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Notable cities

Back to the Farms of the Future: A Viennese Vision for Urban Agriculture

What will the farms of the future look like in an increasingly urbanised world? We take a trip to the Zukunftshof, a pioneering initiative in Austria that wants to model a more sustainable approach...

Notable City Haarlem: Advertising a Better Food Future

In 2021, the city of Haarlem, in the Netherlands, submitted a draft to became the first city in the world to ban meat advertising in public spaces. The move was a lightning rod for...

From the Linear to the Circular: How Guelph-Wellington is Closing the Circle on Food Waste

What would it take to create the first truly circular food economy? In Southwestern Ontario, Canada, the small city of Guelph and the surrounding county of Wellington have set themselves the goal of finding...

Notable City Darwin: Plausible Futures for Heat Mitigation in the Tropics

As extreme weather becomes commonplace, the Darwin Living Lab evaluates what cities in the tropics can do to stay cool enough to be liveable. Temperatures in Darwin can easily reach above 30°C all year round...

4 Days 4 Lines: Improving Equitable Access to Public Transit

Omer Juma’s organisation 4 Lines 4 Days assesses the accessibility of metro stations. Findings in Montreal surprised city leaders, who have since commissioned improvements. Between 1984 and 2014, a succession of law changes related to...

Notable City Indianapolis: Incorporating Stormwater Management into City Culture

Indianapolis saw an opportunity. They had plans for a cultural trail, bringing arts, pride, and improved mobility options to the downtown area. This also handed the city a chance to deal with the amount...

Superblocks – the Spanish Idea That Is Conquering European Cities

Giving the streets back to the people: The Spanish idea of creating city blocks where cars are only allowed as guests is spreading across Europe. But what’s the story behind the superblocks, and how...

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 war on cars. The plan is...

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 itself as one of our...

It Was No Easy Ride: Amsterdam’s Journey to Becoming a Cycling Icon

Cycling seems like second nature in Amsterdam, but after speaking with Marjolein de Lange, co-author of the book ‘Bike City Amsterdam’, we discovered that this hasn’t always been the case. Filled with fierce activism,...

Preventing Day Zero: Lessons from Cape Town

Day Zero: the moment a city’s water dries up completely. For Cape Town, this deadly scenario came too close, but it was averted thanks to collective action and decisive leadership. This story serves as...

A Just Transition: Raising Workers’ Rights in the Built Environment’s Transformation

As the construction and manufacturing industries undergo a transformation to new and better ways of delivering the built spaces we need, a hidden majority is often overlooked: the sector’s workers. It’s right that we...

Bloomberg Quicktake – Vienna’s Radical Idea? Affordable Housing For All

In many countries around the world, housing presents the single-highest household expense. Cities, in particular, are struggling to keep housing affordable. Amidst this crisis, there is one place that seems to handle the situation...

Fail Better! Lessons from Effective Climate Action

This article was written for CityChangers.com by Ms Kaisa-Reeta Koskinen, who works as a Head of Climate Unit at the City of Helsinki, and Dr Susa Eräranta, Project Director at the City of Helsinki...

Young Leader Omar Zahran: Architecture as a Tool for People-Centred Cities

How does so much historic architecture endure the ravages of time? It’s because the architects of yore knew how to build cities to suit their environment, and they did so to meet the needs...

The Streets Are Alive In Ghent: It’s More Than Just Removing Traffic, It’s Bringing People Together

In the last decade, Ghent has completely revived its urban landscape into a place for people to thrive. Through spatial planning, tactical urbanism, and improved cycling and walking infrastructure, this Belgian city has become...

Please Don’t Kale My Vibe – Piloting Edible City Solutions to Change Food Systems

This article was written for CityChangers.org by Mirka Råberg and Olivia Fokeerah, who both work for Forum Virium Helsinki, the City of Helsinki’s innovation company, in Finland. In it, they explore how cities can...

The CityChangers Podcast #17: Heart & Seoul

How did Seoul turn a backed-up expressway into a tranquil urban stream? We take a look at the landmark Cheonggyecheon River Restoration project and ask why, almost 20 year later, this peaceful pocket in...