Barcelona plans major increase in ‘green’ zones
Barcelona is planning a major expansion of low-traffic zones, giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists to reduce pollution and provide green spaces. The work is part of a 10-year plan focusing on the central Eixample district of the Catalan capital, Mayor Ada Colau has announced….
Barcelona launches 10-year plan to reclaim city streets from cars
Barcelona has launched an ambitious 10-year plan to reclaim the city’s streets from cars and cut down pollution with the creation of green spaces and public squares. The new plan seeks to augment the city’s chronic lack of public space and address its equally chronic…
Northern Uproar
For some activists on the Labour left, municipal politics may now offer a constructive outlet and an opportunity to play a useful political role by using town halls as a base for action and agitation, linking up with trade unions, tenants’ unions, social movements and…
How the “15-minute city” will transform work
Even before the coronavirus crisis, a key topic of debate among town planners was how to create a sustainable, healthy urban environment that is easy to get around by either walking or cycling. The idea of the 15-minute city. A concept developed by Sorbonne Professor…
The pandemic will accelerate the evolution of our cities
Since the beginning of the pandemic we have already witnessed dramatic increases in the mobility of people, goods and information while simultaneously confronting the realities of climate change and carbonisation. We are now seeing trends away from fossil fuel to cleaner electric propulsion, vehicles that…
Why COVID-19 might not change our cities as much as we expect
COVID-19 impacts provide an opportunity for our cities to shift to new ways of urban living. But only if we couple this opportunity with technology and deliberate collective action will sustained and equitable change happen. What is imperative, therefore, is that governments similarly couple technology…
Feminist city: Claiming space in a man-made world
The book, Feminist City, exposes how our public spaces are not designed for female bodies. The urban streets often are a place of threats rather than community and gentrification has made the everyday lives of women even more difficult. The book dives deep into the…
Cities of dignity: Urban transformations around the world
One of the main challenges that strategies for social-ecological transformation are facing today is the fact that a majority of the world population lives in cities, which can be considered structurally unsustainable spaces. It is thus crucial to discuss how cities can be transformed from…
Cities on the frontline: managing the Coronavirus Crisis
This CIDOB Report examines how 12 cities around the world have managed the COVID-19 crisis and provides lessons to help guide future urban action. These include learning to govern complex, uncertain scenarios by placing decentralisation, cooperation and resilience at the heart of public policies; rethinking…