The 21st-century European city is an amalgamation of the old and new. Contemporary manufacturing is heavily influenced by what came before. This heritage is key to its identity, survival, and revival, but time has...
Urban manufacturing needs a range of suitable spaces to thrive. Diversifying the uses within buildings, blocks, and neighbourhoods opens up considerable gains: we should consider co-location as a primary tool for making cities more...
“If you are considering cycling as an option for your city, please consider this group,” says Alex Baum, co-author of the ‘Cycling Cities for Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers’ Report. He told us why it...
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...
It’s a fact! Cities are designed by men for men. This skews power relations in the built environment and the systems that govern them, curtailing women’s social and economic mobility. Added to this, intersectional...
From a naïve 19-year-old architecture student to working on government projects and helping achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Shweta Gandhi has already gathered a multitude of experiences. We spoke to this Young Leader...
Great communication, determination, vision, curiosity, and eagerness to learn are all qualities that make up a good urban planner and a CityChanger. Qualities that this Young Leader possesses without a doubt.
As an Urban Designer...
Urban development isn’t always about the brand spanking new. It’s all well and good to build new modern constructions, but it’s even more essential to give those run-down, if not abandoned areas some love...
Why are we obsessed with success and fearful of failure? Often, it’s the unexpected trials and tribulations that provide the most valuable learning opportunities. Lior Steinberg is a rarity: with so many irons in...
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 of designing places for people....
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 perspective in urban planning be...
With so many interest groups all wanting representation in the decisions that form our living cities, it isn’t easy getting it right. There will be those who are unrepresented, those involved but who do...
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...
What do a liberal arts degree, a congested street, and the City of Toronto have in common? They all link back to our CityChanger Jennifer Keesmaat, an unconventional urban planner. We sat down with...
Did you ever wonder about how much of city planning is actually planning, and how much is fixing? How do you plan for the fastest-growing city in North America and re-design streets for pedestrians,...
How did Projet Montréal emerge from the neighborhoods to being a dominant, city-wide political force? How can we acknowledge the value of public space? And how does this go hand in hand with gentrification?
Life-Sized...
Urban planning can no longer be business as usual, and cities need to allow for the necessary innovation to tackle the world’s environmental problems. We talked about these topics, among others, with Florian Lorenz,...
Everyone wants some sort of a green nook in their city. A place to relax, cool down and simply enjoy the fresh air. Perfectly fine, but the problem occurs when cities are too dense,...