Posts in the 'Guest Contributor' category
Before sunrise in Bogotá’s southern hills, the day’s first passengers are already on the move. By 4 a.m., a fleet of aging SUVs, locally known as carritos, begin climbing the steep, unpaved streets of Ciudad Bolívar. They weave through neighborhoods ...
There is a pattern to how global crises unfold that receives far less attention than it deserves: A disruption originates somewhere in the architecture of global trade, energy or finance, travels through supply chains and shipping corridors, and eventually deposits ...
Despite a lack of dedicated bicycle infrastructure, Tokyo is among the world’s great cycling cities, with 14% of all trips made on two wheels. The city’s narrow roadways discourage through traffic and require slow speeds, creating an informal network of ...
Well-located housing — integrated with mass transit, public services and climate-resilient design — is an instrument of urban productivity, not an add-on to urban planning. In Bogotá, this integration is becoming central to how the city responds to accelerating climate ...
In the peripheral areas of Mumbai, the humble autorickshaw provides a vital link between homes, transit stations and essential urban services. For nearly 13 million residents, shared autorickshaws function as essential first- and last-mile connections, helping commuters navigate areas where ...
Cities have always been shaped by the infrastructure they choose to host. Railways defined the industrial city. Highways reorganized post-war suburbs. Metro systems and airports rewired the geography of globalized urban economies. Today, another form of infrastructure is expanding rapidly ...
For better or worse, the year ahead brings a mix of reforms, political shifts and global milestones that will shape how urban sustainability agendas are governed and delivered. From changes to the structure and leadership of the United Nations (UN) ...
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), India’s oldest municipal body, governs a sprawling and densely populated urban landscape where climate resilience is not just a goal, but a necessity. With much of the city lying barely two meters above sea level and ...
Thousands of local and regional leaders and their networks gathered in Brazil last month for the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio and COP30 in Belém to respond to the call for a “COP of Implementation” — a COP that ...
Resilience in cities is often framed around large-scale infrastructure projects and sweeping policy shifts. We see headlines about billion-dollar climate adaptation plans, smart cities leveraging AI for disaster response and ambitious net-zero pledges. But some of the most impactful solutions ...
In the heart of Nairobi’s Mathare slums, a quiet but powerful revolution is growing – one plant at a time. Teenage mothers, often marginalized and overlooked, are transforming their lives and their community through urban farming and organizing. Their efforts ...
Imagine stepping into a city where sustainability isn’t just built upwards but also downwards. While cities worldwide grapple with intensifying climate risks—flooding, heatwaves and infrastructure strain—an untapped solution lies right beneath our feet. The underground isn’t just for subways and ...
COP30 in Belém, Brazil, will be the most substantial and strategic mechanism for local and subnational governments to influence and impact national and global sustainability agendas in 2025. As we gear up for the mid-year Bonn Climate Conference, it is ...
Livability is key to the quality of city life as we look to the future. We don’t have to look far into that future to see how this plays out on the streets. On Sunday, December 15, 1974, a group ...
“Hum faltu hai [in English, “We are useless”] …I don’t even know what the budget of the council is. Nobody tells me about the procurement process [or] the number of tenders that have gone public…I don’t have enough knowledge about ...
