The Guardian

In a new weekly column, Fred Pearce of The Guardian examines corporate and municipal claims to sustainability.

Seven years on, the site of the former World Trade Center remains largely barren. However, despite delays and claims of over-budgeting, the Port Authority says new development at Ground Zero s expected to finish on schedule.

In an agreement with fellow socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone has accepted a position in Caracas to advise the city on improving its transportation and crime issues.

The annual transformation of riverbanks to beaches has begun in Paris, where the River Seine becomes a widely visited outdoor public space known as Paris Plages.

The Guardian U.K. observes that the end of cheap oil is changing driving habits, boosting public transit use and encouraging localization. In short, they are making America a bigger place.

Following on the success of its bike-sharing system, Paris is planning to unveil a citywide green car-sharing system.

The second-smallest country in the world (after the Vatican) has plans to expand its territory by building more land on stilts in an idea inspired by oil rigs.

Pubilc art should be guided by public input, according to this commentary.

One country stands out in Europe in surpassing the greenhouse gas emission reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol - Sweden. While it used several environmental technologies to achieve those reductions, experts give credit to its carbon tax.

A new 22-mile bridge -- which breaks the previous record of 20.2 miles set by another Chinese bridge -- will provide a faster road connection between the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Ningbo.

The sub prime crisis is affecting both the growth of planned suburbs and prompting the decline of new suburbs. Is the US heading for Slumburbia?

Officials in the United Kingdom are looking at a new technique to deal with frozen winter roads -- by collecting and saving summer heat.

Vacant lots and underutilized dirt patches are the the romping grounds of a new breed of activists. Known as "guerrilla gardeners", groups of people all over the world are reclaiming their cities' public spaces and landscapes by planting seeds.

The dam project is being proposed on the Congo river, and could produce more than twice the amount of energy generated by China's Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest. If approved the dam could be operating by 2022.

With more and more energy-efficient homes being built and environmentally conscious industry sited in the city, Freiburg, Germany may be one of the greenest cities in the world.

Pianos have popped up in random public places in Birmingham, England -- a public art installation that passively invites passersby to take a seat and tickle the ivory.

Crippling violence and dangerous streets in the Rose Town area of Kingston, Jamaica, have motivated Prince Charles to bring his Foundation for Architecture and Urbanism to the island ghetto to attempt a rebirth.

Cities are undergoing major changes in terms of demographics and development patterns. How cities will react to these changes remains up in the air.

Living more sustainably, tackling infrastructure problems and ensuring a more protected way of experiencing natural disasters are among the top challenges of the next 50 years, according to a group of scientists, entrepreneurs and thinkers.

A new map has been released that shows the extent of the effects human development and lifestyle have had on the world's oceans.