Networks and cities' news

A "City Oasis" for Prešov

An open call to re-imagine an abandoned green area in a key spot of the Slovakian city

The future of Welcoming International Talents

Our URBACT project is in the last phase, soon it will be over. However, this should not mean that cities (partners and others) should stop with welcoming internationals. Text by the project lead partner, Jan Kees Kleuver.

Designing the neighbourhood of the XXI century, through strategic innovation

“It could be that the neighbourhood, not the individual, is the essential unit of social change. If you’re trying to improve lives, maybe you have to think about changing many elements of a single neighborhood, in a systematic way, at a steady pace.” – David Brooks

HEALTHY CITIES: Bridging Urban Planning and Health

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO PLAN AND DESIGN OUR CITIES FOR HEALTH

Almost all urban planning policies and actions have an impact on human health. Do you cycle or drive to work? Do you connect with your community or commute through it? And when you’re feeling stressed, is it easy to go for a calming stroll in a green space? All too often, when people hear health policy, they think hospitals. But health is holistic, with the design of our urban environment feeding into whether and how often populations need those hospitals. Urban planners select locations, design spaces, and place services, and there’s ample scientific evidence to indicate these factors have a big impact on health. ISGLOBAL has identified air pollution, noise, heat, and lack of physical activity or natural space as health hazards presented by city living (see figure 1). Good urban planning, however, can not only mitigate the impact of those hazards, but also become a tool for generating health.

EAT MAKE PLAY: A community enterprise that promotes participation and local trading for the benefit of the community

Traditionally, we see mediators as people/organisations external to the conflict. What if it were done differently? If the center point of mediation were within the community itself?

Delivering Socially Responsible Regeneration and Procurement

Over the course of 2 and half years, Urban Regeneration Mix Transfer Network has been seeking to enable a new approach to urban regeneration. Framed by the good practice , the network has sought to influence the process of regeneration so that it includes greater community involvement and engagement, so that it brings social and environmental benefits, and so that it challenges the orthodoxy of the way in which regeneration has been undertaken historically in a European context.