Karl Dickinson

With water flowing in from beyond the city boundaries, how can we realistically keep it in check? The International Water Association’s 17 principles for water-wise cities may hold the answer. In this article, we take you through the basics of urban water resilience and management. It’s an ideal starting...

Concerned with how to kick off a better water culture in your city? Whether your region is blighted by too much or too little, our guides are packed full of ideas to get you started. And the best part is, everyone can do something, from children to municipal decision-makers...

The more we build, the more we disrupt natural water systems, calling into question whether we’ll have enough to sustain growing city populations. Prioritising water management and blue infrastructure will enable urban environments to prosper in the face of unpredictable weather conditions. We take a sweeping look at how...

São Paulo is a tale of two cities. A broken relationship with water has created a litany of challenges, which hit the sprawling favelas harder than the wealthy centre. The Secretary of Urbanism is showing how intelligent and integrated plans for water-sensitive cities can shift inequities in water supply,...

Being heard makes us feel valued and identifies priorities for change, but municipalities struggle to do it well. CityChanger and creative Sophie Mirpourian tells us how her idea to use a portable townhall - the Tiny Rathaus - opened a productive dialogue between administration and citizens, and why sometimes...

Energy Team and community leaders hosting a gamified training session in Dromiskin. Image Credit: Energy Team Big cities can learn a lot from smaller communities. Dunleer, a town in the northeast of the Republic of Ireland, has managed what many larger places have struggled to do: excite people about retrofitting....

Does history affect our relationship with cities? According to Young Leader Aleksandr Vlasov, the Soviet era has left a modernist mark on social attitudes and the physical makeup of Russia’s urban spaces. Thankfully, up-and-coming designers and planners like him are taking on the challenge and championing transitions that create...

Spend less and save the environment: these are the benefits of repairing durable household electrical appliances over buying cheap replacements every few years. The fact we even can give products a second lease of life is largely down to Right to Repair hero, Sepp Eisenriegler. He tells us what’s...

Trying to understand the food-water-energy (FWE) nexus has a lot of us scratching our heads. Trying to get anywhere with it is like unravelling a knotted ball of wool: you can tug at the threads, but they don’t come loosely because it is so intrinsically intertwined. Getting to the bottom...

If you want a say in what happens within your city, the food-water-energy nexus is a perfect opportunity. It impacts almost every aspect of our lives and every function of our cities. Involving as many stakeholders as possible, via cross-societal and multidisciplinary engagement, we can make improvements to food,...

There's a lot to the food-water-energy nexus. From too little to too much, and how we manage these extremes and everything in between - it can be difficult to keep up with it all. So, we've put together a helpful list for some of the trickier technical terms used...

The food-water-energy nexus is complex. People and organisations are funnels for the details that allow us to unravel the puzzle. This information they give sheds light on the interconnected domains and how we can use them to create more resilient cities. But how can FWE data and digital interfaces...

Water, food, energy: in terms of creating sustainable cities, they are virtually impossible to separate. Optimising outputs for one relies on efficient resource management for all three, intrinsically locked as they are in the FWE nexus. So why don’t we design urban systems holistically to capitalise on this? If...

CityChangers have the know-how, stress-tested projects, and innovative policy ideas worth shouting about, but it takes more than being an expert to influence our peers. Captivating presentations take practice – and it’s a different discipline whether presenting in-person or online. Drawing from an illustrious career in corporate sponsorship and...

If we seriously intend to limit global warming, we need more people like Heinrich Strößenreuther. This cycling and climate activist and serial NGO founder specialises in street-level change, and he’s using the political system to do it. The beauty of Heinrich’s methods – cycling referendums and mobilising civil society...

As in business, real success in sustainable city transformations largely hinges on sound and equitable leadership. This requires elevating more women to positions of influence. Social entrepreneur Fabian Dattner is a die-hard advocate and activist creating a seismic shift in the landscape of leadership. We jumped at the chance...

When Luca Ballarini came up with the idea of ‘city imaging’, he didn’t yet know the impact it could have. Within less than a decade, the concept has become a powerful tool that anyone can use to drive change in their city. Read on to discover how the creative...

When Lan Marie Berg was thrust into the public eye as Oslo’s vice mayor, the constant scrutiny became an unexpected challenge. Her climate budget and car-free zones transformed the city, but the backlash ranged from media lies to threats. What she learnt from dealing with the aftermath is a...