A New Layer of Public Space: The Case for Activating Urban Rooftops

Underutilised rooftop spaces are attracting more and more interest as a resource for expanding public space in increasingly dense urban environments. Representing up to 25% of the surface area of cities, they are also a potential tool for favouring climate resilience and providing more of the open-air spaces that are so essential in a pandemic. ArchDaily analyses the potential for creating a multi-layered city by means of activating urban rooftops.

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.

"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.