovascular fitness and overall health
😷 Reduced transportation-related emissions
🧠 A higher degree of alertness during school hours
💯 Better grades

By expanding and improving active mobility infrastructure around schools, can create sustainable, equitable and safe transportation for students.

Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4tjaEmk

The Electric School Bus Initiative

10/06/2026

📢 Applications for the $250,000 WRI Ross Center are now open!

Supported by philanthropist and business leader Stephen M. Ross, the Prize 🏆 celebrates proven urban projects making work better for people, nature and climate.

Has your project tackled a critical urban challenge and delivered results?

Apply by January 13, 2027 ➡️ PrizeforCities.org

World Resources Institute WRI Africa WRI Brasil WRI India WRI Indonesia WRI México WRI México - Ciudades WRI Türkiye

Making it easier to build housing is an important step to solving the 🇺🇸’s housing crisis — but that’s not the end of th...
10/05/2026

Making it easier to build housing is an important step to solving the 🇺🇸’s housing crisis — but that’s not the end of the story.

This , we’re exploring 🆕 research by The Pew Charitable Trusts, led by experts from ECOnorthwest and WRI through the New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO), that shows that building homes near existing jobs, stores and transit could save millions in public dollars.

By targeting areas with existing transit, amenities and infrastructure, can concentrate maintenance needs, reduce long-term costs and alleviate budgetary pressure on local governments and taxpayers — all while providing much-needed housing in areas with high demand.

Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/4y79rRj

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