Going against the national government's own best practices and the consensus of urban planners worldwide, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) continues to shift thriving urban communities into lifeless high-rise residential towers, ignorant of the economic base the existing neighbouroods provide to their residents, as Greg Randolph shows in Govindpuri.
In a quiet London suburb two rival "neighbourhood forums" put forward under new "localism" laws have brought religious and cultural divisions into the light.
Pallavi Shrivastava reflects on how the threat of violence forces women not only to change our movements but also prevents us from enjoying our cities, and thus from helping to make them the cities we want them to be.
Mukta Naik describes how urbanists, activists and authorities have made the most of each others' expertise after recent crimes in Delhi and Gurgaon.
Matthieu Floret-Scheide contemplates the chaotic urban development of Skopje and the eclectic architectural landscape it has produced, asking how the public can be better informed to change this in the future.
Jinxi Chen takes us on a modern history tour of Beijing's urban structure, arguing that Mao's efforts to rebuild the centre preserved a concentric structure that could not work well for contemporary Beijing.
To re-energise the idea of sustainable construction, the Holcim Foundation proposes five qualitative measures that will help make a building truly endure.
Mukta Naik is an architect and urban planner, working with Delhi-based micro Home Solutions. She is currently a Fellow with the Future Institute and…
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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.
