How Can Gender Impact the Future of Urban Life?

Do you feel vulnerable as you walk through public spaces? If you are a woman, the odds of answering yes to this question are certainly greater states the article published by Archdaily. Street lighting, bus stops, public restrooms, the way you behave in public environments, and so many other urban activities, have very different implications that touch the issue of gender. So, to imagine egalitarian cities, it’s necessary to persist in a reflection of a gender-oriented approach.

To Green Or Not To Green: Four stories of urban (in)justice in Barcelona

New parks and redevelopment projects are exacerbating gentrification in some areas of Barcelona, driving prices up and pushing out vulnerable residents. Other areas lack green space altogether, depriving certain communities of benefits to physical and mental health. This documentary produced by the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability addresses four neighborhood movements in favor of urban policies that foster greater environmental justice.

The Pandemic Emptied Europe’s Cities. What Will Bring People Back?

When the coronavirus exploded across Europe in March 2020, city dwellers throughout Europe began to leave, some to avoid the virus, others to escape cramped and pricey apartments or to connect more with the natural world. Now, nearly a year after the first lockdowns, this The New York Times article reflects on worries of a lasting exodus that are pushing urban authorities to address long-festering problems.

What It Takes to Make a Home

The documentary film produced by the Canadian Centre for Architecture follows a conversation between two architects, from Vienna and Los Angeles, who have been searching for long-term strategies for housing the homeless. Focussing on some causes and conditions of homelessness, the film questions the role architects can play toward overcoming the stigmatization of people experiencing it, in order to build more inclusive cities.

"Practising the politics of difference in a shared space enriches coexistence"

• Tim Ingold

Interview with

In the Shared Spaces capsule, Tim Ingold argues in favour of physical presence in personal contacts at a time when our communication is increasingly indirect and through digital means.

The Pandemic, Southern Urbanisms and Collective Life

Gautam Bhan, Teresa Caldeira, Kelly Gillespie and AbdouMaliq Simone

For the majority in cities of the global south, where most urban people in the world live, ‘social distancing’ as prescribed by northern health protocols is just about impossible. In this article Gautam Bhan, Teresa Caldeira, Kelly Gillespie and AbdouMaliq Simone analyse collective life of the urban majority in the massifying cities of the global south where auto-construction, patchwork infrastructure and services, and tacit local economies define the condition of life for the majority. The design of lockdowns, that are impossible to comply in these circumstances, only exacerbate ongoing structural racisms and class and gender inequalities.