City

How to give children the freedom to play all across the city – not just in playgrounds

How to give children the freedom to play all across the city – not just in playgrounds: Co-created play space with children and the community, Via Val Lagarina Milan. Milan municipality Children play everywhere. Yet their right to play – protected by a UN convention – is constantly challenged by adults. Play is crucial to …

Cape Town’s sewage treatment isn’t coping: scientists are worried about what the city is telling the public

Cape Town’s sewage treatment isn’t coping: scientists are worried about what the city is telling the public: Urban water bodies – rivers, lakes and oceans – are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don’t break down on their own. When they are released into the …

Lagos slum evictions don’t work: 6 ways city planners can actually help the poor

Lagos slum evictions don’t work: 6 ways city planners can actually help the poor: Millions of people in Lagos live in slums. Slums typically have poor housing infrastructure and sanitation, and limited access to education, health facilities and clean drinking water. These challenges make the people who live in slums vulnerable to health crises, high …

Accra is a tough city to walk in: how city planners can fix the problem

Accra is a tough city to walk in: how city planners can fix the problem: Humans are walking beings. Walking is intrinsically linked to our physical development from childhood and enables our connections with people and places. We can say it is essential to our physical and mental well-being. Walking can also help create inclusive …

A glimpse into a surreal abyss: how COVID ravaged a remote city in the Amazonian jungle – podcast

A glimpse into a surreal abyss: how COVID ravaged a remote city in the Amazonian jungle – podcast: When the first cases of COVID began to spread around the world in early 2020, people in Iquitos, a remote city in the Peruvian Amazon, weren’t unduly worried. They assumed their isolation would protect them. It didn’t. …

Why has bisexual identity doubled in one European city – and what does it tell us about global trends?

Why has bisexual identity doubled in one European city – and what does it tell us about global trends?: Shutterstock/Anna55555 Bisexuality has long been the subject of distinct forms of stigma compared to other sexual identities. People who identify as bisexual can be dismissed as “confused”, “indecisive” or as passing through a “transitional stage”. These …

Mother City: a tough, passionate film about the battle for affordable housing in Cape Town

Mother City: a tough, passionate film about the battle for affordable housing in Cape Town: Activist Nkosikhona Swartbooi leads a protest in the documentary Mother City. Screengrab/Mother City A third of the way into Mother City there’s a scene that characterises this tough, passionate film about Cape Town and its paradoxes of beauty and hardship, …