The Global Urbanist

News and analysis of cities around the world

Regions

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East Asia
South Asia
Southeast Asia and the Pacific
North America
Latin America and the Caribbean
Africa and the Middle East
Europe and Central Asia

Hot Spots

Worldwide

San Francisco-Oakland: Setting the right price for parking in San Francisco and New York
London: NSIPs: Another dent in the UK's localism agenda?
Chicago: The safety of women taxi drivers: perspectives from behind the wheel
Delhi: A day of global action for safer cities for women and girls
New York-Newark: Urban gardens or stop-and-frisk, we must lose the desire to "control" communities
Seattle: Demonstrating the dignity of informal US housing
Buenos Aires: The politics of placing a subway stop in a Buenos Aires slum

Recent Headlines

NSIPs: Another dent in the UK's localism agenda?

James Patterson-Waterston • 14 May 2013

Formed during the boom years, the UK's localism agenda was intended to act as a brake on development. With investment capital scarce after the global financial crisis, the policy is starting to look unaffordable, with campaigns to make all sorts of projects look like "nationally significant infrastructure projects" (NSIPs) to speed up planning delays and attract funding, as James Patterson-Waterston discusses.

Setting the right price for parking in San Francisco and New York

Catesby Holmes • 7 May 2013

San Francisco is developing a new paradigm for car parking with meter prices set by market demand and apps to allow drivers to find spaces and pay for them on their smartphone, with New York following in its wake.

The politics of placing a subway stop in a Buenos Aires slum

Drew Reed • 30 April 2013

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.

Neighbourhood planning brings ethnic tensions to the surface

Kerwin Datu • 23 April 2013

In a quiet London suburb two rival "neighbourhood forums" put forward under new "localism" laws have brought religious and cultural divisions into the light.

Jobs

Events

Future of Cities Forum 2013

4 - 7 September 2013

A multi-stakeholder dialogue about opportunities and barriers in and for cities to become future-just and regenerative habitats.

East Asia

A tiny step closer to an enforceable right to housing

Kerwin Datu • 12 February 2013

With Uruguay ratifying the Optional Protocol of the ICESCR, ten countries will soon have a right to housing somewhat enforceable under international law.

How China's rural machinery also adapts to urban life

Zach Hyman • 18 January 2013

From pancakes to clusters: why Shanghai needs fiscal decentralisation

Sebastian Schulz • 11 December 2012

South Asia

Taking the car out of Corbusier

Henrik Valeur • 9 April 2013

Henrik Valeur presents a well-developed proposal to turn one "sector" in Chandigarh into a car-free area, and the confused behaviour of the authorities attempting to implement the idea.

The future of urban transit at the Indian Institute of Science

Henrik Valeur • 2 April 2013

The health costs of motorised transportation in (Indian) cities

Henrik Valeur • 26 March 2013

Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Making noise and putting police to work for women in Manila

Faranak Miraftab • 14 March 2013

Faranak Miraftab gives the floor to members of DAMPA, a grassroots women's organisation with some rather sound strategies for raising awareness and sensitising police officers.

Mapping the urban poor: why you should conduct enumerations

Marcus Tudehope • 5 March 2013

A day of global action for safer cities for women and girls

Katie Gillett • 19 February 2013

North America

Urban gardens or stop-and-frisk, we must lose the desire to "control" communities

Matt DelSesto • 16 April 2013

Sceptical of the narrative that cities have wholeheartedly embraced urban gardening, Matt DelSesto spies a connection between city crackdowns on urban gardens and police crackdowns in poor communities.

How Detroit's emergency manager is needed to control costs across the US

Isidoros Kyrlangitses • 19 March 2013

The safety of women taxi drivers: perspectives from behind the wheel

Jacqueline Leavitt • 28 February 2013

Latin America and the Caribbean

Enlisting authorities against growing violence in Peru

Elizabeth L. Sweet • 18 March 2013

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.

Violence against poor and marginalised women is violence against humanity

Patricia Chaves and Suzana Maranhão • 7 March 2013

A day of global action for safer cities for women and girls

Katie Gillett • 19 February 2013

Africa and the Middle East

For Cairo's street vendors, the revolution is not yet fully won

Does Vandousselaere • 21 March 2013

Cairo's street vendors have benefited from the turmoil of post-revolutionary Egypt, but their demands still fall on deaf ears at the national level.

A day of global action for safer cities for women and girls

Katie Gillett • 19 February 2013

Learning from slum dweller mobilisation in Dar es Salaam

Michael Hooper • 11 December 2012

Europe and Central Asia

Converting London's offices: housing solution or commercial disaster?

Zoe Green • 28 March 2013

The UK Government wants to make it easier to convert offices to residential use, but it runs the risk of turning valuable commercial space into more empty houses.

A tiny step closer to an enforceable right to housing

Kerwin Datu • 12 February 2013

From the whitewash of memory to the light of peace

Samuel Burke • 5 February 2013

Most Discussed

Hot Topics

Community organisation: Neighbourhood planning brings ethnic tensions to the surface
Participatory governance: NSIPs: Another dent in the UK's localism agenda?
Crime and security: Enlisting authorities against growing violence in Peru
Property and rights: Mapping the urban poor: why you should conduct enumerations

Hot Cities

San Francisco-Oakland: Setting the right price for parking in San Francisco and New York
London: NSIPs: Another dent in the UK's localism agenda?
Chicago: The safety of women taxi drivers: perspectives from behind the wheel
Delhi: A day of global action for safer cities for women and girls

Featured Author

James Patterson-Waterston

James Patterson-Waterston is a consultant on strategy, urban planning and development at Happold Consulting, with a particular focus on projects in…

NSIPs: Another dent in the UK's localism agenda?

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Future of Cities Forum 2013: 4 - 7 September 2013

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About

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.

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