One of the main goals of the “municipalities of change”, elected in 2015 in Spain, was to tackle the debt problem. Drawing on the experience of civil society, they sought to develop approaches such as “citizen audits”, but found themselves facing the power of finance....

Major cities such as Amsterdam, Bangkok and Nairobi, Kenya, could experience major climate change impacts by 2050, according to a new study. Photo: Mumtahina Rahman

If we want to create a democratic culture that invites people in, though, we can’t restrict our thinking only to big-P “Politics” as represented by elections, Westminster, and political parties. Participatory and collaborative decision making happens in all sorts of settings and places.We need a...

Britain today has a dysfunctional political system. Many politicians are making decisions to meet their own needs or those of their Party, not the needs of the people they serve. This guide is based on what is happening in Frome, Somerset where after years of...

In order to tackle such an ambitious climate agenda as that which the European Union proposes with its Green Deal, cities must be taken into account. It would not be realistic to go ahead with the plan for zero emissions by 2050 without including cities....

The Seattle City Hall is deploying a set of “municipalist socialist” actions aimed at reversing the negative trends of the new urban job market and limiting private interests, therefore improving the lives of its inhabitants. An in other progressive cities, the municipal level has become...

After apartheid, Cape Town remained a city of islands: social, cultural and economic divisions are the rule. This has long undermined city-wide collective organizing and solidarity. The severe COVID19 lockdown and the goverment response aggravated the situation for many inhabitants. But an unprecedented community-led response...

To analyse and understand the ways in which it is possible for a decentralised and polycentric movement such as Barcelona en Comù to be voted at institutional level, D-CENT partners IN3 15M Data Analysis Group and Barcelona Media conducted the recently published research ‘When a...

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,...

If there’s one lesson the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it is that local government plays a vital role in people’s lives – and elected local politicians are better placed to make decisions that affect the communities they serve than distant apparatuses with little understanding...

The coronavirus shutdown has had a devastating effect on European city’s economy like Amsterdam, Prague and Barcelona. Tourism is the lifeblood of many of these continent’s historic cities, many hope the pandemic will end up changing tourism for the better. According to Shaul Bassi, director...

Focusing on urbanization as a key driver of environmental change in the 21st century, researchers have created a framework to understand and compare cities’ food systems and their effects on climate change, water use and land use. The research will allow planners to estimate the...