Essential workers and their families have increasingly been forced out as Airbnb-style holiday rentals have taken over a third of Lisbon’s city centre properties, pushing up rental prices, hollowing out communities and threatening its unique character. Now the city wants to bring the people who...

In cities across the world social movements are collectively fighting back against the complex causes and corrosive outcomes of neoliberal capitalism. These ‘Fearless Cities’ are highlighted in the Transnational Institute’s Atlas of Utopias. Much of their thinking is based on the concept of radical municipalism,...

Among the trends accelerated by the pandemic, digitalisation stands out for its pace of change. Large parts of education, work, and social services moved online in a matter of weeks. Though many people lack the connections, equipment, and skills to access what are often fundamental...

This report examines the re-emergence of the urban commons as both a bottom-up emergence by citizens/commoners and a radical municipal administrative configuration. Starting with an exploration of the relationship between cities and the commons, with a particular focus on the recent revival and growth of...

The author asks: how can local action further our goals for global transformation? First, there is a reflection on the limits of local action and local democracy. Then the author goes back to social ecology writings and other theoretical discussions to find some clues. Finally,...

Universal healthcare, a green economy, affordable and sustainable housing, and much more: for many people, the Green New Deal sounds too good to be true at a time when trust in politicians has been eroded by too many empty promises. Aaron Vansintjan argues that the...

Concerned by the transition their cities out of the crisis caused by COVID-19 looking for a social and solidarity way out, the mayors of Amsterdam, Milan, Barcelona and Paris speak out and share their considerations with the European institutions. Photo: Jp Valery

Brandon King, Founding Member of Cooperation Jackson, shares his experiences helping conceive and build strategies and social structures that reveal that we can put our shoulders to the wheel and build a truly just and sustainable future. Photo: Elizabeth Lies

A growing number of cities around the world are temporarily reallocating road space from cars to people on foot and on cycles to keep key workers moving and residents in coronavirus lockdown healthy and active while socially distancing. Photo: Jack Van Hel

The anti-advertising movement Résistance à l’Agression Publicitaire (Resistance to Advertising Aggression, or RAP) groups are across France, up from five in 2016. They work autonomously with tactics including pressuring politicians like the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who paused plans for new digital advertising boards...

The coronavirus pandemic has already changed many aspects of life. How we travel, how we work and how we live. Experts warn it may even change how some of our cities will look and operate in the future. Photo: Zoltan Tasi    

In the past decade there has been a rise of new politics that have stemmed from different political backgrounds and contexts, and although they sometimes differ significantly, each was a manifestation of the “specter of emancipation” that was haunting the world. However, this emancipatory push...