Beyond the playground: how cities are reimagining spaces for kids
Author | Elvira Esparza It is not just declining birth rates that explain the absence of children in urban spaces. Cities are not designed with children in mind, limiting their opportunities for free play. However, some cities are launching initiatives to address this issue and create more outdoor spaces for children. Just a few years […]
Trees-as-Infrastructure: Ensuring Cool, Green and Resilient Cities
Trees-as-Infrastructure promotes a mission-driven approach to valuing urban nature as a vital, investable asset—treating trees as essential infrastructure for climate action.
Milton Keynes is testing driverless buses as part of its efforts to enhance urban mobility
Author | Raquel C. Pico One of the main challenges cities worldwide must address is the optimization of urban mobility. Modern transportation must respond to the growing demands of citizen mobility, the increasing urban population, and sustainability goals that call for green and clean transport solutions. The real challenge lies in how to achieve this. […]
Walking the walk: Central and Eastern European cities leading the way in active mobility
Western cities lead in active mobility, but Central and Eastern Europe are innovating with new infrastructure and culture for sustainable transport.
Paris has already cut its air pollution by half, but this is only the beginning
Author | Raquel C. Pico Air pollution remains one of the main challenges cities must address. Pollution has become an urban nightmare, directly affecting people’s health. It is linked to a rise in various illnesses and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, posing a threat to the planet and demanding urgent action. Major cities and State […]
The Sounds –or Noises– of Cities: Can Electric Mobility Make a City More Inclusive?
This is a guest post by Lucía Bellocchio, founder and executive director of Trend Smart Cities. Lucía has extensive experience working on urban innovation, and has written in leading media outlets in South America like La Nación, El Observador, Clarín or TN. A few weeks ago, while browsing a bookstore, I came across a children’s […]
Habitat 67: a brutalist icon where suburban home meets urban apartment
Author | Lucía Burbano Now that the polarizing brutalism has returned to the spotlight with the movie The Brutalist, we revisit an icon that epitomizes this functional, geometric architecture rooted in reinforced concrete: Habitat 67, located in Canada, stands proudly among the classics of brutalist architecture, rivaling icons like the Barbican in London, Las Torres […]
How Cities Are Placing People at the Center of Urban Mobility Transformations
What does it take for cities to create a true systems change that creates a holistic, positive shift of the entire urban system?
Cleaner, quieter, more affordable: How pneumatic waste collection works
Author | Elvira Esparza Can you imagine not waking up to the disruptive noise of a waste collection truck emptying bins in the middle of the night? In some cities, this is now possible thanks to the installation of underground pneumatic waste collection systems. This system not only minimizes noise but also helps keep streets […]
From Streets to Society: How Urban Planning is Shaping a Human-Centered Future
In recent years, urban planning has evolved significantly—from a car-centric model to a more human-centered approach. What has driven this transformation?