Climate
“More Than Weeds”: Rebel Plants And Our Obsession To Control Nature
Sophie Leguil, founder of “More Than Weeds”, on stopping our endless weeding of wild plants on the streets and ending our alienation from nature
LONDON, UK
Europe
Climate
In Berlin And Paris, Two Museums Ask People To Collect Stories Of A Changing Environment
An experimental collection of objects and stories of ordinary people, hosted by two natural history museums, takes on our changing planet. Could storytelling spark action?
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
‘Citizens Could Seize The Moment’: Energy Cooperatives’ Pluck In Paris
Some consider energy cooperatives in cities a quixotic adventure, but one worth trying to decarbonize the energy system at this moment in history.
PARIS, FRANCE
Climate
Museum Prescriptions For A Healthy City –– Is Art That Good?
How Brussels prescribes its own cultural gifts, urban privileges we may often take for granted or may not be able to afford, for a healthy community, a healthy city.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Climate
Are Car-free Cities Sexist? More Female Voices Could Spark Innovation In Mobility
At first glance, a car-free city is a great idea but it is contradicting itself. While more women walk and use public transportation for multiple destinations, they are also the ones more dependent on driving. How does it all fit together?
BONN, GERMANY
Climate
‘Gieß Den Kiez’: Giving Trees In Berlin A Chance To Outlive Their Planters
Berliners are making watering trees more sexy than announcing new planting. The citizen-led initiative ‘Gieß den Kiez’ coordinates watering efforts to prioritize aftercare of street trees to outlive multiple generations of people.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
London’s Dream For Trees: Mini Urban Forests Towards Carbon Neutrality
With a science-led approach, ‘Dream for Trees’ has started to plant mini urban forests in London to efficiently store carbon and create local balanced ecosystems. Can they save us from human-caused climate change?
LONDON, UK
Climate
We Are Here Venice. Back Soon But Better
Now that Venice is back for its residents, culture and science are stimulating an urgent debate on its future. Some answers might already lie in the natural capital of the lagoon. If we can't save Venice, what does that mean for the rest of humanity?
VENICE, ITALY
Climate
No More Unease To Refill. A Revolution To Free Tap Water
Natalie Fee, co-founder of Refill in Bristol, has put the power to disrupt the vicious circle of bottled water at people’s fingertips to protect our water sources and the environment.
BRISTOL, UK
Climate
Running Goes Mainstream For Everyday Journeys. Mayors Wanted!
Born in London, a coalition of running enthusiasts is growing by the day to inspire more of us to run everyday journeys, errands and commute. Running mayors will advocate in their cities to legitimize it as an active travel.
LONDON, UK
Climate
‘Tranquil City’ Reveals Spaces Of Urban Calm To Promote Healthy Cities
The initiative Tranquil City maps tranquil spaces together with simplified datasets, such as noise and air pollution, to integrate them into various applications and promote healthier lifestyles in citizens.
LONDON, UK
Climate
‘So Lonely’: Opening Up Eases Loneliness In Cities
‘So lonely’ is a compendium of artistic interventions in public spaces, which intends to listen to how citizens go about loneliness in Munich. All leads to a closing participatory theater to advance action against social isolation.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
A Green City State Of Mind For Climate Protection
The grass-root association Green city e.V. has been at the vanguard of spreading global climate action among citizens in Munich.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
Urban Gardens Undergird A Network Of Trust In Budapest
Kisdiófa Kert is an urban garden in Erzsébetváros neighbourhood, where citizens connect to each other building trust and supportive relationships in Budapest.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Climate
Showers On Demand Encourage Walking And Cycling
If you google the question ‘How can I ride my bike to work without getting sweaty?’, you will get almost 19 million results just for the last month. For all the urban mobility talk about how to encourage walking and cycling in the city, the fact is that they mean a higher factor of perspiration. ...
LONDON, UK
Climate
Looking Forward To Wednesdays. Tackling Drug Addiction In Oslo.
Wednesdays volunteers meet at the city centre to distribute food, hygiene products and clothes. How they are tackling drug addiction in Oslo.
OSLO, NORWAY
US
Climate
How The New York Public Library Lays The Seeds To Cultivate The City
Located in Mid-Manhattan, the New York Public Library has taken over a century-old practice of seed saving and distribution. Could seed libraries one day prevent a food crisis in our cities?
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
The Vicious Circle Of Littering In Cities. Cleanup Activists Explain
Our planet suffers the problem of littering in cities. Apparently easy, why can’t cities solve this impossible task? Across the ocean activists explain the invidious choices to tackle the issue at its core.
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Climate
La Plaza Cultural: The Wisdom Of A Visionary Garden
‘Radical acts of gardening’ more than 40 years ago were visionary actions to reconnect with nature, which anticipated the challenges facing our cities today to fight climate change.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
Gardening Decentralized Healing In Los Angeles For A Damaged Planet
In Los Angeles, a guerrilla garden proved that cultivating collective healing is possible where hardship prevails. Gardening is where healing the body and healing the planet meet and paves decentralized ways for ecosocial renewal in cities.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Climate
A Towering Waste Problem. Local Ideas Spearhead Change In Brooklyn
Waste is a huge problem. By the day. Here are some community-led ideas bred in Brooklyn which are a successful approach for radical change in waste reduction.
BROOKLYN, NY, USA
Climate
Demystifying Open Data. Citizens-created Science For Change
To embrace sustainability, cities ably need to reduce the social divide between the public and science by building data literacy and democratizing the use of open data.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
Food Warriors In New York. The Fight Of Our Century
The founders of the first plant-based community fridge in New York unlock fresh food for everyone and its value to combat diseases and heal the planet.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
Racial Trauma: Unchaining Ancestors’ Stories To Heal Cities
The struggle of Afro-Americans venting their stories in the white context of cities keeps feeding their trauma. The initiative “Witness to History” restores untold stories of slavery in its town as a precondition for healing.
GUILFORD, CT, USA
Climate
Racial Equity In Urban Planning Reframes Future Mobility In US Cities
Mobility advocates are spearheading a new discourse, which focuses on social justice rather than infrastructure and car free cities.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Climate
PopUP Forest: A Call To Biodiversity In Cities From New York
Mariellé Anzelone is growing an urban movement for nature and biodiversity in the cities of the future.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
The Thrilling Rest of the World
Climate
“We Are Suffocating”, A Public Outcry From A City In The Caucasus
Environmental pollution in the post-Soviet city of Rustavi is complex, but it should be read not as an act of despair but as a rallying call with concrete solutions
RUSTAVI, GEORGIA
Climate
Cairo’s Unexpected Success Story To Clean The Nile
From a little island in Cairo, the Nile is getting free of plastic pollution with the urgency to develop local economies along the river
CAIRO, EGYPT
Climate
Locals Give Canadian Cities Butterflies. From Their Backyards
In Canadian cities a neighbour-led movement is unfolding the potential of backyards to provide pollination routes for monarch butterflies. Also it is a call on locals to become Beebnb hosts — the Airbnb for wild bees.
TORONTO, ON, CANADA
Climate
Freetonians Return To Natural Infrastructure. Planting Trees For Life.
Deforestation is threatening citizen's life in Freetown, but its environmental impact goes beyond the city's borders. Collective and bold actions around the world put cities at peace with nature.
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE
Climate
Becoming An Urban Gardener To Deal With The Food Crisis In Beirut
Lebanon’s economic crisis has created a guerrilla of urban gardeners growing their own food to curb hunger and build an agriculture culture in the country.
BEIRUT, LEBANON
Climate
Magical Trees: Our Curiosity For Nature Can Heal Us And Our Cities
The organization Árboles Mágicos in San José, Costa Rica, combines head and heart to regenerate biological corridors and the wellbeing of citizens.
SAN JOSé, COSTA RICA
Climate
Right To Breathe: Blue Skies Vindicate Activist’s Demand For Clean Air In Delhi
Jyoti Pande Lavakare, co-founder of Care for Air, has been raising awareness on deadly air pollution in Delhi for the past six years. Due to the Covid-19 lockdown she finds herself under clear blue skies, an unprecedented time to demand more civic action.
NEW DELHI, DELHI, INDIA
Climate
Food Security: ‘Urban Greens’ Cultivates Resilience On The Rooftops Of Cairo
The social startup ‘Urban Greens’ spearheads a resilient food movement in Cairo through urban agriculture, which provides self-reliant fresh produce and guarantees food security to households, especially in times of crisis like water scarcity.
CAIRO, EGYPT