Public Space
Saving El-Zohriya public park is, in many ways, the story of modern Cairo itself: a tale of royal ambition, urban expansion, and a rare opportunity for the city to listen to its citizens
CAIRO, EGYPT
Public Space
As Spain celebrates its World Cup victory, we explore whether the country’s greatest football academy has always been its streets—and whether that culture can survive
MADRID, SPAIN
Public Space
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
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
The loss of local businesses serving communities seemed inevitable across London—until grassroots groups, urban planning students, and residents stepped in
LONDON, UK
Public Space
Amid tighter EU visa rules for Russian nationals, the children of Ukrainian soldiers find a moment of peace in Paris before Christmas
PARIS, FRANCE
Public Space
From local schools to national governance, Simona Levi advocates digital sovereignty as a path to a better democracy
BARCELONA, SPAIN
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
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
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
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
Public Space
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
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
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
Public Space
Forty years after Mini-München was created, it continues to inspire children to engage in and shape the city they want
MUNICH, GERMANY
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
Public Space
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
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
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
Public Space
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Public Space
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
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
‘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
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
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
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
Public Space
Urban planning often underestimates sunlight in cities. Two students in Munich fought for their right to light.
MUNICH, GERMANY
Public Space
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
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
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
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
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
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
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
Public Space
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
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
Public Space
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
‘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
Public Space
Using the city as classroom, Revolution School intends to transform education and “break down the walls between learning and life.”
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Public Space
How artist Mercedes Dorame challenges traditional monuments in Los Angeles and demands the return of indigenous land
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
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
Public Space
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
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
Public Space
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
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
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
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
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
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
Public Space
How grassroots groups are preserving Hong Kong’s neon signs in an era of urban homogenization
HONG KONG
Public Space
It's Easter Sunday, but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is closed
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
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
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
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
Public Space
Thanks to an army of volunteers, citizens in Turkmenistan circumvent internet censorship under The Tor Project
ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN
Public Space
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
“Religious property is actually working against our religious objectives,” says priest activist Graham Singh on his plan for repurposed churches
MONTREAL, QC, CANADA
Public Space
The savvy use of a current bottom-up governance model galvanize people to replant urban gardens in the informal settlements of Kampala
KAMPALA, UGANDA
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
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
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
In Kasserine, Tunisia, democracy is flourishing in public space. How is the city of Munich involved?
KASSERINE, TUNISIA
Public Space
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
Public Space
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
