Highlighting the country's initiatives, challenges, and innovative solutions for building green cities Michelle DeFreese explores the path to sustainable transportation in Rwanda.
Rwanda’s urban population is rapidly increasing, posing chances and challenges. Enrico Morriello illustrates how the country’s construction industry could pave the way to sustainable urbanisation.
Achieving a just energy transition in the urban housing sectors of the Global South demands recognition and engagement with their heterogeneous energy networks and rapidly evolving spatialities. Marie Urfels explores the challenges of achieving a just energy transition in the housing sector of the Global South while emphasising the importance of embracing these complexities to create targeted, context-specific solutions.
India has a long tradition of building climate-friendly houses. But in the case of informal settlements, applying this knowledge presents many difficulties. This leads to intense heat stress for residents. However, there is hope on the horizon, as we highlight an exciting initiative: utilising innovative design solutions for thermal comfort in community buildings in Chennai and Coimbatore - an Urban Living Lab approach.
Breathing new life into city architecture through native materials and construction techniques will catalyse lasting change and adaptability amidst unpredictable climate change-related incidences. Kweku Addo-Atuah on a return to Ghana's architectural heritage.
Concrete is the second most consumed material in the world after water, making it an essential component of urban development. However, cheap housing comes at a price. Can we still afford to pay for it? Jorge Javier and Cecilia Tortajada provide clear responses.
Sustainable building approaches are not only more environmentally friendly than conventional building methods – but they may also teach people how to avoid waste. Peter McIntosh, the founder of the Natural Building Collective, highlights the advantages through the example of Ulwazi Educare in Cape Town.
Difficult environmental conditions and scarce economic resources require new building solutions within the context of displacement and humanitarian aid. Andrea Maggiolo and Michael Ulfstjerne discuss chances and challenges based on the example of the ‘Qubba Classroom’ within the Za’atari Village.
Echoes of the same story can be heard in cities across the globe – homelessness is on the rise and the cost of housing is increasing at an alarming rate while the availability of decent housing dwindles. Kirsten McRae with recent statistics on the global housing crisis and why we should no longer financialise our most basic human good.
Forced evictions and displacements should be stopped, but it is not enough. Muhammad Azka Gulsyan wants us to think about how to rebuild the evicted homes, and restore affected communities and their livelihoods. Vertical Kampung-projects in Jakarta show that rebuilding and restoration are possible.
Delhi, just as many other cities around the world, struggles to provide adequate housing for migrant workers. Young architect Kaif Ali presents a potential solution
The approach of the Fundación Hogares understands the relevance of strengthening social cohesion in neighbourhoods to respond to city-scale challenges. José Roberto shares some valuable insights into how community organisations are shaping their surroundings in infrastructure as well as in inclusiveness.
Creating liveable, affordable cities requires significant public investments. How to finance them? The answer may lie in land value capture. This financing tool allows municipalities to recover the land value gains that result from public action such as zoning changes or investment in public infrastructure, to invest them back into the city. Sena Segbedzi, OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative, shares stories of success from all over the world.
The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated existing challenges in the domain of social inclusion and housing. Cynthia Goytia on how cities can rise to these challenges and which solutions have already proven successful in urban Latin America.
While we assume cities will continue to face rapid growth, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced a trend which counters linear population projections: qualified professionals no longer move where work is, but work from where they want to live. If, before the pandemic, cities competed to attract head offices or multinational corporations, today they have to compete for each qualified individual.
