Researchers from MIT Civic Data Design Lab investigate Venice's tourism dynamics by employing spatial data on urban form and tourist facilities. Their goal is to envision what Venice's post-pandemic urban life could look like.
Global lockdowns have exacerbated violence against women yet teach us an important lesson on how to protect women in times of crises. Natalie R. Gill dives into the world of tech and frontier technologies to highlight the importance of women’s right to safe mobility.
Secondary cities perform essential sub-national functions within national economies as centres of government administration, education, health, resources, and industry production. Both national policies and international programmes need to be adapted accordingly, write Rene Peter Hohmann and Brian Roberts.
Last Thursday, the tenth World Urban Forum came to a close in Abu Dhabi. "Cities of Opportunities – Connecting Culture and Innovation" was the forum's theme, making for a week full of exchange and discussion on the various facets of sustainable urbanisation. URBANET spoke to the Lord Mayor of the German city of Dortmund on his key takeaways from the conference.
With thousands of tons of food going to waste every year, Serbia is coming up with solutions to prevent the production of surplus food – and support vulnerable groups with the surplus that is generated anyway.
Strengthening urban rural connections is essential for building resilient infrastructure, claims Rajib Shaw. However, as examples from Japan show, implementation is often hindered by administrative issues, calling for innovations in governance and communications to make urban rural partnerships a reality.
The concept of smart cities brings with it both risks and opportunities for informal settlements. Through technical innovation, they do have the potential of making slums more resilient, argues Laurinda Godjo – if they are not only smart cities but also inclusive cities.
How can Vietnamese cities avoid the environmental pitfalls of rapid urbanisation? Adam Ward proposes solution-driven policies for key areas.
With massive urbanisation rates worldwide, it is essential that our built environment contributes to sustainable urban planning. Vivek Jaisree Mohandas and Henning Wilts outline how the concept of Circular Economy can be applied to the construction sector.
To improve public services and increase transparency, the City of Buenos Aires has developed various open data applications.
Start-ups and Micro-businesses drive innovation and quality control and provide employment. The intervention of local governments can create conditions where such small businesses can thrive, says Ayodotun Stephen Ibidunni.
Cities can only become “smart” if they are responsive to their citizens – therefore, local governments need to take the lead in the digital transformation, says Bilal Saghir.
When opening creative spaces, it is not enough to simply designate a space and add tools and technology, says Roman Vydro, co-Founder of Garage Hub, a community workshop in Kharkiv, Ukraine. What is way more important, is to include a variety of people and let their input create an entire creative ecosystem.
An oft mentioned phrase in development parlance is “think globally, act locally”. Yet, when the change we seek is improved livelihoods globally, is local action enough? Doug Ragan, Rolf Wichmann, and Raphael Obonyo claim that local action is critical yet can’t be done in isolation of national and international realities. In their article, they explore different interventions that can be utilised to address the issue of improving youth livelihoods through interventions from the local to the global.
Human-centred impact innovation can be an extraordinary source of social and economic growth for cities and metropolitan areas in developing regions that drives growth of urban communities, supporting equitable and sustainable development and inclusive prosperity.
