Hi everyone,

There are garden cities all over the world today, mostly in suburbs. But where does this idea come from, and how did it develop? Can we learn something from the original concept? I took a trip to the first two garden cities recently and found pleasant and affluent towns, smoothed from a radical idea into something more comfortable.

Ein letzter Rettungsversuch: Wie aus einem vernachlässigten Grünstreifen in Oslo ein inklusiver Nachbarschaftspark geworden ist – und was deutsche Städte daraus lernen können Manche Parks meidet man...

By Hirwa Hans Harelimana

This is a guest article by Karl Dickinson from CityChangers – thank you, Karl! You can see the original here: https://citychangers.org/midcoast-public-toilets-strategy/

It is a grey and drizzly morning by the Caspian Sea. About 100 people are gathered in a circle on the beach by the half-finished Sea Breeze resort on Azerbaijan’s Absheron peninsula. Just twelve hours ago, we were all in our business clothes, discussing housing as the most important urban challenge. Now, we are shivering slightly in our swim wear, wrapped in towels while a DJ pumps pop music into the air that vaguely smells of oil.

Das Buch „Cottagecore Gärten“ aus dem Gestalten Verlag zeigt anhand weltweiter Beispiele den naturverbundenen Lebensstil in wild-romantischen Gärten, die weit mehr sind als lediglich hübsche Kulissen.

Ten years ago, just as I was about to start my Master’s degree in Urban Development and Planning, I launched a blog called Parcitypatory – towards the participatory city. I had just finished a Bachelor’s thesis on sustainable slum upgrading and the Millennium Development Goals, and I remember attending my first big conference, European Habitat in Prague, happily surprised about how many people cared about sustainable cities. I started planning how to get to Habitat III in Quito later that year.

I have been to three WUFs and the HABITAT III conference, an even larger edition of the WUF that happens every 20 years. Every time, I attend several sessions, interview urbanists, and write articles about my impression of the conference, interesting projects, important progress, and more.

Ein Unternehmen startet ein Digitalprojekt und stellt fest, dass die nötigen Kompetenzen intern nicht vorhanden sind. Dieses Szenario ist gut bekannt. Die Lösung ist heute meist ein Netzwerk externer Spezialist:innen, denn Freelancing ist für bestimmte Aufgaben nicht mehr die Ausnahme, sondern der Alltag. Entsprechend lösen sich die klassischen Grenzen von Unternehmen auf, und Innovation entsteht zunehmend außerhalb klassischer Strukturen.

Climate action, housing construction, migration – municipalities around the world are struggling with the same problems. Joint solutions help them move forward.

There is only one four-wheeled vehicle in Ljubljana’s city centre: The electric “Kavalir” (cavalier or gentleman) vehicles offer an accessible option for getting around the Slovenian capital, whose old town has been pedestrianised for almost 20 years. For the elderly and those who are less mobile, the local public transport company is offering these free low-floor buses with audio and video announcements. You can flag them down or call them to be picked up. Seven of these vehicles zip through th

An invitation for the next Urban Solutions Journalism Academy on April 8th, recent stories, and the case for reporting on what works.

Ingrina Shieh connects people to the green and blue spaces of the world’s first National Park City.

Getting outside into nature is not only valuable to our own health, it inspires us to protect our planet.

Written by Karl Dickinson, originally for CityChangers

As Los Angeles begins recovering from the devastating wildfires from last month, it is also thinking about how to avoid similar catastrophes.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Written by Karl Dickinson, originally for CityChangers

Mark Friday, the 30th of January, in your calendars for the next collaborative workshop! Hello everyone, I hope you’re getting ready for a well-deserved year-end break now. Before you sign off, mark this date in your calendars for next year: On…