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.
Filiep Decorte, Director for Emergency Response, UN-Habitat, outlines how WUF11 has adapted its programme in response to the war in Ukraine.
Making cities liveable for all remains one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. By Ingolf Dietrich, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.
How to rebuild a city after a devastating war? Dalia Mokayed emphasises the crucial role of cultural heritage.
The Friendship Bench is a community-based mental health counselling programme in Zimbabwe. Dr Ruth Verhey reflects on the contributions of such programmes to liveable communities for all.
Shyam Khandekar explains how cities can be built with humans as the focus of attention.
How can architectural solutions contribute to increase liveability in informal settlements? Alfredo Brillembourg portrays how the process of blocking-out facilitated the empowerment and upgrading in the informal settlement of Khayelitsha.
The question of scale in urban space is one of the most discussed in recent urban discourse. In the framework of multi-scale approaches, the development of ongoing discourse on small-scale urban design, and its application in practice, Igor Kuvač presents examples of small-scale urban interventions in Banja Luka.
The bicycle hub in Cape Town's township of Langa started as a small community initiative that delivered medicine to bedridden people in the neighbourhood. Within just two years, it developed into a local enterprise that shapes mobility patterns in Langa. Founder Mzikhona Mgedle shares a story of success.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns have put immense pressure on global logistics: movement came to a halt while demand for goods remained the same. How can this demand be met in cities without causing a traffic nightmare – especially thinking about last mile deliveries? Payal Pandya shares some ideas from Dublin, Ireland.
Many cities carry out small-scale test actions, seeking to accelerate their transition to a more circular economy. Eileen Crowley reflects on the limitless advantages and opportunities provided to cities that are willing to embrace a culture of experimentation.
Dipak Bhowmick, Kumar Abhishek, and Keshav Jha present an innovative approach to improve access to clean drinking water and sanitation for Bangladesh's urban poor.
A progressive legal framework and a human rights-based approach to human mobility – exclusive insights from the Mexican capital. By Nancy Pérez García of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission.
URBANET presents another country series, inviting readers to learn about urbanisation and urban development in Bangladesh! We kick off our focus weeks with a set of infographics. We offer you facts and figures from this young nation, where rapid urbansiation has been presenting urban planners and policymakers with various challenges and potentials alike.
Set in the desert and with large numbers of unregistered citizens, water justice is a major concern in Lima, Peru. Fenna Imara Hoefsloot outlines how the city's digital water infrastructure excludes parts of the population from reliable water supply.
