In the post-war years, the Metabolists made big plans for Tokyo Bay to relieve the pressure on the Japanese capital. Now there's another plan, called Next Tokyo 2045. Herbert Wright explains that these have not been the only visionary proposals. In reality, the city has been gradually encroaching on the Bay for centuries, and the big plans that materialise are mainly infrastructure.
While national and state tourism schemes will benefit limited destinations of utmost importance for India, small towns like Omkareshwar will have to look at alternative possibilities to alleviate infrastructure deficits.
Eric Zachrison explores the merits of thinking small, instead of big, when it comes to planning for basic public services.
The idea of empowering city governments is a thrown around a lot these days in urbanite circles. But where should the line between local and higher levels of government begin and end? Alia Dharssi reports on the debate.
New financial institutions and instruments have made it easy for large building owners to retrofit their properties
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.
Sebastian Schulz describes how decentralisation without fiscal powers is encouraging districts to undermine the master plan and overdevelop their territories.
The energy input per person-kilometre is actually lower when riding a bike than when walking. While the motor car is of utmost inefficiency, the bicycle has surpassed human evolution.
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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.
