Keeping global warming below +1.5 degrees Celsius will not be achieved in Paris, Washington DC, or Glasgow alone. Efforts against climate change will mostly occur at the grassroots level, where activists throughout the world work for a greener and more sustainable future. Together with the non-profit organization 1014, we engage with urban practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic, who inspire and spark action in cities.
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
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
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
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
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
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