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Car-Free

Barcelona’s Superblocks: Putting People at the Centre – Literally

A few weeks back, during an ECIU Challenge in Barcelona, I talked with the Office for Urban Ecology of Barcelona's municipality. They showed me the city's plan to win its...

Car-Free

Pontevedra: The Little Utopian City That Drove Out Cars – and How They Made It Happen

The city of Pontevedra in the Northwest of Spain is recognised for its well-preserved old medieval town and beautiful cobbled streets. Yet the city has also gained world-wide attention...

Cycling

Enrique Peñalosa: “An Advanced City Is One Where the Rich Take Public Transport”

Bogotá’s former mayor, Enrique Peñalosa, redrew the capital’s cityscape. Surviving two recall elections, he built hundreds of parks, bike tracks, bus lanes and sidewalks. For him, a bus stuck in traffic...

Walking

Infrastructural Changes for Pedestrians: What to Consider

Changing the infrastructure is never an easy task. A lot of thought goes into designing an efficient transport system – but does it consider all modes of transport? Learn...

Most Popular in Sustainable Building(s)

Car-Free

Barcelona’s Superblocks: Putting People at the Centre – Literally

A few weeks back, during an ECIU Challenge in Barcelona, I talked with the Office for Urban Ecology of Barcelona's municipality. They showed me the city's plan to win its...

Construction

Mud: Fact File

Half of the world’s population is living in mud constructions. And we can understand why. Take a look at the following facts, primary building methods, and the main uses...

Greenery

Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay: Sustainable Building Meets Greenery

Gardens by the Bay: an award-winning green haven in the middle of Singapore. With its iconic architecture, innovative use of technologies, environmental sustainability, and horticultural displays, Singapore has established...

Construction

Guide to Natural Materials in Construction: More Than Hobbit Houses and Mud Huts

Deep in the depths of the construction world, among the steel, cement and concrete, there are materials hidden, just waiting to be utilised. We’ve put together this guide exhibiting...

Most Popular in Climate Adaptation

Climate Adaptation

Water/Cooler Moments in the Age of Extreme Heat

As heatwaves become more frequent, we grow reliant on cities taking measures to provide relief. From fountains to pools to games, there are plenty of ways water offers comfort...

Climate Adaptation

Schoonschip: A Community-built Floating Neighbourhood

Living on the water might sound like the vision of a future where climate change has forced humanity to adapt to the rise in sea levels, but Schoonschip in...

Climate Adaptation

Daylighting Rivers: A Hidden Gem of Climate Adaptation

Urbanisation in the post-industrial age led to the burial of waterways to make way for buildings, roads, and public spaces. Water, though, cushions the blow of climate change, so...

Climate Adaptation

The First Rule Is: Don’t Talk About Climate Change

How to communicate about climate in a way that drives real and sustainable change The problem: The doom and gloom language we constantly hear around human-caused climate change makes people...

Most Popular in Food, Water & Energy

Water

The Challenges Facing Urban Water Management

What water is available to cities is unevenly distributed and increasingly stressed due to population growth. Human activity backed by poor policy safeguards increases volumes of wastewater, reduces that...

Water

Notable City: São Paulo – Water Challenges Along the Class Divide

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....

Water

The Secrets of Vancouver’s Rain City Strategy

Vancouver has undergone a blue-green infrastructure revolution. Its Rain City Strategy integrated nature making the city more resilient to fluctuations in rainfall. Behind it all is Melina Scholefield, a...

Greenery

Terras de Cascais: Connecting People and Nature Through Community Gardening

“Giving new life to natural spaces and promoting organic urban culture” is the motto of Terras de Cascais. It’s a project working towards bringing people together, reviving the connection...

Most Popular in Inclusive Cities

Inclusive Cities

CityChanger Jan Gehl: Creating Liveable Cities

Renowned Danish architect Jan Gehl changed our understanding of what urban space should be. Shunning the traditional school of planning in favour of liveable cities, he pioneered the movement...

Car-Free

How to Build a City for Women – and Why Cars Take a “Back Seat” in Feminist Urban Planning

Have our cities really been built with gender bias in their design? How did this happen, what does a "feminist" city really look like, and how can a female...

Car-Free

CityChanger Katja Diehl: The Car Mobility Privilege and Why We Need to Restore City Justice

Human-centric mobility advocate Katja Diehl shared with us some of her insights into the car-free movement, the story behind her business and podcast ‘She Drives Mobility’, and her personal...

Inclusive Cities

When You Don’t Feel Safe in Your Own Neighbourhood – The Lack of Safety for Communities of Colour

Black individuals are 2,5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement on public surfaces, are often harassed at home by their neighbours, and only 22% of them...

Most Popular in Circularity

Circularity

Recycling Concrete: Can We Really Reuse Construction and Demolition Waste?

Concrete. As a staple of construction, it’s everywhere in our cities. What happens when a building has served its purpose? Could we recover, recycle, and rebuild with construction and...

Circularity

Lyon Confluence: How a District is Retrofitting Heritage Buildings

SPL Lyon Confluence is carrying out a stand-out urban renewal project in a once-deprived district of central Lyon. Project Manager Etienne Vignali describes how this offers a significantly chance...

Circularity

Recycling Construction and Demolition Waste with SeRaMCo

Is there a market for recycled concrete? This was such a sizeable question that the EU part-funded a multi-million-Euro project to find out. Leading SeRaMCo, Christian Glock set out...

Circularity

Waste to Resources: Tampere’s Triumphs With Trash and Trade

The importance of good waste management is no secret, but how to do it can sometimes allude us. This is where the city of Tampere comes in. So, if...

Most Popular in Skills

Guest Article

How to Make Public Spaces Inclusive for an Ageing Society

How does the design of public spaces influence mental health? Could urban design reduce isolation and loneliness and increase accessibility and mobility? “Rosario is also its older adults”, a...

Skill

How to Overcome Opposition and Face Backlash

Convincing the “other side” of your idea can be exhausting and frustrating. And if you finally persuade the opposition and continue with implementation, there are still going to be...

Skill

No Time for Trial and Error – How to Lead in a Crisis

Over the last year, we’ve found ourselves in a situation unfamiliar and nerve-wracking to all of us. The pandemic and its impact on people all across the continents have...

Inclusive Cities

CityChanger Safaa Charafi: Creating Fair & Sustainable Cities with Intersectionality

Cities aren’t inclusive. It’s evident in how they’re laid out, the policies that govern us, and the mindsets of inhabitants. There’s a way to change this. Mainstreaming gender and...

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Cycling

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