Sana'a, the capital of Yemen and facing one of the most severe water crises of any city in the world, may have an answer in a startlingly simple project to help households reconfigure their onsite water storage systems to collect their own rainwater.
Simply creating urban policies that parallel India's rural policies won't fully solve the problem of urban poverty, especially when migrants and other groups fall into the cracks between the two policy regimes.
Doha is part of Qatar's push to become an urban exemplar for the region, diversifying away from an oil-based economy by investing in education, enterprise, sport, transport and the quality of the public realm.
Anna Leidreiter describes how the city of Oakland is building the circular metabolic systems required to turn the concept of regenerative cities into a reality.
Future Cities, organised by Economist Conferences, is a major international conference, exploring innovative new approaches to designing, managing and financing Africa’s cities.
The southern Italian city of Naples has offered to host the sixth session of the World Urban Forum.
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.
The Government of India has launched a grand housing scheme for a 'slum-free India'. But can grand schemes work when planners and policymakers neither understand the reality of the urban poor nor connect to their aspirations?
What do the 'DIY urbanism' movement and homelessness have in common? While DIY urbanism is hailed as a creative force, the homeless are still marginalised in many cities.
Despite its hilly topography and a legal injunction that prevented it from developing its bicycle network for four years, cycle use in San Francisco has grown to set the standard for US cities.
What happens when a foreign charity introduces an agenda that aligns with local entrepreneurial initiatives? Will locals be seen as like-minded stakeholders or as 'competition'?
Another shack fire broke out in Cape Town last month, killing one woman and affecting 1,500 residents. Andrew Fleming reports on the City's response, residents' attitudes, and recent initiatives that may alleviate the problem.
Andrew Stevens and Jonas Schorr argue that instead of grandiose schemes like a global senate of mayors, we must concentrate on creating popular demand for city networking, and giving more power and visibility to existing efforts.
Zoe Green is a chartered planning consultant with Atkins Ltd, with experience in policy and masterplanning projects for both private and public…
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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.
