Sceptical of the narrative that cities have wholeheartedly embraced urban gardening initiatives, Matt DelSesto spies a connection between city crackdowns on urban gardens and police crackdowns in poor communities. He argues that we should seek to connect urban movements rather than simply count and control them with abstract policy.
Elizabeth L. Sweet talks to three grassroots leaders in Lima who explain how violence against women is on the rise in Peru, and the techniques they use to address it, from mock funeral processions to raise awareness to safety walks conducted alongside local officials.
Jacqueline Leavitt meets with women taxi drivers in San Francisco and Chicago to learn how they deal with safety risks on the public streets.
Pamela Ransom examines the work of the Sistren Theatre Collective, which uses street-based theatre to encourage communities to discuss the safety of their streets.
Derry's efforts to remember the events of Bloody Sunday are evolving from keeping aflame old resentments to creating symbols of peace and reconciliation as Samuel Burke discovers.
In a quiet London suburb two rival "neighbourhood forums" put forward under new "localism" laws have brought religious and cultural divisions into the light.
A new subway line through an old informal neighbourhood in Buenos Aires is shaping up to be a political battle between social idealism and engineering pragmatism as Drew Reed discovers.
Patricia Chaves and Suzana Maranhão demonstrate how easily institutions can oppress the communities they should be protecting.
This year we have been compelled to denounce evictions and discrimination, but have also heard the call that questions of identity cannot be sidestepped.
Flavie Halais takes us to the old port of Rio de Janeiro, where the city's first PPP is threatening the birthplace of samba and the life of the city's oldest favelas.
Martha Bridegam describes a recent increase in criminalising legislation and policing against homeless and informally housed Americans but asks, is this a short-term backlash against changes in the nature of US housing?
Samuel Burke recently completed the MSc in The City at the University of Edinburgh and now works as a freelance writer and researcher in Berlin.
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
