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notablecities

Cooking Up Community: Transforming a Town Square into an Open Air Kitchen

This article is part of a paid collaboration between Urban Future and Pop Up City Amsterdam, implemented in the run-up to UF24 in Rotterdam. The featured "recipe", the Open Air Kitchen, is one of...

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 CityChanger with an impressive portfolio...

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...

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

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...

From Emissions to Edens: Our Top 5 Car-Free Urban Transformations

Our cities have been constructed almost entirely around private cars. But what's happening now? Cities are realising that infrastructure for motor vehicles in urban areas often leaves them looking grey, industrial and not very...

Good Things Happen to Those Who Hustle – A Story of Cycling Advocacy in the City That Never Sleeps

When you think of New York, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Cycling is probably not on top of your list. It seems dangerous, especially for outsiders, but this is...

Notable City Paris: The Cultivated Capital

The French capital’s ambitious vision for urban agriculture is in full bloom. We take a look at the city’s signature Parisculteurs programme to understand why its unique approach is receiving world-wide attention. From ‘the city...

#1 Rotterdam Rooftops

Facing their fair share of challenges on the ground (from housing shortages to climate change) cities like Rotterdam are looking skywards for solutions – to the rooftops. There’s plenty of opportunity but also headwinds...

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...

From Creating Momentum for Pedestrians to Turning It Into Policy – How Rotterdam Made It Happen

It’s a long way from one person having an idea to a city fully implementing it on policy-level – Rotterdam’s story shows that it can be done, and how. We sat down with José...

Addis Ababa: Lessons in Multi-modal Transport from an African Capital

America and Europe are awash with cities putting multi-modal transport at the forefront of cities’ policy and design. The voice of Africa doesn’t feel so prominent, but that’s misleading: Addis Ababa’s progressive transport plans...

Vienna Calling: A Story of Gender Equality, Funding Structures, and School Streets

For the 10th consecutive time, Vienna was named the world's most liveable city in the Mercer Rankings of 2020. But does that also mean that the city is particularly pedestrian-friendly? We talked to Petra...

Notable City: Decarbonising Vienna

Vienna is a pragmatic city, bursting with exuberance, diversity, and political action. In terms of decarbonising, it’s a place where people are making definite, positive urban change at the street and policy levels. We...

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...

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. The Secretary of Urbanism is...

Spotlight on Trondheim: Shortcuts to a Walkable City

It’s simple, it doesn’t cost much, it saves time – why aren’t shortcuts more prevalent in cities that want to encourage people to walk more? Look to Trondheim: a mid-sized Norwegian city that has...

How to Excite People About Retrofitting

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...

Young Leader Eva de Bruijn: How Eindhoven’s ‘Idealists’ Are Saving City Politics

Politics is one realm that can open a lot of doors to sustainability in our cities. But whether it’s because they are disillusioned, disinterested, or feel excluded, many people do not use their voices...