Journalist Alex Ulam speaks with Sarene Marshall, director of the Urban Land Institute's Center for Sustainability, about the role conservation is playing in fighting climate change and her role at the agency.
What was it like moving from The Nature Conservancy to the Urban Land Institute? They seem like very different organizations. For one thing, one focuses on wild areas and the other focuses on settled areas.
When I worked at The Nature Conservancy, a dramatic transformation was taking place in conservation everywhere. We were shifting from this older notion of parks and protected areas, places that we put fences around and kept people out of, to one where people are going to be part of conservation landscapes.
Increasingly, there are fewer and fewer places in the world that you can imagine being completely pristine. So at The Nature Conservancy our work changed significantly, from being wholly focused on protecting wild places to also working on conservation issues involving land that was ranched or farmed or timbered. We were also engaging urban populations about where their water and food is coming from.
FULL STORY: A conservationist turns to the city
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Buildings are responsible for a little less than half of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Break this figure down further and you'll find that building heating accounts for about a fifth of all U.S. emissions.
Fire Tests Enable New Timber Typologies
After a long time lost in the woods, architects and engineers are rediscovering timber. Recent fire tests have demonstrated that timber can be a viable building material and meet existing code requirements.
Can Insurance Markets Jump-Start Resilience?
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‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research