The rise of loneliness worldwide, the centrality of real estate speculation for global economic growth, and the breakdown of many large-scale factories that helped to bring workers together mean that we have to rethink the ways we demand change. We can build community and force...

The new municipalist agenda is shaping up worldwide. The requirement for successful municipalist experiences to exceed the local level and enter the regional or national agenda might jeopardize their existence, since it challenges the very bases of their conception. The notion of growth by “scaling...

The book Sharing Cities looks back at the creation of Sharing Cities, composed of fifty cities around the world that began mapping their shared resources in October and November 2013 during Shareable’s first annual #MapJam. This was just the beginning of the Sharing Cities Network...

The cities of Barcelona, Freetown, Mexico, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo have co-founded a network focused on gender equity, with mayors warning that the Covid-19 pandemic risks widening inequalities. Through ‘CHANGE’ (City Hub and Network for Gender Equity), the cities will share best practices, policies...

Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power to force the sale of empty properties. The city’s housing department wrote to a number companies that collectively own 194 empty apartments, warning that if they haven’t...

In many German cities, efforts are underway to shift focus away from cars. These include a ban on old diesel cars and a push for more cycling infrastructure. In a country where carmakers sit at the throne of the economy and have a major political...

Unions controlled by the rank-and-file can serve as a dual power bridgehead towards the democratization of cities, states and capital. Photo: Pixabay

Barcelona has become one of the key targets – and victims – of the global tourism and property industry, spurred by financial firms such as Blackstone. But inhabitants and social movements are fighting back. Photo: Daniel Von Appen

Preston City Council commissioned the development co-operative Stir to Action to deliver a groundbreaking new community programme by focusing on providing targeted support for BAME organisations in the city, stimulating cultural awareness and interest in worker-owned business. With BAME communities suffering disproportionate impacts from the...

Across Europe, urban solidarity movements are gaining momentum. Under the label of ‘Welcoming Cities’, ‘Cities of Refuge’ or ‘Solidarity Cities’, civil society groups, local politicians and city administrations are defying the growing restrictions of border regimes and migration policies on the European and national level....

Libertarian municipalism promotes the use of direct face-to-face assemblies in order to “steal” the practice of politics back from the professional politicians and place it back in the hands of citizens. Describing the state as “a completely alien formation”, Bookchin presents libertarian municipalism as “democratic...

Instead of thinking of cities as pressure points for the global environment, we need to see them as innovation hubs for solutions to address climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Compact, green, inclusive urban centres are a critical weapon in our quest to keep the...