CityChangers.org

What is CityChangers.org?   Whether you're new here or a long-time member of our community, here's a helpful orientation👇   Launched in 2021, CityChangers has grown and grown. But our objective has always stayed the same: Help people improve the places they love 🤜🤛   Which we do by: 🦸🏻♀️ featuring stories of inspiring change-makers, risk-takers & city-shapers ✍️ creating original jargon-free content 🧭 sharing low-barrier guidance to get you started 💻 diving a little deeper - <10 min reads reveal the full picture 💬 amplifying diverse voices & welcoming guest contributions Our thanks goes out to the hundreds of CityChangers who have shared their expertise, time & advice over the past 5 years. What connects us is a mindset. Together, we can continue to create positive change.

Few cities expand as fast as Hefei, China. As farmland and canals were swallowed up by concrete and asphalt, the cost of flooding hit a peak of ¥2.3 billion.   But a government-led response has allowed Hefei to boost productivity. Industry was reorganised into concentric rings, combining ancient and hyper-modern solutions: 🔬 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲: just like Ming-era grain storehouses, new research labs are built meters above flood level. 90% of China’s quantum patents are made here, bringing in $2.8 billion of research investment. 🏯 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲: industry gets dense by going vertical, like traditional pagodas. 47 suppliers fit into a space of just over 4 km². Plus, Ming Dynasty pottery techniques inspired porous asphalt - stormwater is collected and irrigates 80 hectares of farms... underground! 🌊 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲: restoration of retention basins provides an ecological "shield" against flooding. Inspired by 16th century farming practices, it has reduced flood damage by ¥1.4 billion and produces above average rice yields. Urban planners take note! This blueprint for flood-resilient cities is being adopted from Indonesia to the USA. 📚 See why at: https://lnkd.in/d2uAkrm5   In this guest article from Urban Solutions Journal, Lile Mo explores the extent of the model's socio-economic and environmental benefits and the human costs of such a decisive top-down response - from lives saved to disrupting communities to make way for change.

🫣 Are politicians too afraid to redesign cities? Whether it's reallocating parking spaces, creating green areas, or improving public transport connectivity, resistance from redsidents is common, but often temporary. The project Conflictedstreets aims to provide guidance on how to deal with such conflicts. Tom Rye, Professor at Molde University College, offered advice to politicians during an interview and said that 💡Cities benefit most when political leaders weather the storm instead of compromising their plans in response to early protests. 💡There are study cases where campaigns and targeted engagement with businesses and residents helped municipalities to follow through their plans in Austria, Norway and Spain.   ➡️ Read some key takeaways in our latest story on the Conflictedstreets project, "How Can Municipalities Address Conflicts When Redesigning Streets?" 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dCxHJege Gazi University, Molde University College, Cracow University of Technology, Stadt Bielefeld, Universiteit van Amsterdam (University of Amsterdam), Vision5 #protests #urbanplanning #sustainabletransport

Would love to have your help! At Humankind | agency for urban change, we’re currently developing an online course, and we’d love to hear your ideas. It will be about knowledge, tools, and experiences on urban change and mobility transitions, but before we move forward, we want to hear from you what the biggest challenges you face in that regard in your work are, and what you are missing in terms of knowledge. If you could answer this micro-survey (3 minutes, I promise) about what you would find most valuable in the course, I'd be very grateful: https://lnkd.in/eDCxuN2x And if you don't feel like filling out a form, then a comment below or a private message is also welcome. Thanks a lot, and please share with people who might find it interesting!

A shout out about blade signs! In a big open space like this, providing easy-to-see-from-a-distance information allows people to travel less distance to figure out where they need to go.  What are your favourite tips for signage in a building where people won't know where they are going? ID: An elevator on the left with a blade sign on the same wall, right at the corner, that shows that where to find wheelchair accessible bathrooms. #WheelchairAccessibleBathrooms

Globalisation, industrialisation, urbanisation, and extractive capitalism have led the climate to a tipping point. It threatens the world we know. Cities have to take a large chunk of the responsibility. The built environment is a major CO2 contributor - through construction, demolition, operation, and energy inefficiency. But historically, we lived much more in tune with the environment. Many Indigenous communities have retained that connection and posses the knowledge required to build comfortable, resilient, and ecologically low-impact cities. The story of Winnipeg is an important one: of action, hope, better futures - and of healing socio-cultural division entrenched in intergenerational trauma.

Invasive plants are bad. Right? 🌱   We’re used to hearing how non-native species threaten fragile ecosystems. That can be true. But what if there’s another perspective?   Close to the Old Town of Ljubljana, more than 200 pioneering plant species have actually regenerated a former construction site. 🏗️ They're improving soil health, cooling the neighbourhood, and creating conditions for more complex ecosystems to develop in future.   Krater - meaning "crater" - is managed by a creative collective of young professionals who have transformed this feral green space into a hub of innovation, advocacy, and culture.   They even prototype sustainable forms of production using material from invasive plants, exploring how ecological restoration intersects with new opportunities for community-focused economies. ♻️   It’s a lighthouse example of what becomes possible when civic initiatives and creative practices are trusted to co-produce cities and experiment with new governance and ownership models.   🌿 See nature in a new light: https://lnkd.in/dyAYPS_X Our thanks to Danica Sretenovic & Gaja Mežnarić Osole for sharing Krater's story.

What do dogs, a story garden, and dark streets have in common? The CityChangers newsletter!   This week is packed with what’s been happening in the world of better cities:   1️⃣ The Tale of London’s Story Garden 📚 How a transient green space in central London found a permanent home.   2️⃣ Krater: An Untamed Oasis 🍄🟫 In Ljubljana, there's a feral site where creative practices are helping the city to rethink ecological stewardship and invasive species.   3️⃣ Creating Safer Cities 🔐 Urban design shapes how safe cities feel — especially for women after dark. We explore how intersectional planning can support comfort at all hours.   4️⃣ Paw-sitive Cities 🐾 ICAM offers an ethical solution to managing free-roaming animals, a citizen priority long overlooked by leaders.   5️⃣ Overcoming Backlash 🗣️ Persuading opponents is exhausting, and even after success, criticism continues. How do you deal with it?   Subscribe today to the CityChangers.org newsletter and get your quarterly dose of better-city inspiration straight to your inbox. 💌 https://lnkd.in/dRc_v7eF