Justice
Indigenous leader Milvian Aspuac is championing collective intellectual property rights for Mayan designs as a path to Indigenous women’s economic autonomy
SANTIAGO SACATEPéQUEZ, GUATEMALA
En Español
La líder indígena Milvian Aspuac reivindica la propiedad intelectual colectiva de los diseños mayas como vía hacia la autonomía económica de las mujeres indígenas
SANTIAGO SACATEPéQUEZ, GUATEMALA
Governance
Long before concerns about "kill switches," a grassroots open-source ecosystem laid the groundwork for this German city's break from US tech dependence
KIEL, GERMANY
Monthly Column
From the West Bank to the other side of the wall, our shopping habits feed the machinery of occupation—sometimes as casually as sipping a Coca-Cola
TUBAS
Public Space
How grassroots groups are preserving Hong Kong’s neon signs in an era of urban homogenization
HONG KONG
What We Do
I never harbored a desire to write, yet at some point I felt the urgency. After almost 15 years working in the corporate finance world, I understood one thing: companies operate based on business strategies that affect a global citizenry, and yet do not act in the public’s best interest. And I was not (and ...
Governance
Activist Hae-Lin Choi, co-founder of Hands Off NYC, explains why the worst of ICE operations may still be ahead in New York City — and how New Yorkers are preparing to resist
NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA
Housing
One year after joining our series “The Housing Fix,” local campaigner Andreea reflects on the group’s recent victory over the Aylesham development plan
LONDON, UK
Public Space
From the rumors embedded in its site, Museum Brandhorst links local memory to urgent global debates on military power and empire
MUNICH, GERMANY
Monthly Column
An ordinary day in Jenin, West Bank, eating "sour cherries" yet finding a sweet taste, despite it all
JENIN
Health
How Poet Laureate Trapeta B. Mayson is weaving poetry into Philadelphia’s mental health landscape to heal from gun violence
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Governance
He spoke to The Urban Activist about the importance of showing a fighting spirit every day—and the will of Kyiv’s residents to resist
KYIV, UKRAINE
Governance
At Bloomberg CityLab 2026 in Madrid, I explored what drives a dynamic network of city leaders and innovators, as tensions over affordable housing simmered in the background
MADRID, SPAIN
Mobility
Cycling thrives in Tokyo without wide lanes, but that unique system is now at risk—and a grassroots group is fighting to preserve it
TOKYO, JAPAN
Governance
The loss of local businesses serving communities seemed inevitable across London—until grassroots groups, urban planning students, and residents stepped in
LONDON, UK
Housing
Known as Toronto’s first “social medicine house,” Dunn House treats homelessness as a medical issue — integrating it directly into patient care
TORONTO, ON, CANADA
Step into the homes of writers, artists, and thinkers where discussions and debates nested democracy in our cities—and be part of today’s conversations at these historic locations
networks of action
This series explores and showcases individuals engaged in grassroots wildlife conservation in their cities to foster similar efforts in urban areas around the world
Climate
In Kenitra, white storks live alongside residents—but conservationists warn they may be becoming too comfortable in Moroccan cities
KENITRA, MOROCCO
Governance
It's Easter Sunday, but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is closed
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
Culture
Backed by thousands of donors and volunteers, an independent cinema in Paris was saved from redevelopment and is now community-owned
PARIS, FRANCE
Culture
Back in January, we reported on those in the music scene defying Iran’s cultural red lines. Now, living through war, we speak to them again about whether change in Iran still feels possible
TEHRAN, TEHRAN PROVINCE, IRAN
Culture
At Hull-House in Chicago, unlikely cultural encounters dissolved barriers of class and education, fostering social change and peace—then and now
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Housing
Every year, more than 1,000 volunteers from 120 grassroots groups help Paris produce a shared snapshot of homelessness to guide policy decisions
PARIS, FRANCE
What We Do
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What We Do
At The Urban Activist, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of journalistic integrity and editorial independence. We report on urban issues, social innovation, and local activism with accuracy, fairness, and transparency—free from outside influence. Editorial Process We focus our reporting on sources who are individuals addressing on-the-ground issues—such as NGOs, housing activists, artists, ...
What We Do
A short story from our editor: In 2018, I wrote a story for the Spanish newspaper El País about an initiative held in Berlin during the weekend that marks the liberation of the city from Nazi dictatorship. Every year, engaged Berliners open their homes to the public, allowing family members of victims of National Socialism ...
Cohesion
Munich’s youngest museum engages with the social issues reflected in the contemporary art it houses
MUNICH, GERMANY
networks of action
A series of dialogues and debates among experts in various cities around the world that explore the intricacies and ways of tackling the affordable housing crisis.
Housing
As New York City’s new mayor sets a housing agenda, we unpack the state of rent-stabilized apartments, explore ownership beyond “affordable renting,” and listen to small landlords’ realities
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
Built from one man’s lifelong devotion to collecting, the museum at Heritage Village in Dammam stands as a testament to memory in a transforming Saudi Arabia
DAMMAM SAUDI ARABIA
Culture
Nearly 50% of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home — and the Endangered Language Alliance is racing to preserve those at risk of extinction
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Public Space
Coffee dates, block parties, satirical plaques, and art — how Toronto artist and community organizer Jode Roberts brings joy to the everyday
TORONTO, ON, CANADA
Governance
Founded by Chef José Andrés in Washington, D.C., the Global Food Institute trains future leaders to rethink how the United States and the world produce and consume food
WASHINGTON D.C., DC, USA
Culture
Despite extraordinary adversity, audiences attended the Nablus premiere of Palestine 36 in the West Bank, while a Jerusalem screening was raided — an event that has only echoed the film’s central argument
NABLUS
Governance
A decade in, ‘Think Tanger’ has gained momentum as a bridge between youth aspirations and public institutions in the city’s urban development, amid rising demands for reform
TANGIER, MOROCCO
Culture
Inside the ancient stonemason workshop of Freiburg Cathedral, Germany, founded in the Middle Ages and still sustained by its citizens
FREIBURG IM BREISGAU, GERMANY
Culture
Despite risks and canceled public concerts, organizers, artists and DJs—from Iranian folk to Western techno—keep music alive at secluded events in Tehran
TEHRAN, TEHRAN PROVINCE, IRAN
Justice
Jewish-Israeli activist Noam Shuster Eliassi left the UN peace diplomacy program to become a standup comedian — now a film shows how she uses laughter to meet the pain
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
Governance
Amid tighter EU visa rules for Russian nationals, the children of Ukrainian soldiers find a moment of peace in Paris before Christmas
PARIS, FRANCE
Governance
For a fragile peace to hold between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the focus must shift to those brokering reconciliation on the ground
BUKAVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Culture
Dubbed the “White House of Exile,” the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles sparks the same kinds of debates that once defined Mann’s era
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Gender
Drag queen Ava Hangar and her troupe are shattering the form’s conventions, returning to its activist origins for a new era of social impact in Italy
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Governance
Amid the increasing division of Jerusalem, the American Colony Hotel on the East side remains committed to a radical inclusivity envisioned by its founders
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
Culture
Beyond its walls, the Prado lives in everyday moments — and the museum now seeks stories through El Prado Cotidiano
MADRID, SPAIN
Governance
From local schools to national governance, Simona Levi advocates digital sovereignty as a path to a better democracy
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Governance
From a visa odyssey to the One Young World Summit in Munich, these young women peacebuilders aren’t the future — they’re the present, and they need funding now
SOUTH SUDAN
Culture
Federica Parretti, co-owner of Villa Il Palmerino in Florence, discusses the intellectual circle linked to the house that her artist grandparents bought from writer Vernon Lee
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Culture
Without the support of Friends of Florence, much of the city’s cultural heritage would be at serious risk of decay
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Mobility
The rise of bike commuting in the Philippines began with a young woman in Manila, who improvised a bike lane with cones and ended up with a $22 million infrastructure
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Public Space
In Munich and Berlin, two public art projects — seen only weeks apart — urge us to rethink the impossible and engage with art in everyday life
MUNICH, GERMANY
Health
In the town where Driscoll’s took root, residents urge the berry giant to grow a new legacy — without pesticides and organic, near homes and schools
WATSONVILLE, CA, USA
Housing
In Cairo, it is easy to see the actual issue behind the global housing crisis: the need for fair distribution
CAIRO, EGYPT
Public Space
Before post-war rebuilding begins, women in Aleppo and other Syrian cities risk their lives dismantling landmines for a safe return
ALEPPO, SYRIA
Public Space
This year’s Open House festival in London not only highlighted exclusive spaces but also emphasized our collective power to shape the city
LONDON, UK
Health
Why Caron Morse and her South Portland, Maine, neighbors are giving their kids landlines instead of smartphones
PORTLAND, ME, USA
Mobility
Barcelona or Paris will be the cities where retired BMW engineers will market a new concept of personal urban mobility that takes on conventional cars
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
The GreenInCities project, funded in Europe, supports the renewal of the Besòs River in Barcelona by asking local wildlife experts for their advice
BARCELONA, SPAIN
En Español
En Phoenix, Maritza Félix apuesta por el periodismo local para reabrir el diálogo y reflejar las posturas divididas de los latinos ante las deportaciones
PHOENIX, AZ, USA
Cohesion
From Phoenix, Arizona, Maritza Félix uses local journalism to bring back dialogue, exposing the divided views of Latinos on deportation policy
PHOENIX, AZ, USA
Culture
Two years ago, I moved from Europe to Bethlehem, to support artists to stay and create — essential to resilience here in the West Bank
BETHLEHEM
Economy
As the UK unveils its Good Food Framework, “Growing Communities” in Hackney, London, offers a proven alternative to the current industrialised food system
LONDON, UK
Culture
Stepping into the home of minimalist artist Donald Judd in SoHo offers a reflection on why the house is preserved as it is — and the conversations it still sparks
NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA
En Español
En el campo de fútbol, el entrenador Hippolyte Boumlag comparte su visión sobre el debate de la inmigración a través del esfuerzo de futuras promesas
MADRID, SPAIN
Cohesion
On the football field, coach Hippolyte Boumlag discusses his perspective on the immigration debate through the hard work of future football stars
MADRID, SPAIN
Public Space
From the “Love Parade” to “Rave The Planet,” the ecstatic dance and music of this crowd have transformed Berlin—each time infusing its urban landscape with new meaning
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
Once a month, a cultural salon takes place at publisher Samuel Fischer’s historic house in Berlin, where the spirit of art and literary works can still be felt
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
After years of conflict, Juba’s youth take to the streets with theater to bridge ethnic divides — placing culture at the heart of nation-building in South Sudan
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
Governance
As civic freedoms rapidly decline, Mandeep Singh Tiwana steps into leadership at CIVICUS with a message of resistance — and argues civil society activism won’t back down
NEW YORK, NY, USA
En Español
Durante una conversación con The Urban Activist, expertos del sector privado, la academia y el activismo en Barcelona exponen las raíces de la crisis de la vivienda para buscar soluciones
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Housing
During a conversation with The Urban Activist, experts from the private sector, academia, and activism in Barcelona expose the roots of the housing crisis to seek solutions
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Cohesion
Meron Mendel and Saba-Nur Cheema have long fought racism against Muslims and Jews in German cities — with the war in Gaza and debate over Israel, they began confounding both sides
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY
Public Space
The fight over a summer festival series at Brockwell Park in London highlights broader questions about the creeping commercialisation of public parks
LONDON, UK
Justice
Local voices around Elmina Castle and its Door of No Return have long-preserved stories that are now reshaping slave trade history
ELMINA, GHANA
Cohesion
Lea Baroudi, founder of March Lebanon, unites former rival fighters to rebuild their lives—showing how governments could prevent conflict rooted in identity
TRIPOLI, LEBANON
Climate
Over 200 species of birds visit New York City each year. Grassroots conservation efforts make their migratory stopovers possible—and bring joy to all New Yorkers
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
A longing music scene has risen from the underground in Saudi cities, poised to create noise for Saudis to be themselves and inspire future generations
RIYADH SAUDI ARABIA
Economy
As Los Angeles confronts inequality, extreme weather, and a housing crisis, activist Trinity Tran leads Public Bank LA to replace Wall Street finance and transform the city’s future
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Housing
While the US administration cuts funding for museums that tell the full American story, advocates in Brooklyn ask, “Can preserving Black histories end gentrification in their neighborhoods?”
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
Monacensia Hildebrand’s house in Munich was a place for intellectuals, later swept out by the Nazis — it rebounded as the literary memory of the city and a refuge for writers
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
Restorers and volunteers have united forces to rescue the An-Nasr Mosque in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, where the destruction of cultural heritage goes with impunity
NABLUS
Housing
During an insightful roundtable with The Urban Activist, some voices in London spoke about council housing and delivered a clear message to solve the housing crisis
LONDON, UK
En Español
La directora de cine Lara Izagirre trabaja con mujeres gitanas en un documental que difumina la línea entre el realismo y el entretenimiento como parte de una misión más amplia de cambio social
BILBAO, SPAIN
Cohesion
Film director Lara Izagirre engages with Roma women in a documentary blurring the line between realism and entertainment as part of a broader mission for social change
BILBAO, SPAIN
Justice
Many young African talents fall victim to human trafficking in football; however, ‘the beautiful game’ could be a real game-changer in African cities
LAGOS, NIGERIA
Health
The ImperfectCity initiative uses the psychology of brutalist architecture to free young people from an unrealistic “culture of perfection” and help them thrive
AARHUS, DENMARK
Gender
London-based artist Hanna Benihoud seeks meaning in the mundane to elevate women in public space — transcending all boundaries
LONDON, UK
Governance
Maha Al-Dhabhani established a shelter for stray dogs and cats in her city, Sanaa, Yemen, despite being comforted by criticism that aid should prioritize people
SANAA, YEMEN
Governance
The Council of Good Men has the legal authority to resolve disputes inside the Huerta de Murcia, a vast urban ecosystem that feeds Spain and Europe — but now it is time to use its power to protect it
MURCIA, SPAIN
Climate
As cities expand in Ghana, farmlands in their outskirts clash with elephant corridors. However, female farmers find ways of coexistence with wildlife while feeding urban dwellers
ZEBILLA, GHANA
Culture
The Philharmonie de Paris has reached places and audiences where other concert halls in their temples have never been before — music is its language for social change
PARIS, FRANCE
Cohesion
While anti-Semitism permeates social networks, Munich Jews “ask people to talk to us, not about us” at daylight to dispel prejudice about Jewish life
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
On the rooftops of mud-brick high-rises in Sanaa, urban farming that uses 90% less water than traditional agriculture offers a viable solution to combat food insecurity in Yemen
SANAA, YEMEN
Housing
There’s a personal dimension to Munich’s property ownership transformation that is crucial to providing affordable housing — yet mostly hidden behind the public anger
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
In the town of Bolgatanga in northern Ghana, its local museum is part of the curriculum at schools, and students are cultural ambassadors
BOLGATANGA, GHANA
Public Space
As people become increasingly disheartened by sex and dating apps, House of ERIKA LUST in Barcelona invites to explore sexuality through virtual reality, art, and storytelling
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Public Space
After Assad's fall, residents in Damascus took to the streets to clean up, assist, and rebuild—early signs of a democratic society self-organizing without fear
DAMASCUS, SYRIA
Health
People living longer is a success of humanity, and as such, society should recognize the unique and significant value of old age
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
Seattle's whale guardians network showcases the power of grassroots wildlife conservation in urban areas—proving city dwellers worldwide could start their own
SEATTLE, WA, USA
Economy
In a male-dominated profession, Rania Moualla is the female force behind the first Saudi Culinary Arts Academy, training male and female chefs and using food as a vehicle for change
AL KHOBAR SAUDI ARABIA
Public Space
Jeff Friedman, the owner of Let There Be Neon, speaks about restoring iconic neon lights in New York – and people’s love for cities’ neon heritage
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Economy
Social entrepreneur Leila Ben Gacem runs two boutique hotels in the Medina of Tunis, supporting young Tunisians and restoring the old city to its past glory
TUNIS, TUNISIA
Governance
The Legislative Youth Advisory Council in Washington State illustrates the importance of trusting nonpartisan viewpoints to legislate and find solutions at the local level
OLYMPIA, WA, USA
Housing
A revolution in city planning that gives an address to households in informal settlements could unlock the potential of their residents and create employment
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Culture
Volunteers in Cairo are racing against time to preserve the city's historical memory while bulldozers demolish parts of the City of the Dead to construct new highways
CAIRO, EGYPT
Climate
In August 2024, the General Medical Council in the UK suspended the licenses of two health professionals for participating in peaceful climate change protests; that move has backfired
LONDON, UK
Health
Ramallah, under occupation in the West Bank, faces the same challenges of an aging population as other cities – but has a different solution that transcends generations
RAMALLAH
Climate
The informal work of the Zabaleen in Cairo has been a landmark of waste infrastructure, but the city needs to be more ambitious to further boost a local green economy while empowering its people
CAIRO, EGYPT
Housing
Artist Tonika Johnson’s work about racist housing practices in South Side Chicago has bridged the intellectual divide between art and urban policy – and found that home repairs can offset gentrification
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Cohesion
Claudia Saam and Wolf-Rüdiger Baumann extensively researched their building’s former residents, most of them German Jews, and found their descendants abroad.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Governance
The Documenters program creates new public records, providing city dwellers full transparency at the local government level and the best that democracy can offer
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Justice
This is a story of how two young men, born into occupation and poverty, were able to use their own bodies as tools of liberation – and how, through my work, I was privileged to help them speak to the world.
KHAN YOUNIS
Climate
Oil and gas giants are capable of single-handedly turning the Paris Agreement into just a pipe dream – banks should tighten up the loose screws that finance fossil fuel operations
PARIS, FRANCE
Public Space
Artist Françoise Schein reflects on her lifelong mission to raise consciousness about human rights – in the subway, at parks, and on walls in cities worldwide
PARIS, FRANCE
Governance
Forty years after Mini-München was created, it continues to inspire children to engage in and shape the city they want
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
Without having to step foot inside, award-winning artist Sonya Clark’s new exhibit at Declaration House in Philadelphia engages passers-by with the entangled legacies of the United States’ founding
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Public Space
Alice Chauchat’s dance repertoire for strangers in the public space creates a sense of togetherness – and suggests a future society that we can imagine and practice
BERLIN, GERMANY
Governance
Activist and academic Fabrice Rizzoli, and victims’ families in Marseille, speak out to halt drug-related violence. Meanwhile, governments seize and repurpose gang members’ assets
MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Cohesion
American society is in trouble – from school failure to an opioid crisis to gun violence. We need horizontal solutions like Thread to mend our fragile neighborhoods
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
Culture
Not everything in Yemen is war; in the city of Ta’izz, writers and poets encourage dialogue, understanding and unity through arts
TAIZZ, YEMEN
Public Space
Gretta Louw’s “Conscious Commons” questions the use of public spaces for commercial purposes, arguing that it should draw people’s attention for a better world instead
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
A Palestine Museum in American suburbia sends a message to the world: through art perhaps we could all agree
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA
Climate
While the West is giving lectures about climate action, in Mexico a new paradigm to combat the crisis could emerge from projects like Roma Verde Garden
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
Gender
In basements, community spaces, and online, some girls are finding safe places to continue their education in Kabul, Kandahar, and across Afghanistan
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
Cohesion
Chess activist Kineke Mulder shows us in Vienna how playing chess could help stem the tide of individualism and polarization in other cities, too
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Governance
Thanks to an army of volunteers, citizens in Turkmenistan circumvent internet censorship under The Tor Project
ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN
Public Space
Lenore Skenazy, co-founder of Let Grow, reflects on childhood independence and why adults have decided that all children are in constant danger
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
The nonprofit KulturRaum München enables access to culture for low income residents in Munich – but cultural participation often requires more than a free ticket
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
Italian rapper ‘Real’ sings about what some Italians don’t really want to hear – and that’s part of the problem
NAPLES, ITALY
Public Space
Redevelopment efforts by private landowners in London’s edgy Soho are so damaging that the survival of a Tesco chain supermarket has become activists’ latest cause
LONDON, UK
Health
Storytelling has the ability to change our emotional and social behavior; the project “Libraries on Prescription” in Greece explores its healing power
ATHENS, GREECE
Governance
In one Dutch city, tracking lobbying that would otherwise remain mostly undisclosed shows how much better policies could be in the whole country
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
Climate
Activist J.K. Canepa explains how New York residents want to prevent the expansion of fossil fuels – and use the upheaval to kick off thermal energy networks
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Health
It began with schools, and spread to the streets. Parents in towns of the Basque Country spearheaded joint initiatives to fight a phone-based childhood
BILBAO, SPAIN
Culture
Culture in Munich is mutating into new perspectives at Habibi Kiosk ; the success at its privileged location addresses difficult questions about the city
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
Guyanese Glenda Obermuller’s personal story led to the founding of the first Black Library in Cologne, Germany, the land of her great-grandfather
COLOGNE, GERMANY
Climate
Why environmental justice activists are fighting carbon capture and storage; and why many companies and governments are so desperate to stop it
NEW ORLEANS, LA, USA
Governance
Sexual violence is a weapon of war – yet the unarmed response of Yazidi women in Duhok could change security and peace strategies forever
DUHOK, IRAQ
Public Space
Despite urban renewal becoming an unbeatable adversary, artist Ed Gray’s work succeeds in helping communities to uphold their local value in London
LONDON, UK
Mobility
In Irkutsk, he mobilized people to influence local road-safety policies; now based in Leipzig, his urban activism has shifted to bring him back to Russia
IRKUTSK, RUSSIA
Governance
Online fakes are creating real-world divisions on the ground. But grassroots approaches seek to combat the ways that disinformation exploits our minds
SEATTLE, WA, USA
Public Space
What Michael Clinkett’s sobering journey to save his local business from displacement in London teaches us about our future cities
LONDON, UK
Justice
Parental incarceration leaves a legacy and contributes to overflowing US jails; one group of girls in New Orleans may break the chain
NEW ORLEANS, LA, USA
Cohesion
In Berlin, the Israeli-Palestinian restaurant Kanaan achieves what currently seems impossible in its owners’ disputed homeland
BERLIN, GERMANY
Governance
“Religious property is actually working against our religious objectives,” says priest activist Graham Singh on his plan for repurposed churches
MONTREAL, QC, CANADA
En Español
Tras décadas de un sistema alimentario nocivo para el planeta, el activismo de la agroecología está cada vez más presente para exigir cambios estructurales
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
After decades of a vicious food system for our planet, agroecology is becoming a popular form of activism to wield clout for longing structural changes
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
Seven years after founding Cataki, artivist Mundano discusses informal waste collection, largely disregarded, yet indispensable to boost recycling
SãO PAULO, STATE OF SãO PAULO, BRAZIL
Public Space
Thomas Heatherwick’s campaign ‘Humanise’ urges a public conversation on boring buildings that are “inhuman” and so depressing that they “make us malfunction”
LONDON, UK
Health
The metal and rock community has the knack of making young people feel comfortable with themselves – and uses it to fight bullying in Oslo and beyond
OSLO, NORWAY
Public Space
How neglected kiosks in Munich’s subway mezzanines became vibrant art spaces that can be an eye-opening experience in people’s everyday life
MUNICH, GERMANY
Mobility
Winter cycling veteran star Pekka Tahkola on why his fellow residents in Oulu, Finland, don’t give up urban cycling even with snow for five months
OULU, FINLAND
Cohesion
Born in Barcelona, Afro Brunch is filling venues with Afrobeats while elevating African culture with a new identity pride of a diverse society in Spain
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Housing
If cities want to crack affordable housing, Scott Kratz, director of the 11th Street Bridge Park, is the go-to for taking an honest approach on a contentious issue
WASHINGTON D.C., DC, USA
Public Space
Incredibly inclusive and rebellious, the takeover of 14th Street in Manhattan by ‘Art in Odd Places’ embraces misfits, free thinkers, and strangers alike to celebrate public space
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Governance
The savvy use of a current bottom-up governance model galvanize people to replant urban gardens in the informal settlements of Kampala
KAMPALA, UGANDA
Cohesion
Bookshop owner, Mahmoud Muna, on creating a safe place of discomfort invested in Palestinian culture as a way to define a new future in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
Governance
Wayne Liebman, founder of Public Access Democracy in LA, explains citizens’ assemblies and why they "need to be an arrow in democracies’ quiver.”
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Public Space
Tamiko Thiel is one of the pioneers of the augmented reality art scene of this century and has captured artists’ imagination as harbinger of a new activism
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
A new generation of literacy activists are decolonizing public libraries in Nairobi – from the space to the language represented on its shelves
NAIROBI, KENYA
Public Space
A community-led initiative revives a contemporary ruin in its quest to fight against the excessive privatization of public space in Bangkok
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Climate
Young Africans cleaning urban rivers and preventing dumping remain in the shadows but they are on the front line of the fight against ocean pollution
NAIROBI, KENYA
Cohesion
Founder Kerry Brodie on running cafés to train asylees’ culinary skills — and why creating opportunities is crucial in the midst of a migrant crisis in New York
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
How the decentralizing "Uffizi Diffusi" initiative at the Florentine Gallery offers a healthier alternative to overtourism while reinvigorating the greater region
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Economy
Instead of a Silicon Valley culture, Bologna has opted for a Mediterranean model for its innovation ecosystem with a strong social and environmental vocation
BOLOGNA, METROPOLITAN CITY OF BOLOGNA, ITALY
Public Space
As productivity-free conversations in cities are dwindling, people need ‘third places’ for communication and listening, like the Zuhörraum in Munich
MUNICH, GERMANY
En Español
En Valparaíso, Chile, se encuentra Espacio Circulante, un lugar conjurado por diversas mujeres y disidencias que practican el chamanismo urbano y la curandería
VALPARAíSO, CHILE
Health
Espacio Circulante is a place conjured up by women of various gender identities, who practice shamanism and urban healing in Valparaiso, Chile
VALPARAíSO, CHILE
Climate
How an unconventional form of philanthropy turns a prestigious event in London into a powerful platform to support urban gardens and good causes across the UK
LONDON, UK
Justice
While his camera captures life and race in Baltimore, Devin Allen puts cameras into kids’ hands against gun violence — both in pursuit of social justice
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
Climate
How the community-led initiative THE REVIVAL is rescuing textile waste from the landfills of Accra in Ghana and exposing fashion’s waste crisis
ACCRA, GHANA
Economy
Byron Nash on the Warhol Museum and opening minds to a new creative industry in Pittsburgh with the engagement of savvy digital youngsters
PITTSBURGH, PA, USA
Justice
A sailing program on the Hudson River by a group of amateur sailors can reduce inequality for students in public schools in Manhattan
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Gender
How a group of women in Freetown refuses to be silenced after sunset and expands women’s rights to participate in society in Sierra Leone fully
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE
Climate
After a great start, artist Samira Benini Allaouat hopes to bring sustainable public lighting to a new level while decontaminating the urban soil
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Gender
The misuse of religion is central to the practice of Claudia Barbera that is both artwork and a ritual against domestic violence in her city and beyond
VALPARAíSO, CHILE
Economy
While wealth inequality persists, the banking cooperative Brooklyn Coop has become a pillar for the local economy and prosperity of its community
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Public Space
A group of researchers navigating city archives is opening a more inclusive past to a broader public to build the cities of the future
PARIS, FRANCE
Economy
Our biggest urban challenges – environment, health, poverty – raise a key question: should manufacturing be brought back to the city?
LONDON, UK
Public Space
Instead of falling into despair, a newspaper kiosk has been turned into a cultural space to make diverse sources of information accessible to the public
VALPARAíSO, CHILE
Health
Lorelei Bandrovschi, founder of alcohol-free Listen Bar, on creating a space for sober curiosity and showing New Yorkers fun is still possible
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
How Solarbakery in African cities restore bread-making practices, wiped out by a colonialist legacy that hinders sustainability in Africa
KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Public Space
‘Segregation by Design’ offers images and maps of racist “urban renewal” in US cities to thousands of followers — but that’s only part of a bigger mission
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Housing
While some may feel a homeless person should be barred from possessing pets, the reality is far different
CARSON CITY, NV, USA
Public Space
Nicholas Okwulu on urban regeneration and “giving local people an opportunity to be part of something that they thought was too far away”
LONDON, UK
Health
Tyde-Courtney Edwards’ mission to “repurpose ballet” for women and youth survivors strengthens community response to violence in Baltimore
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
Mobility
How Tim Fendley has been advocating for walkable cities behind the scenes while cracking human behaviour in wayfinding to boost walking
LONDON, UK
Culture
Award-winning poet Chisara Asomugha on the creation of the first library of poetry in Los Angeles and how poetry spaces humanize us
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Justice
Filled with all sorts of ephemera, Interference Archive encourages social engagement through the cultural production of social movements
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Housing
Advocate Christoph Trautvetter has opened up a Pandora’s box of ownership structures in cities, paving the way for policy on affordable housing
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
Extreme weather makes the case for the renaissance of an urban nature-based solution built a century ago, which many cities would envy
ELCHE, SPAIN
Justice
Transforming an old building could reverse years of environmental injustice. Would the city of Minneapolis rise to this “now or never” moment?
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA
Mobility
How this advocate uses a brilliant form of attracting attention to bicycle safety in Los Angeles at this moment of cycling revival across US cities.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Culture
As Russian bombs fall, Ukrainian artists have produced activist responses at the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2022 exhibition in Kyiv to stir pain empathy
KYIV, UKRAINE
Governance
Using the city as classroom, Revolution School intends to transform education and “break down the walls between learning and life.”
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Health
No longer feeling lost for being sober. Why joining the Boston Bulldogs Running Club can be a lifesaving decision in the drug addiction crisis.
BOSTON, MA, USA
Public Space
Jo Muñoz and Diego Peris’ work has been crucial to citizen activism in Madrid – their last intervention stirs consciousness about migration.
MADRID, SPAIN
Climate
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
Climate
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
Gender
As the fight over women’s rights rages on in Mexico, the activist Cynthia Híjar draws upon feminist standup comedy in the big city
MEXICO CITY, CDMX, MEXICO
Public Space
Interventions in the public space by Peshcom are without permissions and fewer repercussions. Is this a sign of progress in the post-Soviet city of Bishkek?
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN
Public Space
How artist Mercedes Dorame challenges traditional monuments in Los Angeles and demands the return of indigenous land
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Cohesion
Not far from Harvard, where a study on economic mobility suggests the rich and poor should socialise more, an unconventional gym is a living proof
BOSTON, MA, USA
Climate
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
Housing
How a Motel 6 in Oakland has become a progressive response to a homeless crisis.
OAKLAND, CA, USA
Culture
This museum’s work supports a diversity of thought through art, including a rethinking of the definition of a museum
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Economy
Knife grinders withstand the disappearance of traditional workshops in Madrid and Barcelona — but craftsmanship could benefit cities and the planet.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Public Space
Residents in Northern Paris are fighting to prevent an ‘Olympic Legacy’ that has repeatedly failed people in cities. Will the city's 2024 Games be any different?
PARIS, FRANCE
Justice
At this Museum nature and heritage are not explained to make us comfortable. Its honesty evokes active citizenship as people reckon with the exigencies of social justice and climate.
LONDON, UK
Climate
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
Justice
The director of the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, formerly known as the Russian-German Museum, on its difficult task — and how neutrality no longer provides refuge for Russian culture in Berlin
BERLIN, GERMANY
Governance
In Kasserine, Tunisia, democracy is flourishing in public space. How is the city of Munich involved?
KASSERINE, TUNISIA
Cohesion
A revolutionary show, curated by security staff, spotlights the commitment of the museum to be more representative of the community it serves.
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
Climate
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
Economy
How delivery riders in Bangkok have ditched algorithms for the human touch of an alternative system.
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Public Space
Could a museum change a city? This museum of contemporary art invites urban dwellers to rediscover their city together, break barriers and reconnect outside the institution.
ESSEN, GERMANY
Climate
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
Cohesion
Independent, online radio stations are finding ways to strengthen creative communities and promote unity from the grassroots in Amsterdam and in other Dutch cities.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Cohesion
‘Vollpension’ is a particular coffee shop in Vienna that weaves together older and younger generations through baking. It provides an insight into the situation of the elderly in the city.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Climate
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
Gender
LGBTQ activists in Kyiv have made great progress on their rights. Now at war, they say information is being weaponized to shut them down.
KYIV, UKRAINE
Health
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
Public Space
A human-scale city or stratospheric urban planning? Such is the ongoing conflict among New Yorkers over the plans for Penn Station. But this fight, claim activists, is another one.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
A Ukrainian curator, art historian and critic on how the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw changes its strategies to the current evils. And how the question of neutrality restrains others.
WARSAW, POLAND
Public Space
The revitalization of the river in Berlin challenges the top-down creation and interpretation of urban heritage in the city's historical centre.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
A unique collaboration between the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid and its neighborhood, Lavapiés, questions the role of museums in relation to their surroundings
MADRID, SPAIN
Public Space
Zoning laws in cities that prevent high-density buildings are controversial. In Athens, the battle of its residents and the Acropolis set the tone.
ATHENS, GREECE
Culture
The Cossitt Library in Memphis might be almost 130 years old; yet, it is one of the most innovative in the US. Its latest renovation will unite the city in ways beyond a dedication to the written word.
MEMPHIS, TN, USA
Gender
The filmmaker based in Barcelona, Erika Lust, advocates for equal pleasure, a desire that could create more sexually healthy cities if it finds its way into the public space.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Health
“Let us share a secret: even if you feel like grabbing an axe and breaking stuff - you will eventually get over it.” It’s time to walk through the Museum of Broken Relationships, to overcome emotional collapse.
ZAGREB, CROATIA
Justice
How a grassroots idea becomes a cultural institution and a community weaving a tapestry of untold and neglected histories the city prefers to keep private.
TULSA, OK, USA
Mobility
Salvador, Bahia’s cycling revolution is grounded in the empowerment of Black women riders. Mobility justice movements in the US take notice
SALVADOR DE BAHíA - STATE OF BAHIA, BRAZIL
Justice
The Museum of Egyptian Art was built where a monumental building for the Nazi Party was supposed to stand in Munich. Dealing with the past in public spaces is controversial in this city, but the museum hewed to its principles
MUNICH, GERMANY
Governance
How award-winning women in science and art have created a restorative platform for youth in custody through access to museums.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT, USA
Cohesion
Lee Mingwei has transgressed the walls of museums. His participatory art provokes human connectedness among strangers. These moments of change are evidence of how museums could embrace new approaches to advance social value.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Economy
Bristol is a one-off city, host to many progressive ideas by environmental and social conscious residents. The development of their own payment method ‘Bristol Pay’ could be an alluring alternative to Bristolians to build a green and fair economy for the city.
BRISTOL, UK
Cohesion
Banu Pekol’s devotion to peacebuilding takes a nontraditional approach: the safeguarding of multicultural heritage to mend historical wounds among urban communities. She believes the lack of respect towards heritage in urban development reveals the cities’ approach to individual freedoms.
İSTANBUL, TURKEY
Public Space
The initiative Signal Station North has put together a unique collaboration of neighbours, local artists, designers and nonprofits for street lighting advocacy in Central Baltimore. Exhaustive urban analysis and lighting interventions reveal how to support wellbeing.
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
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
Gender
In Rabat, Théâtre Aquarium creates a space to stimulate unprecedented public debates on female freedom and support a sexual revolution which is otherwise happening underground.
RABAT, MOROCCO
Governance
We Build The Block, a community-led movement co-founded by Michael K. Williams, Dana Rachlin and Shani Kulture, creates opportunities for youth to hold positions of power and reimagine how public safety is achieved in their neighbourhood.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Cohesion
Peacebuilders Skye Roper-Moses and Michelle V. Jackson recognized the unique position that community gardens have to flourish deeply rooted urban conflicts in neighbourhoods. They support community gardener efforts by using their training in conflict resolution.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Public Space
The urban intervention Parasite Parking occupied parking spaces in Chicago and tested the limits of their use. Their privatization years ago led to a loss of agency in the city. What will happen when parking spaces are no longer needed?
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Economy
A network of worker delivery collectives across cities is racing to compete with global platforms and humanize the business model. The solution relies on platform cooperativism
PARIS, FRANCE
Public Space
The initiative 'De BuurtBankjes' is shaping the sidewalk experience. Chatty couples to street kids, refugees to yuppies and expats to bubbly grannys. These connections happen on couches outside homes in Amsterdam. In New York in stoops.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Cohesion
In Glasgow locals are opening their houses to non-profit for activists, scientists, or policymakers. The hosting platform called Human Hotel is expanding homesharing to unite people in cities for meaningful causes.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
Climate
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
Housing
Decades of housing shortage has submerged Los Angeles in a humanitarian and sustainability crisis in the midst of extreme weather. But a growing group of volunteer Angelenos are building the movement to house LA and reverse climate change.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Public Space
Increasingly, more activist voices are advocating to reconsider the superblocks in Barcelona. Initially planned as a project of great urban transformation, it threatens to result in a giant greenwashing operation.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
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
‘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
Health
2 friends, 200 volunteers, 817 homes restored in Beirut so far. The initiative Bebw’shebbek has found an alternative expression to unfold in a scarred urban landscape and induce hope.
BEIRUT, LEBANON
Climate
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
Public Space
In Berlin grassroots initiatives and municipality are masterminding a town hall of the future in a pioneer quarter to decouple the city's economic growth from environmental impacts, in addition to an avant-garde cultural approach.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Public Space
In Berlin urban garden pioneers have spotted the potential of increasing idle space at cemeteries to foster sustainability and fulfill the purpose of remembrance.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
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
Economy
Black capitalism was born out of resilient African-Americans left with no other choice than to support each other to thrive. Years later it could be the answer to the troubles of some US cities. For the benefit of all.
TULSA, OK, USA
Climate
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
Justice
Top Manta is a brand created by undocumented people off the streets of Barcelona. Its existence dignifies the immigrant community and challenges the image of a tolerant and inclusive city.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
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
Public Space
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space in New York offers an empowering alternative approach to the way museums are typically run, through activism, transparency, and direct action that expands beyond conventional exhibitions.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Public Space
Luca Ballarini, and the collective Torino Stratosferica, turned an abandoned tramway into a park to demonstrate the potential of Turin and project the city into a sustainable future.
TURIN, ITALY
Climate
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.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Gender
Super Chefs are a group of women in Cairo, whose passion for cooking has found a way to stay employed while saving time for other working mothers. The idea is here to stay.
CAIRO, EGYPT
Climate
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
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
Governance
The Night Mayor in Amsterdam is leading nightclubs through change against homophobic, sexist and racist overtones to advance diversity and inclusivity in the city.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Cohesion
Ulme35 is a space of encounters between refugees and locals, powered by a welcoming culture in their neighbourhood to be envied in Berlin. A new Integration Hub will ensue.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
Over the years the jazz dancers of Santa Amalia have forged a dancing community in their neighbourhood that has become a philosophy of life in Havana.
HAVANA, CUBA
Health
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
Justice
The policy change affected by Las Kellys to restore the rights of chambermaids in Barcelona opens the debate about ethical tourism to reduce inequality in the city.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Mobility
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
Governance
Haifa Subay is a Yemeni street artist putting her own life on the line to inspire a culture of peace in her city. Her artwork instigates fellow citizens to immerse themselves in the meaning of social change for peace.
ADEN, YEMEN
Culture
Mitchell Borden, founder of legendary Smalls and Fat Cat clubs, and his wife, jazz musician Rie Yamaguchi-Borden, hold on to the unifying power of music to revive the jazz community and local businesses of New York.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
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
Public Space
A small city in Northern Spain has helped citizens to overcome their reluctance to talk about dying and heal a disconnected society from the end of life. Can death revitalize the city?
LOGROñO, SPAIN
Public Space
Last week artworks from over eighty artists worldwide were distributed randomly to people on the streets of New York. It was the culmination of an unconventional public art project to create social engagement and change.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Cohesion
The idea of a Social Club in New York’s subway recognises the mass transit system as much more of a comfortable public space rather than as a means of transport. A holistic approach can make passengers return.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Justice
In South African cities a long tradition of community-based paralegal offices operating from garages, churches, and schools provide equal access to justice and real hope to thrive in low-income neighbourhoods.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Economy
Three hours of our time a month in a grocery store would reduce labour costs to charge lower prices. Food cooperatives called it a ‘virtuous cycle’. This is not volunteering, pure noble business, the in-kind pay is health.
MADRID, SPAIN
Public Space
‘Bankerl’ is a film project for the public, which praises conversations between strangers. Interviews with passers-by provide insights into individual life situations and reveal the overall mood across the city.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
A poetic and provocative campaign by Gretta Louw challenges urban dwellers to reflect on the nature of the public sphere. A reflection of how the health of our democracies is linked to the health of our public spaces.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Gender
The first statue of real women at Central Park has been installed after 167 years of the park's history thanks to female activists. Another historical moment into untapped women’s history.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
A grassroots movement in Spanish cities is documenting and safeguarding commercial signs of the most unique mom-and-pop shops and bars. This Graphic Heritage captures a disappearing world.
MADRID, SPAIN
Gender
Chiene Jones, awarded 2020 Jr. Knicks Coach of the Year, is determined to use basketball to create powerful future women, specially in underserved urban communities.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Public Space
In New York the combination of roads closed off to traffic and the need to reduce tensions on the street has a name, Play Streets. Now it's time to revive them.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Climate
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
Housing
Creative non-profit housing projects, which focus on cohesive societies, benefit the long-term health of neighbourhoods while offering affordable housing for future generations.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
Residents, local organizations and public spaces like Morningside park play a central role in creating a common ground for strong communities to reduce violence.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Justice
The Mayor of Tulsa met community activists this week and agreed on specific steps to address police violence and social injustice in the black communities of the city.
TULSA, OK, USA
Climate
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
Gender
A group of bold and strong women called the Cycling Geckos are on their bikes through Cairo to break social barriers, which prevent other women from achieving their full potential. They fight for a cultural change to redesign Cairo’s human landscape towards women.
CAIRO, EGYPT
Climate
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
Cohesion
The initiative ‘hey’ at cafes in Munich encourages people in need to participate in the daily life of the city through free coffee and meals. In Covid-19 time cafes are getting the support back by an attempt to increase their sales.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Health
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
Public Space
Breakdance kept Aloun Phetnoi Ferzandis out of trouble. But not off the streets, rather breakdance granted him an identity and sense of belonging to the city.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Health
‘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
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
Culture
The programming at Cinema Akil is meticulously chosen by a strong feminist voice, which uses the impact of media culture to raise awareness on Dubai’s society about worldwide critical issues and human values.
DUBAI - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Culture
Clärchens Ballhaus will reopen soon in Berlin. Privately owned, it embodies the challenge of future cultural institutions in cities to engage with a diverse crowd.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Public Space
The city of Munich is challenging the ways in which children could connect with the streets independently. The interactive game kreuz & quer is reclaiming the lost art of playing outside.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
Via ‘kippa parties’ and ‘tolerance encounters’, a Munich-based association weaves a network of enthusiasm and participation – one strong enough to defuse Jewish fears of anti-Semitism.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Mobility
Mobility advocates are spearheading a new discourse that focuses on social justice rather than infrastructure and car-free cities
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Climate
Mariellé Anzelone is growing an urban movement for nature and biodiversity in the cities of the future.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Housing
Chris Hildrey realized that by giving homeless people a proxy address at an early stage, it helps avoid entrenchment and get them back on their feet.
LONDON, UK
Public Space
The role of religious buildings can’t be underestimated in our urban landscape. The connections between them and the city are undeniable.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
The grass-root association Green city e.V. has been at the vanguard of spreading global climate action among citizens in Munich.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Gender
Women in New Delhi are sharing their feelings of insecurity at particular public spaces. Key urban stakeholders are listening to improve safety conditions in the city.
NEW DELHI, DELHI, INDIA
Public Space
Urban planning often underestimates sunlight in cities. Two students in Munich fought for their right to light.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Governance
BCN Helpers is a twitter account for citizen collaboration in Barcelona, which maps in real time criminal offences on the streets to make the city safe.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Public Space
Two brothers, one dream. Julian and Daniel Hahn are the masterminds behind the transformation of unused public space in Munich into dreamy places.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
Kisdiófa Kert is an urban garden in Erzsébetváros neighbourhood, where citizens connect to each other building trust and supportive relationships in Budapest.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Public Space
In diverse neighbourhoods lies a wellspring of creativity and urban identity that make cities thrive. At Portobello Road silent technology is an effective way to content all citizens.
LONDON, UK
Public Space
You have an obligation to feel good at Nomadic Gardens. People grow food, create art and share skills. It is quite a community space out of the straightjacket of conventional urbanism.
LONDON, UK
Mobility
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
Cohesion
A remembrance photo project at public space in Weimar (Germany) confronts citizens with the city's history and invites them to pause and reflect.
WEIMAR, GERMANY
Culture
Abdulmalik Sultan Al Maskari, one of Oman’s most recognisable graffiti artist, has been finding legal ways to pursue his passion for street art, which has always been prohibited in public spaces in Muscat. By painting in legal spaces like old busses and old houses he and other street artists are slowly unleashing the street art ...
MUSCAT, OMAN
Culture
The Tucholsky bookstore in Berlin sells more than just books. Over the years, its owner, Jörg Braunsdorf, has created a community around culture for neighbours and regular customers who meet at the bookstore periodically. Culture has energized a collective force with the civil courage to face up to the far right in their neighbourhood towards ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Cohesion
The K-Buurt or K-neighbourhood is located around Amsterdam-Zuidoost’s Kraaiennest subway station. This community in the suburbs of Amsterdam has demanded recognition from the city since they founded Hart voor de K-Buurt (Heart for the K-Neighbourhood), a local multicultural community network of neighbours who are finding consensus language to assert power over the future of its ...
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Cohesion
A group of students with different faiths have come together on the streets of Munich. They have seduced passersby with free hummus ice cream to start an open conversation and answer questions about their faiths at public space. There are three tables with signs, which read: ask a Muslim, a Jew or a Christian. The ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Health
Wednesdays volunteers meet at the city centre to distribute food, hygiene products and clothes. How they are tackling drug addiction in Oslo.
OSLO, NORWAY
Climate
Magnus Gommerud Nielsen is called the Electric Gardener by the city of Oslo. He has worked as a gardener at Vestre Cemetery for the past 12 years and from there he has driven change with a simple but revolutionary idea: the maintenance operations of cemeteries in Oslo has to be electrified towards a greener city. ...
OSLO, NORWAY
Health
It is 7:30 in the morning in Oslo. A strong wind and an intensive sun reflected on the white granite and Italian Carrara marble walls invade the roof of the Opera House. Energy concentrates in one space where a group of people practises Taijiquan thanks to Pamela Hiley. During the spring and summer months she ...
OSLO, NORWAY
Culture
‘Not all who wander are lost’, reads the display with the maps of the Alserkal Avenue located in Al Quoz neighbourhood in Dubai. Alserkal Avenue was an industrial area that has been converted in 2007 into a cultural district of contemporary art galleries, creative businesses and non-profit organizations spread across 500,000 square feet. Here you ...
DUBAI - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Public Space
What is all the fuss about performing tricks? ‘The desire of self-improvement makes you fearless, assertive and self-confident’, explains one of the skaters involved in the ‘Skatepark Mobil’ initiative. Loaded with skateboards and BMX bikes in an Italian Piaggio, they visit skate parks in Munich and offer youngsters an easier start to skateboarding for free. ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Mobility
The streets of Mexico City haven’t seen their superhero in 3 years. Jorge Cáñez, a political scientist, called himself Peatónito. He used to wear a Mexican wrestler mask, a cape and proclaim himself to be a superhero for pedestrian safety in Mexico City. Since wrestling is a big thing in his country, he thought creativity ...
MEXICO CITY, CDMX, MEXICO
Mobility
Street names do matter. A street in the city of Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, is called ‘The Walk’. It sounds obvious. But are streets in cities always walkable? This beautiful piece of road is closed to cars supporting a vision towards a more walkable city and a sustainable urbanisation of Muscat. ...
MUSCAT, OMAN
Climate
An idle space at the heart of the city and easy for anybody to access. These two great conditions make Michael Faltenbacher and Thomas Manglkammer follow the unwritten rules in the best interest of the city. They wanted to offer citizens an open-minded green space outside of the straitjacket of convention in Munich. They have ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
Eugene Quinn, a British national living in Vienna, thinks it is the best city in the world to live in. In a city with many international institutions and a mixed crowd, Eugene experienced, however, the difficulties of mingling with locals. As a rebellious optimist, he started to organize Vienna coffeehouse conversations to disrupt the social ...
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Cohesion
Remembering a city’s history can greatly empower its citizen’s commitment to mindfulness; because had at any one time a slightly different path been taken, had a decision swung a slightly different way, the entire course of history would have been different. Signs along the former Jewish neighbourhood of West Berlin known as the Bavarian Quarter ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Gender
The street art world is dominated by men. ‘Hands Off The Wall’ endeavours to change that, at least in Vienna. Female street artists have gathered around a street art festival to show their work, praise other women’s achievements and inspire girls to succeed. ‘Hands Off The Wall’ is Austria’s first street art and graffiti festival ...
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Public Space
The initiative ‘WIEN LEBT…auf der Wohnstrasse’ is unique. We’ve been living in the city for years, however it wasn’t until recently that we discover the potential that some streets in Vienna have to offer. They are called Wohnstrassen; literally translated in English ‘residential streets’. They are not regular streets, they are considered by law a ...
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Public Space
What is more urban than a city’s train station? The skateboarding association High Five has partnered with the organisation ‘Meine Einkaufsbahnhof’ in Munich to offer free skateboarding right in the middle of the train station’s entrance; a busy space where crowds pass by every day. The idea of skating inside the train station is to ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
#WeloveWater is an urban action born in Barcelona that uses the power of street art to raise awareness about the problem of flushing wet wipes into the cities’ sewer system. The graffitis convert drains and sewage covers into marine species to remind people that the sewer system is an open window to the ocean. Urban ...
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Housing
Sabine Herrmann is a pioneer in Munich. She founded, together with seven friends, the Ligsalz house 8, the only self-governing residential project in Munich within the framework of a ‘Syndikat house’ model. In total there are twelve housemates living in the house. Their monthly rent is paying off the house, however they don’t own it. ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Cohesion
‘The magdas Hotel brings people from all over the world together’. But this slogan is not referring to the guests. People from 14 different nations, who found asylum in Vienna, work at the magdas Hotel. Each and every one of them makes this place unique. An open-minded and positive atmosphere at the hotel makes it ...
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Cohesion
Chicago artist Matthew Hoffman’s public installations that simply read “You Are Beautiful” beautify neighbourhoods around Chicago and beyond. According to ‘You Are Beautiful’ team, the public reaction to the installations have been very positive: ‘Once you put something out in the world, it is fascinating to see what happens. When the phrase You Are Beautiful ...
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Governance
Backed by the willingness of conscious consumers Addiopizzo supports shopkeepers who don't pay extortion money to the Mafia in Palermo.
PALERMO, ITALY
Public Space
At the Parque del Retiro in Madrid I have witnessed a very interesting example of an age-friendly and health-friendly public space: pedals have been annexed to public benches as to allow old (and young!) people to do exercise while talking to each other! Public parks are an important public health resource in cities, connecting citizens ...
MADRID, SPAIN
Mobility
Free Fares – Transit takes on Snowpocalypse! In times when cities are considering the pros and cons of offering free public transport, a step made by the bus service @Cotabus in the city of Columbus (Ohio) seems to go in the right direction. It has offered FREE rides all day on their citywide bus service ...
COLUMBUS, OH, USA
Culture
In a city like Munich with rampant population and so little vacant space, every slot available in terms of empty buildings matters. In the absence of the public and hidden behind the façade of an old office building, artists of urban and contemporary art have been working for several months in Munich on their individual ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
We are Natalia Bazaiou and Anastasia Noukaki, architects and also mothers working and living in Athens. Our experience of being mothers with small children in our city is of a place offering perfect weather conditions of living outdoors but extremely limited possibilities to walk without being threatened by traffic. In Athens, due to the sprawling ...
ATHENS, GREECE
Public Space
At the Harbor industrial area in the city of Linz (Austria) you see gratifying faces working hard on the storage and container facilities. Street art has turned them into an outdoor museum. ‘Mural Harbor’ is not the kind of project to transform a post-industrial urban area to new use in a way that contributes to ...
LINZ, AUSTRIA
Cohesion
German thinking is on board an Italian Piaggio Ape 50 to hit the streets of Munich. It is called ‘Lighthouse Mobil’ and it is driven by volunteers, who give assistance to refugees about how things work in the city and help them settle in. They also aim at opening a dialogue with local citizens about ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
In Leipzig the city administration has found a creative way to reforest its streets. It is called ‘Baumstarke Stadt’. They offer citizens to plant a tree in public parks, on streets, in squares and in urban cemeteries to honour their friends and loved ones in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries, new births, or any special occasion. ...
LEIPZIG, GERMANY
Housing
Ariane Jedlitscha doesn’t give much for a fixed definition to her project ‘Honorary Hotel’. ‘We don’t want to be straitjacket by one definition. It has to enjoy the freedom to evolve with any kind of possibilities’, explains Ariane. Maybe this approach is what makes the Honorary Hotel so special. The project is using art and culture ...
LEIPZIG, GERMANY
Cohesion
‘The Rebel Riot’ is not just a local punk band with politically charged songs, dealing with human right violations. Expressing themselves through music is not enough. This band mobilizes a whole punk community to cook fresh food and distribute it to homeless people every week in Yangon (Myanmar), a movement called ‘Food Not Bombs’. They ...
YANGON, MYANMAR (BURMA)
Public Space
The WESTWERK is an art quarter and off space located in the creative neighbourhood of Plagwitz in Leipzig (Germany), between the Karl-Heine-Straße and the Weißenfelser Straße directly at the King Albert Bridge on the Karl-Heine-Canal. The Westwerk is an important place for many people in the West of Leipzig. It is a symbolic place for ...
LEIPZIG, GERMANY
Public Space
As more citizens give up car ownership in favour of car sharing, cities are winning back public spaces for citizens, a precious and scarce commodity in cities. One car less in the city, means potentially freeing up 11,5 square meters of public space from idle parking spaces. This equation creates a great opportunity to the rise ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
“Reading is the world in the head” is Sebastian Mettler’s motto. He has founded StadtLesen 10 years ago in Austria. Every year StadtLesen travels to many different cities in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. His initiative has given citizens reading enjoyment al fresco in cities with free admission. More than 100 publishers are involved in this ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
It could have been another city around the world but it happened in Munich. I first encountered Davide Martello in Odeonsplatz, one of the main and crowded squares in Munich. His music turned this public space, once used to spread hate in one of the worst chapters in European history, into a stimulating cultural climate ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
If you could experience a city from 95cm – the height of a 3-year-old – what would you change? Urban 95 Challenge for a child-friendly city asks this bold but simple question of the world’s city leaders, planners, architects, and innovators. But what about asking kids in the city that very same question? Aminah Ricks, an ...
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Cohesion
When you look at the astonishing view of the Douro River in Porto from the terrace of the ‘Guindalense Futebol Clube’ bar, it makes you wonder why this local bar has not become a pretentious gastro. Its trajectory tells the history of its neighbourhood and how local bars can contribute to community cohesion, happiness and ...
PORTO, PORTUGAL
Mobility
It happens in Munich, Madrid, Houston and many other cities around the world. White bikes pop up in cities as memorials for cyclists who are killed or hit on the street. They are called Ghost bikes and they are on a mission to keep cycling safe in cities. It was Patrick van der Tuin who ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Climate
Many neighbourhoods in cities have libraries but not many have an urban garden as part of the library. In Berlin-Mitte, right in the centre of the city, an urban garden has been developed within the library of the neighbourhood. Numerous urban gardens are sprouting in the city for a reason. Berlin, one of the best ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
The 'Beyond a Construction Site' urban gardening initiative in Ljubljana (Slovenia) connects people with nature in the centre of the city.
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
Cohesion
Hip Hop is not just a musical genre, but a cultural movement which originated in the Bronx district of the city of New York in the 1970s and came with the Americans to Berlin. Ibo Omari, a citizen of Berlin, is a firm advocator of the Hip Hop culture, which he embraces in all social ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Cohesion
What started as saving a sports ground, became one of the most inspiring projects to welcome refugees in the city centre of Munich. It is a great example of how to address the challenge of urban migration and how integration can actually work. Munich has been welcoming a significant number of refugees since the Syria ...
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
Cities create encounters. Public spaces play a vital role in fostering interaction in cities. Jose Subero and Paula Colchero, two residents of Amsterdam and the creatives behind Ruilbank, have combined design and reading to promote social interaction at benches in public spaces. Ruilbank is an intervention on Amsterdam public benches meant to create sharing public ...
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Cohesion
Marie Rolshoven, a cultural scientist, lives in Berlin in Schöneberg neighbourhood, which was once home to Jewish artists and intellectuals such as Albert Einstein. Moved by the fact that, twenty three former Jewish residents of her whole building were deported during the Nazi era, she wanted to keep the history of her neighbours alive. Inspired by the ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Climate
If you are walking through the city enjoying a chewing gum, you have probably experienced that moment when you are left looking for an old tissue or receipt to wrap the used gum in so that it doesn’t end up on the pavement. Chewing gums have become one of the toughest challenges when it comes ...
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Climate
Tamara Sancho, a primary care physician in Barcelona, and her neighbours have been converting the small spaces around trees into small lush gardens in their neighbourhood called ‘Poble Sec’ since 2015. Tamara was fed up with the amount of rubbish accumulated around those tiny tree islands and decided to do something about it. She started ...
BARCELONA, SPAIN
Climate
Chris Anaekwe is a graduate of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka which has organized an impressive clean up in his hometown, Onitsha (Nigeria), to raise awareness about waste disposal in the city. It is hard to believe that in a city like Onitsha rubbish containers are a rare thing. What do you do with ...
ONITSHA, NIGERIA
Climate
Hi, my name is Power Drill and my average useful life is 12 minutes. If tools, gear and equipment could speak, you would be horrified about their short useful lives. The tool sharing initiative called The Toronto Tool Library offers an alternative to ownership to use resources much more efficiently in the city. Inspired by ...
TORONTO, ON, CANADA
Culture
Ali Al-Moussawi’s passion for books goes beyond reading. He has developed the first city library on wheels in Baghdad. His main goal is to revive a love for books and to encourage the culture of reading in the city. Baghdad, once the literary and cultural capital of the Muslim world, is now better known for bombs than poems: “With ...
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
Public Space
Jorge Carrillo not only wants to save Bangkok’s street food, but a well-functioning city where street food vendors play a vital role. This is why he came up with the Beyond Food Initiative. The decision by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority to remove street food vendors from many city locations has recently caught the imagination of journalists, ...
BANGKOK, THAILAND
