In a quiet north London suburb in the borough of Hackney, two rival "neighbourhood forums" put forward under the UK's new "localism" laws have brought religious and cultural divisions into the light, demonstrating why participatory planning can never be used to sidestep politics, but must find ways to embrace it, as Kerwin Datu describes.
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.
This year we have been compelled to denounce evictions and discrimination, but have also heard the call that questions of identity cannot be sidestepped.
Daniel London considers the charges laid down by Jamaal Green that the settlement house movement of the 19th century is marked by an undercurrent of racism and assimilationism.
The destruction and reconstruction of Stari Most was one of the most symbolic aspects of the Bosnian War. Yet while it now stands as a symbol of peace and cohesion, it was not always seen as such.
James Patterson-Waterston revisits Xining and finds that China's plans to bring development to the west are proceeding at such pace that they threaten to marginalise traders and ethnic groups that bring life to the city.
While many are outraged, it is senseless for city leaders to sow further division and resentment by dismissing young looters, especially when the systemic causes have been hidden in plain sight for decades.
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.
