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© Julius Mwelu/UN-Habitat UN Secretary-General Visit to Kenya

Photo album of the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres' visit to Nairobi, Kenya in March 2017

Source: UN-Habitat/ Flickr

This article is culled from daily press coverage from around the world. It is posted on the Urban Gateway by way of keeping all users informed about matters of interest. The opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and in no way reflects the opinion of UN-Habitat.

Scientific American, December 16, 1916 Urban Engineering in 1916: Science and Technology for the City

In the year these images were published, a century ago, an equal number of people in America lived in the cities and in the countryside. But by the end of the decade the urban population was larger, as farms replaced horses and laborers with machines and farmhands and their families moved to the cities to work in factories that paid more than they could earn as agricultural laborers.

From photographs, art and movies we have some idea of the extremes of city living (then and now!). In New York, for instance, we can see the squalid slums photographed by Jacob Riis, and we can peek in on the opulent life of Gilded Age industrialists (robber barons?) such as Andrew Carnegie, whose extravagent mansion is now the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. But the vast majority of people living in cities with large and dense populations relied heavily on technology to enable them to live and work comfortably or even tolerably. Housing, transportation, electricity grids, water supplies, sewer systems—these made up the body of modern city life.

Our slide show here is a small peek into the vast complexity of the urban engineering that goes into helping a city survive and thrive. For a more complete look at the growth in the technology over the past 170 years, our Scientific American Archive is available for purchase here: www.scientificamerican.com/magazine/sa

Source: Scientific American

This article is culled from daily press coverage from around the world. It is posted on the Urban Gateway by way of keeping all users informed about matters of interest. The opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and in no way reflects the opinion of UN-Habitat.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Habitat III

“Habitat III” is shorthand for a major global summit, formally known as the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, that was held in Quito, Ecuador, on 17-20 October 2016.

The United Nations called the conference, the third in a series that began in 1976, to“reinvigorate” the global political commitment to the sustainable development of towns, cities and other human settlements, both rural and urban. The product of that reinvigoration, along with pledges and new obligations, is the New Urban Agenda, which sets global strategy around urbanization for the next two decades.

Third thousand people from 167 countries ultimately attended the four-day event, according to official figures, including some 10,000 global participants. Organizers said that this contsituted the strongest participation ever recorded by local authorities, civil society and other stakeholders at a U. N. conference.

Julius Mwelu/UN-Habitat UN-Habitat signs the MOU with I-KAIST in Nairobi, Kenya

UN-Habitat Mr. Gulelat Kebede with the I-KAIST CEO Mr. Sung-Jin Kim signed the Memorandum of Understanding between UN-HABITAT and I-KAIST, a company contributing to knowledge sharing and technology development.

Stockholm by Michael Caven / CC BY Swedish capital goes car free for one day

For one day on September 19 Stockholm plans to stop the use of motorized vehicles in the city centre. 

The initiative is part of the European Mobility Week, a project from the European Commission that seeks to promote sustainable transport. More than 200 cities will participate this year, will join the initiative. Together with Stockholm, two other national capitals—Lisbon, Budapest, —will experiment with a car-free day.

Stockholm has a history of promoting civic sustainability, especially relating to transportation. In 2010, the city won the first European Green Capital award, in part for its low transport emissions, clean water standards, and innovative waste management. A large proportion of its city buses and trains run on renewable fuels, making its share of clean vehicles among the highest in Europe.

UNHCR Refugee Crisis

Stories of refugees caught in crisis

Julius Mwelu/UN-Habitat IASC Principals Meetings, 21-22 May 2015, Nairobi, Kenya

Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) Principals meeting, 21-22 May 2015, Nairobi, Kenya.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) was established in June 1992 in response to General Assembly Resolution 46/182 to serve as the primary mechanism for inter-agency coordination relating to humanitarian assistance in response to complex and major emergencies under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator.

UN-Habitat European Development Days 2015

The European Development Days, Europe’s leading forum on global development and cooperation, came to a close with a strong emphasis on the linkage between urbanization and economic development of countries. The event, held in proximity to the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels, brought together around 4000 participants, among them political leaders, development practitioners, the private sector and civil society. Its aim is to find practical solutions for some of the world’s most pressing problems. By doing this, it also shapes the EU’s policies for tackling poverty worldwide. UN-Habitat co-organized several sessions under the headline ‘An urban world: challenges and opportunities’, highlighting the important role of urbanization in development.

World Environmental day celebrations

Pictures comemorating the world enviromental day 

Ajibola Oseni Waste management and ocean

Captures of waste washing up on the atlantic coast of Lagos.

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