News

04.04.2008
Chávez is working on socialist cities masterplan
Venezuela's president Chávez is working on a masterplan to build five 'socialist cities' in the country, that will provide nearly 75.000 homes. The first city, Caribia, just outside Caracas, is intended as a utopia of sorts, where all resident will p...read more

03.04.2008
Ledra street crossing opens in Cyprus
Ledra Steet, once one of the most important shopping street of Nicosia's historic city centre, has been reopened today. The street has long been a symbol of the decades-old conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and their divided capita...read more

03.04.2008
Manhattan apartment prices hit record
While most of the United States plods through a housing slowdown, Manhattan is experiencing its highest prices in history. The average price of a Manhattan apartment in the first three months of this year was $1.7 million dollars, up 33.5 percent fro...read more

03.04.2008
Ecological footprint of a city does not coincide with its geographic footprint
Over the past 20 years, urban planners, geographers, and environmentalists have pointed out the problems associated with sprawl development -  from traffic congestion to a spatial mismatch between where people live and where jobs are located to the h...read more

02.04.2008
Maltese mayors empowered to perform civil marriages
A legal notice published on March 7 now allows mayors in Malta to perform civil marriages. This novelty is mainly applicable to Maltese couples interested in civil marriage only, and not to those getting married in church. In Malta, the Catholic wedd...read more

02.04.2008
Water cuts hit Cypriot towns
Nearly seven years after the last water cuts were lifted, Cypriot households today entered another bleak period of severe water restrictions due to the continuing drought in the country. The Nicosia Water Board was the first to switch off the water s...read more

02.04.2008
Nuselský Bridge – The end of the suicide legend
Nuselský Bridge in Prague has long been famous for its suicidal history. The Prague City Council however did not accept the bridge's reputation and looked for ideas to prevent people from being able to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge. Nine m...read more

02.04.2008
Catholic Church in Brussels rents apartments to poor families
The Catholic Church in Brussels has been found to rent empty church buildings to poor families on a regular basis. About thirty buildings in the city now serve as homes for families.read more

27.03.2008
“The Imagine methodology allows cities to work on their own perceptions of sustainability”
“The Imagine methodology allows cities to work on their own perceptions of sustainability,” says Simon Bell, director of Bayswater Institute. The Institute helps organisations to integrate human and social considerations with economic, structural and...read more

26.03.2008
Learning from losers: the benefits of studying worst practices
Everyone is interested in best practices and indeed, much can be learned from them. However, in their article 'learning from losers', Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, make a case for the establishment of a centre to study worst practice. "There ...read more

20.03.2008
CEMR calls for better coordination of sustainable urban mobility
On March 17 the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) published its response to the consultation on the European Commission's green paper 'Towards a new culture for urban mobility' of September 2007. The CEMR agrees that the EU should...read more

20.03.2008
Mayor sets out his priorities for women at London Capital Woman event
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone underlined his top priorities for London’s 3.1 million women at the Capital Woman conference that took place on Saturday March 8th. Proposed action includes a new initiative for safer street lights, more policing ...read more

18.03.2008
The 25 dirtiest cities in the world
Many cities will be happy to be on 'top 25' lists, but in this case, reactions might be less cheerful. On the basis of the 2007 Health and Sanitation Rankings published by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Forbes magazine identified the top 25 of the...read more

17.03.2008
Moscow and Istanbul 2008's top real estate markets in Europe
According to the real estate forecast 'Emerging trends in real estate Europe 2008', conducted by the Urban Land Institute (UIL) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Moscow and Istanbul are ranked first and second respectively among this year's top real estate...read more

12.03.2008
"The supply of social housing does not meet changing demand across Europe"
"The supply of social housing does not meet changing demand across Europe", says Darinka Czischke, research director at Cecodhas, the European Liaison Committee for Social Housing. Since 2004 Czischke has been responsible for the development of the C...read more

07.03.2008
Suburbs may be the next slums
As urban living in the United States has gained increased popularity, experts predict that many suburbs will become characterised by poverty, crime and decay in the near future. While cities declined in the 1960s due to a loss of inhabitants to the w...read more

06.03.2008
Second Istanbul to minimise earthquake damage?
Istanbul is a city which faces a high earthquake risk. Because of its location near the North Anatolian fault line, several earthquakes have hit the city over the centuries, and another major one is expected to strike the city region by 2025. Making ...read more

26.02.2008
“Local governments increasingly have to function within a multi-level European environment"
“Local governments increasingly have to function within a multi-level European environment”. As a result, new modes of co-operation, co-ordination and interaction between local, national and European authorities are needed. Prof. Dr. Joachim J. Hesse...read more

22.02.2008
Plastic bags under control?
ACR+, the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable Resource management, has published the 2008 update of its report entitled " Plastic Bags - Policies and Practices to Reduce Consumption". The report, first issued in January 20...read more

22.02.2008
UN launches public transport campaign
Public transport operators are teaming up with the United Nations in a campaign to encourage people to leave their cars at home and take the bus, metro, train or tram instead. The International Association of Public Transport (UITP ) and the United N...read more