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Karl Dickinson

169 POSTS
5 COMMENTS
Change matters. It takes courage. As a writer - and citizen - I am inspired by stories of those who challenge the 'we've always done it this way' attitude. We can do better - it's time to listen to those who go against the grain.
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Inclusive Cities

CityChanger Hanah Lahe: Healing Political Divides to Unite Citizens in Climate Action

Karl Dickinson -
In ageing societies like Europe, young people have little of the political power needed to influence decisions that impact their lives. As a group for whom sustainability is a prominent concern, futureproofing cities relies on their involvement in the democratic process. That’s what motivated Hanah Lahe to make a...
Farm to Fork

Utilising Untapped Space: Food Security with Rotterdam’s Floating Farm

Karl Dickinson -
Space in cities is limited. Urban farming signals better times for food security but if there’s a future in it, we need to find ways to make it fit around existing land uses. When room on rooftops runs out, then what? Rotterdam’s floating dairy farm is an example making...
Revitalising Districts

Young Leader Luis Obregon: Unlocking Urban Regeneration in Truro

Karl Dickinson -
In cities struck by economic downturn and decay, we might hear the term ‘urban regeneration’ bandied round as a catalyst for improvement. But it’s about more than just throwing money at a problem. Young Leader alumni Luis Obregon argues that, when done well, regeneration can confidently deal with the...
Food Systems

CityChanger Frank Holleman: Realistic Expectations for Sustainable Eating Habits

Karl Dickinson -
Meat may be one of the most controversial topics in sustainability discourse. It’s a major contributor to climate change emissions, for one, and vegan advocates have a hard time convincing diehard carnivores to change their ways. Frank Hollemen scales the in-between: he set up Fork Ranger to raise awareness...
Farm to Fork

Improving Urban Food Security with Community Supported Agriculture

Karl Dickinson -
Food security will be one of the greatest challenges that humans face in the years ahead. Urban agriculture reduces reliance on rural imports, but a bad harvest can threaten financial viability of small producers and strain supplies again. Community supported agriculture is an alternative model that provides a safety...
Food

Food for Thought: Facts & Figures

Karl Dickinson -
Food is a massive and complex matter. In nature, food chains have to find a balance to prevent ecosystems from collapsing. Our human-made food network is no different. As the statistics show, a sustainable future concerns much more than what – and how much – we put on our...
Food

The Challenges of Creating a Sustainable Food System

Karl Dickinson -
We all need it, but many of us don’t have enough of it, and a lot of what we can get is bad for us. Up there with water and oxygen, food is one of the essential building blocks of life that nature has given us, yet somehow, we’ve...
Food

The Case for Sustainable Food Systems

Karl Dickinson -
Food is a funny, fickle friend... or is that foe? While we all need it, the industries concerned with producing, packing, distributing, and clearing up after foodstuff can make this dependency majorly problematic - for access, health, finances, and environment. It's such a complex fiend that we've split the Getting Started...
Inclusive Cities

Creating Safer Cities: Considerations for Gendered & Nighttime Design

Karl Dickinson -
If the design of urban spaces does not make us feel safe, it limits how we move around, engage with, and enjoy the city. This impacts women disproportionately, and even spaces that seem welcoming in daylight can feel menacing after dark. We investigate the link between urban design and...
Inclusive Cities

Notable City: Tanga – Generating City-Wide Benefits by Boosting Youth Social Mobility

Karl Dickinson -
Through population growth and in-migration, cities are only going to increase in number and size. This presents a challenge: how do we ensure citizens’ needs are addressed adequately as urban environments sprawl at an unprecedented rate? One answer is using a life-long approach – improve outcomes for young people...
Retrofitting

How to Attract Considerable Investment for Large-Scale Sustainable Initiatives

Karl Dickinson -
Finance is an unavoidable puzzle piece in making cities sustainable. With scaling a priority, leveraging enough money is a challenge. Too often, if forces us to focus on a single objective, when what we need for meeting climate targets is holistic change. Rufus Grantham speaks with CityChangers to offer...
Editorial

Are Public Festivals Damaging Urban Parks?

Karl Dickinson -
Because of the population density, cities are a concentration of the best and worst of everyday human behaviour. Nowhere is this more evident than at celebrations that infringe on urban parks. With the warmer weather of summer, people strip themselves sartorially, and apparently of a sense of responsibility for the world...
Inclusive Cities

Urban Design Lessons We Must Learn from Communities in the Global South

Karl Dickinson -
Implementing spatial changes that benefit citizens isn’t a straightforward process. In many cities, there’s not a process for it at all! Or is there? The case of Muscat, in Oman, shows us that it may be disadvantaged citizens rather than authorities who possess the real change-making power. We talk...
Circularity

How Cities Can Build with Timber… Responsibly

Karl Dickinson -
Biobased materials can deliver buildings that are both low-carbon and fit residents’ needs: robust, resilient, and pleasant to be in. They can allow us to ‘partner’ with the natural world too, supporting the forest ecosystems we need, as a planet, to act as vital carbon sinks. Timber stands out...
Car-Free

Train Drain: Why We Shouldn’t (Always) Travel Sustainably

Karl Dickinson -
Sustainability needs a warning label. The somewhat tongue in cheek Godwin’s law suggests that in any online discussion going on long enough, someone will make a comparison with the Nazis. In a similar way, it seems that any talk about urban sustainability eventually leads to one topic. Well, sorry folks, here’s...
Editorial

From Nero to Zero – The Unspoken Exclusion of Smartphones

Karl Dickinson -
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. During a recent trip, my enquiry into departure times for the shuttle bus connecting sites of Pompeii was met with a bark of, “Check the internet!” The response – “I can’t” – prompted a raucous guffaw. It’s an in-your-face reminder of how...
Greenery

CityChanger Balin Koyunoglu: Creating Resilient Cities Through Rewilding

Karl Dickinson -
Humans and wildlife have much in common. Urban sprawl deprives both of the resources, protection, and environmental stability that the natural world offers. Rewilding cities can reverse these fortunes. We explore what’s to gain from welcoming wildlife into urban spaces and how easily it can be achieved, with landscape...
Cycling

What Went Wrong with the Paris Referendum On E-Scooters?

Karl Dickinson -
Micromobility has an image problem. In Paris, a mix of poor planning and bad user habits came to a head as the public voted for e-scooters to be banned. Mobility expert Dagmara Wrzesińska’s outspoken criticism of how the referendum was handled caught our attention – her explanation is a...
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