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CityChanger Emma Cutting: Improving Neighbourhoods with Street Gardening

Street gardening gives city-dwellers a way to reconnect with nature. In Melbourne, it is also helping Australia’s wildlife and makes people feel safer in the street. Little did Emma Cutting realise when she broke ground...

Renovating Makes Cents: How to Retrofit on a Budget

Realistically, for a shot at halting climate change, we need to make buildings more efficient, big time, with widespread retrofit rollouts in the next few years! Regardless of good intentions, that’s not easy without...

How to Make Water Use More Efficient

Showering, cleaning, drinking, flushing, and washing clothes all use water. A lot of water! As the climate changes and populations increase, supply is struggling to keep up with demand. Making our city’s buildings more...

Young Leader Luis Obregon: Unlocking Urban Regeneration in Truro

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...

How to Make Energy Use More Efficient

Using fossil fuels emits a lot of carbon dioxide. This enters the atmosphere and traps heat, warming the climate. Unless we curb our energy use, temperatures will rise beyond the 1.5 degree-maximum we’ve set...

How to Create a Low Traffic Neighbourhood

The idea behind Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) is a straightforward one: it means closing off local streets to private cars and through traffic. Yet this seemingly ‘simple’ change can completely transform a residential area...

“Truck or Trike?” – How a Vancouver Co-Op Challenges the Status Quo of Last Mile Delivery

In the highly competitive logistics business environment, Shift Delivery is taking delivery trucks off, and cargo trikes onto Vancouver’s streets. All by putting community over profit. Here’s what it means to deliver goods the...

How to Make Last Mile Deliveries More Efficient (and Green): The Challenge

It’s a simple equation: A growing number of people living in cities plus a growing e-commerce sector plus a growing parcel volume equals traffic collapse, right? Well, maybe. But maybe not! We show how...

Think Outside the Box – How to Co-Use Public Transport Facilities for City Logistics

Setting up micro hubs is a promising approach to last-mile delivery. Yet, what is often missing is a suitable space in city centres. Using public transport facilities such as a bus garage or tram...

Perspectives on the 15-Minute City: How to Turn a Utopia Into a Reality

You may have already heard of the concept of a ’15-minute city’, but what do urban planners really think about the feasibility of making cities time-scaled, is this mere design fantasy, or is this...

How to Incorporate Greenery into Architecture

According to the European Commission, we spend 90% of our lives in enclosed buildings. That’s quite a lot, considering how much vegetation and the outdoors positively affect us. So, why don’t we simply incorporate...

Six Steps to Decarbonising Buildings

This article was written for CityChangers.org by Irene Garcia, Built Environment Lead, and Michael Shank, Director of Engagement, both with the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. In it, they outline a six-step plan – illustrated...

How Cities Can Shift Power to the Youth

This article was written for CityChangers.org by Dr. Michael Shank, adjunct faculty at New York University and George Mason University. In it, he argues that cities stuck in the business-as-usual rut can hand the...

CityChanger Miriam Staley: Presenting Masterclass

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...

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

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...

Promoting Heat Pumps: A Communication Strategy for Hard-to-Engage Groups

Conservatives fiercely resist behaviour change, but a six-point communications strategy designed to advance buy-in of heat pumps is a working model for engaging hard-to-convince groups. When Anja Floetenmeyer-Woltmann steps onto the stage, she is determined...

Coolfood Quick Guide: Strategies to Entice Better Food Choices

Food service organisations are well placed to make a big dent in greenhouse gas emissions just by reducing how much meat they serve. The World Resource Institute’s Coolfood Quick Guide shows them how. And...

How to Open Urban Swimming to People with Disabilities

This article was written for CityChangers.org by Laura Puttkamer, a writer, journalist, communications consultant, and founder of parCitypatory. In it, she explains how a lack of inclusive infrastructure is a barrier to independent recreational...