The Urban Activist is a solution-oriented publication centering its reporting on actions in cities that embody courage and create human progress.
Independent, apolitical and nonpartisan, our work manifests in an open archive of grassroots solutions, social innovations and movements in cities around the globe.
Articles are delivered with purpose by a worldwide network of non-journalist activists, artists, scientists, researchers, urban farmers and more, who add multidisciplinary perspectives to the stories.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to spark new ways of thinking and progressive action in cities. As the world gets increasingly urbanized, the city is one of the main arenas for change.
This publication attempts to create a new way of journalism that doesn’t cover urban affairs as if it’s a beat. Arts. Sports. Climate change. It isn’t. Many city people have waged battle with solution-oriented approaches on many urban issues, including climate change, and if journalists aren’t covering that battle, they’ve missed the story.
We investigate local initiatives, big or small, and people working on the ground because it brings us right up to the front lines of the fight with a concrete solution. These are the heroes at all levels of society, the advocates we need to meet, and here are the arguments and information we need to understand and know inside and out. When diverse voices, doing something unconventional, are excluded, it limits the discussion and reinforces the mainstream views.
OUR VISION
We believe that a story out of New York can inspire action in Nairobi. What is effective in Buenos Aires could also work in Berlin. Local innovation and an engaged citizenry are key in finding answers to the world’s most pressing challenges and advancing progress.
EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE POLICY
We operate as a non-profit retaining full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic interests of our organisation. To keep our publication free of ads, and to avoid charging you for our content, this growing platform relies on grants and partnerships with non-profit organisations for our funding. But we will cede no right of review, influence or unauthorised distribution of editorial content.
We are grateful to the foundations and people who make our work possible, and readers like you. Specially, we’d like to thank The Puffin Foundation for their support of this project.
