Over the last several decades, researchers have examined how our cities deplete natural resources and change the climate and ecosystems of their surrounding areas. But new evidence shows that such impacts aren't a purely modern phenomenon.
"Writing for Nature’s Scientific Reports, a team led by David Kaniewski showed that the development of Akko, a port city along what is now Israel’s northern shores, coincided with a collapse of the local ecosystem, with dense coastal forests transforming into a dry, shrubby grassland," writes Colin Schultz for Smithsonian.com.
Researchers conclude that residents of Akko, one of the world’s oldest cities, taxed the local water supply and produced an urban heat island effect that helped transform the area's climate and ecosystem.
The results of their research helps to upend some common assumptions about the sustainability of ancient cities, say Kaniewski and his colleagues:
This questions the long-held belief of a ‘‘golden age’’ of sustainable early urban development. The same mechanisms that degrade or overexploit the ecosystems nowadays were already at work, even if technologies and agroinnovations were markedly different during the pre-industrial era. Accepting large urban concentrations might need to concede an intrinsic impossibility to produce locally sustainable development.
FULL STORY: Urbanization Has Been Destroying the Environment Since the Very First Cities

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

Colorado Lawmakers Move to Protect BRT Funding
In the face of potential federal funding cuts, CDOT leaders reasserted their commitment to planned bus rapid transit projects.

Safe Streets Funding in Jeopardy
The Trump administration is specifically targeting bike infrastructure and other road safety projects in its funding cuts.

Six Reasons Why Housing Is a Human Right
Is housing a human right? A law professor shares six reasons why it should be, from its role in protecting other rights to global recognition and U.S. legal traditions. As public support grows, could housing be the next right written into law?
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