News

15.05.2008
Urban design competition for European District in Brussels
The Brussels’ Capital Region government has announced an international urban design competition to further develop the area surrounding the Rue de la Loi in the European District of Brussels. It wants to turn it into a mixed and multicultural area. A...read more

14.05.2008
How do you value a tree?
In the United Kingdom, the London Tree Officers’ Association (LTOA) was confronted with the axing of 40,000 of the capital’s trees in the past five years. It therefore devised a new pricing scheme to force people to think twice before chopping down t...read more

08.05.2008
“Quartiersmanagement has been a success story for many individuals”
“Quartiersmanagement has been a success story for many individuals”, says Thomas Knorr-Siedow of the Berlin-based ‘Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung (IRS). ‘Quartiersmanagement’ or neighbourhood management, is a special policy crea...read more

23.04.2008
“Prostitution policy is too morally charged”
“Prostitution policy is too morally charged”, Hendrik Wagenaar, associate professor at the Department of Public Administration at Leiden University states. According to him, prostitution policy is very much driven by emotional images. In his own rese...read more

21.04.2008
European Green Capital award scheme to be launched in Brussels
On 22 May 2008, DG Environment will launch the European Green Capital award scheme in Brussels. The award marks a city's wish and capability to solve environmental problems in order to both improve the quality of life of its citizens.and reduce the c...read more

14.04.2008
US housing market crisis is turning into a global phenomenon
In an article in the International Herald Tribune, Mark Landler illustrates how the US housing market crisis is turning into a global phenomenon. Previously souring markets in Europe such as Ireland, Spain and Britain are experiencing major downfalls...read more

09.04.2008
"The creative city...when do we actually get to see it?"
"We hear so much about the creative city, but when do we actually get to see it?", Scott Burnham, curator of Urban Play wonders. "Urban Play gives cities the opportunity to show the inherent creativity of its people." The Urban Play project is part o...read more

08.04.2008
European population generally agrees with EU's regional policy focus
According to a Eurobarometer survey, published on 7 March, a large majority of Europeans approve of the EU's regional policy focus on helping the bloc's poorest regions catch up with the rest of the EU, although citizens in the eastern and central Eu...read more

07.04.2008
21st century architects increasingly turning to planning
21st century architects are increasingly turning to planning. In her article 'Star Cities' for Architect Online, Joan Ockman identifies a new trend in architecture. She states that the world's best-known architects are ever more involved in planning ...read more

04.04.2008
US Local governments introduce a new employee: the sustainability director
In her article 'Mr. Sustainability' for Governing.com, Ellen Perlman describes how American cities are creating a new type of job. Now that global warming has become an increasingly important topic on the urban agenda, many local governments have sta...read more

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