Room for Improvement: How to (Better) Integrate Housing and Labour Markets

By |2018-09-19T10:11:41+02:00September 19th 2018|Basic Infrastructure & Housing, Decent Work, Housing & Informality, , , , |

Housing and labour are mutually dependent, but their connection is overlooked in economic policies most of the time. Edmundo Werna, Ramin Keivani and Youngha Cho argue that a closer look and a different understanding of how the two markets are linked will lead to more effective solutions and better housing and livelihood conditions, especially in the Global South.

Infographics: Urbanisation and Urban Development in Brazil

By |2021-05-10T11:45:54+02:00September 13th 2018|Global Urban Debates, Governance & Finance, Housing & Informality, Urban & Metropolitan Governance, , , , , , , , |

URBANET’s latest infographic series provides you with interesting facts and figures about urbanisation in Brazil.

“We Have to Use Land Much More Carefully”

By |2018-09-03T12:24:01+02:00August 30th 2018|Economic Development, Urban & Metropolitan Governance, , , , |

URBANET spoke to Shri Saranyan Krishnan about the particularities of urban land governance in India’s state of Tamil Nadu.

Infographics: Urbanisation and Urban Development in India

By |2022-06-15T16:15:27+02:00July 31st 2018|Global Urban Debates, , , , , , |

India is a rapidly urbanising country. As a kick-off to our focus week, URBANET has prepared infographics to summarize some of the most important and fascinating facts and processes regarding urbanisation in India.

“In urban policy we need to get to where climate policy is today” (video)

By |2021-11-05T11:38:09+01:00February 22nd 2018|Climate Change & Resilience, Urban & Metropolitan Governance, , , , , , , |

The issue of urbanisation is gaining attention and cities are increasingly recognised as having a crucial role to play in achieving sustainable development. However, urban development has yet to become an integral part of the global political agenda. URBANET talked to Ani Dasgupta, Global Director of the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, about what needs to change to make urban development a political priority.

Cities for a better world (video)

By |2018-02-06T00:11:17+01:00February 5th 2018|Climate Change & Resilience, Urban & Metropolitan Governance, , , , , , , |

Cities are irrefutably linked to human history and development. To learn more about the relevance of cities for global sustainable development and for achieving a better world, URBANET provides you with a short explainer video by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Heading for Kuala Lumpur: The challenge of implementing Sustainable Urban Solutions

By |2018-02-06T00:22:20+01:00January 30th 2018|Global Urban Debates, , , , |

In less than a week, the 9th session of the World Urban Forum, the largest international stakeholder gathering of passionate urbanists, will kick off in Malaysia. Franz Marré looks ahead and shows why WUF9 is an important platform for strategic discussion and arena for innovation.

World Urban Forum will set stage for a busy 2018

By |2018-02-07T13:52:50+01:00January 30th 2018|Global Urban Debates, , , , , , , , |

Around 20,000 urbanists are poised to gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the ninth session of the World Urban Forum. However, WUF9’s preparations for a quadrennial report will not be taking place in a vacuum. The conference comes only at the beginning of a busy year, writes Gregory Scruggs.

Hotspot Cities

By |2021-02-23T15:56:52+01:00January 17th 2018|Climate Change & Resilience, Green & Smart Development, , |

In the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, 196 nations have agreed to put 17% of the earth’s surface under protection. Author Richard Weller calls for additional land to be protected in the world’s “hotspots”, where biodiversity is threatened by urban sprawl. In his text, he discusses why regional ecology is an issue for urban planning.

Why should we deal with abandoned urban spaces?

By |2021-08-18T12:03:43+02:00November 29th 2017|Basic Infrastructure & Housing, , |

Cities are constantly transforming, and societal development leaves marks in urban space. When industries decline or parts of cities are abandoned due to migration, urban wastelands or gaps in the built environment are left behind. How can cities make use of these empty spaces? Anja Graner looks at repurposing wastelands and the “dense city”.

Voices on 1 year New Urban Agenda

By |2017-10-25T16:19:15+02:00October 19th 2017|Global Urban Debates, , , , , , |

This month, the New Urban Agenda (NUA) celebrates its first anniversary. What has happened since its adoption at Habitat III in Quito? We asked Billy Cobbett (Cities Alliance), Mei Yi (Mayor of Jingdezhen, China), Eugénie L. Birch (Professor at the University of Pennsylvania), Yang Jun (Mayor of Suzhouto), María Alejandra Vicuña Muñoz (Minister of Urban Development and Housing of Ecuador) to take stock of the past 12 months’ implementation actions.

Make or break: How the city of tomorrow will shape our future

By |2017-10-25T21:56:29+02:00August 15th 2017|Climate Change & Resilience, Global Urban Debates, , , , , , , |

"Building cities able to accommodate half a billion people over the next 30 years is one of the biggest transformations of our planet and we have to get it right", Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General stated at the Langenburg Forum for Sustainability. Read the full speech here on URBANET

Small towns, rural-urban linkages and regional development

By |2021-07-23T14:26:34+02:00July 5th 2017|Governance & Finance, , |

Regional development that includes urban and rural areas, people and enterprises is crucial for sustainable development. This is especially the case for low and middle income countries undergoing the urban transition, and for countries where employment opportunities need to be created in both urban and rural areas for a growing and youthful population.

What Characterises an Ideal City, and How Do We Get There?

By |2021-08-18T11:34:37+02:00June 22nd 2017|Basic Infrastructure & Housing, , |

What do we envision the ideal city of the future to be like? How can we approach such an ideal in urban planning? According to Marco Dall’Orso, the (re)creation of urban environments needs to balance and integrate multiple strategies. Taking into account the quality of the socio-economic and built-natural environment, he develops a framework that can be used to analyse a city’s strengths, weaknesses, and possible trajectories for future development.

10 years of the Leipzig Charta: a model for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs?

By |2017-10-14T15:10:18+02:00June 14th 2017|Global Urban Debates, , , , , , |

This year’s Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy in Germany focuses on the Leipzig Charta’s 10th anniversary and future perspectives for sustainable cities in Europe. Timo Munzinger of the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) discusses the relevance of the Leipzig Charta for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, calling for the Leipzig Charta to be brought up to date to meet current urbanisation challenges.

Go to Top