Plastic and the city
The burden of single-use plastic bags on urban infrastructure has been a focus of the environmentalist movements and urbanist thought in the 21st century. Single-use plastic bags, however, are not … Continue reading
Governing the ungovernable: spatial policy, markets and volume house-building in a growth region
The global rhetoric surrounding the role of private markets in the provision of new housing masks a more complex reality in which public policy and private developers are deeply enmeshed, … Continue reading
Urban world: The global consumers to watch
Until the turn of this century, population growth generated more than half of all global consumption. But between 2015 and 2030, three-quarters of global consumption growth will be driven by … Continue reading
Involuntary Resettlement
Report by the World Bank Inspection Panel. The report, which analyzed 22 years of complaints to the Inspection Panel by communities alleging they were harmed by bank projects, found that more … Continue reading
The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate
Typically, inequality is defined by a combination of economic measures referring to income and wealth. Entire populations, in the language of statistics, are measured and managed according to their place … Continue reading
Missing the Millennium Development Goal targets for water and sanitation in urban areas
David Satterthwaite – This paper reviews progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation in urban areas. Drawing on UN data, it shows the disastrous performance of many … Continue reading
Benchmarking future city-regions beyond nation-states
This paper argues that new city-regional configurations are emerging and establishing a regional order beyond nation-states, both as a consequence of certain nationalistic political devolution claims and due to the … Continue reading
The Death and Life of Great Italian Cities – A Mobile Phone Data Perspective
The Death and Life of Great American Cities was written in 1961 and is now one of the most influential book in city planning. In it, Jane Jacobs proposed four … Continue reading
A new urban agenda?
David Satterthwaite – Will Habitat III Get Buy-In From Local Actors? The text for what is termed “The New Urban Agenda” is being prepared for agreement by national government representatives … Continue reading
Reading Development 