Latest news

How truly public are our public spaces? 🏙️ In this episode, we take a look at the rise of ‘defensive urbanism’ in our cities and ask what it would take to stop designing people out of public space and start designing them back in. Take Folkets Park in Copenhagen, for example. Instead of resorting to hostile architecture, they designed a welcoming space for their diverse community.    It’s not just about ordering a swing or benches on the internet; it’s about a deep commitment to connecting with the people who call the area home. As Kenneth A. Balfelt, the visual artist behind the project, puts it: „We defined that we took the job to create more love and community. And not for the commercial aspect of it.“ 💬 @kennethbalfeltteam Curious to learn more? 🎧 Tune in to the CityChangers.org Podcast: 🩷 #linkinbio 💚

🎧New @citychangersorg podcast episode out! #linkinbio

✨UNVEILING ✨ 4 TRACKS FOR EUROPE’S BETTER-CITIES EVENT! Let us give you a taste of what Urban Future in Łódź has to offer. Between May 21-23, 2025, we’ll share countless inspiring stories on transforming cities for the better. They will be based on the following four main themes 👇 🩷 1. Urban Regeneration 🩷 2. Sustainable Business 🩷 3. Retrofitting Buildings 🩷 4. Driving Change  DO YOU 🫵 WANT TO BE PART OF IT? Awesome! Share with us: 💛 projects, places or people to highlight, 💛 experiences or great stories to tell, 💛 networks of change-makers to get involved, 💛 events to be combined as a side events or field trips. Reach out to hello@urban-future.org or use the form #linkinbio👆 Looking for the full Flavour Programme? #linkinbio👆 Let’s collaborate for a massive impact in Łódź in May! 💪🏽 Are you in? #UF25 | The Better-Cities Event 🇵🇱 Łódź, Poland 📅 May 21-23, 2025

🌊🐄 Floating cows? - Yes, that’s a thing in #Rotterdam.  It could almost be a chapter from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: self-milking cows that live on water and eat beery leftovers, enjoy a cool sea breeze and time in their very own playground. This is life on Floating Farm Rotterdam. The cows‘ job is to educate city dwellers about where food comes from, to provide fresh, healthy produce, and - get this! - to help the city reduce its carbon emissions. 🥛🧀 They have some help. Minke van Wingerden helps run the farm and explains how it makes efficient use of space and improves urban food security by producing foodstuff closer to consumers. And it’s not only the cows who are happy about it! Rotterdam’s floating farm has become a hub for the local community too. For some of them, it’s home from home. “I love the stories people like to share on the terrace,“ Minke says. „Food brings people together.” If you’ve attended the Field Trip at #UF24 you’ve already experienced it on your own. If not, catch up on the full story #linkinbio👆 🐮🐮🐮

Proven: food waste = bad for the planet. ❌ The food industry produces so much CO2 that it directly impacts climate change.📈🌎   But not all food can be eaten. What then?  We need to find other uses for #foodwaste.    The urban-rural partnership of @cityofguelph and Wellington county in Canada have done just that… They’ve developed a system for creating circular meals. Top-quality nosh, grown entirely from local food waste byproducts. Yes! 👏🏼 Products like: ⁃ used grain from a brewery, which feeds flies that become food for fish, which produce fertiliser for a potato farm.  ⁃ Or spent yeast from a local lab that goes into bread at a Guelph bakery.   Cutting waste and costs caused a 50% increase in food security - giving local people better access to the #nutrition they need. 🥒🍽️   Barbara Swartzentruber says it’s been a success because the city and businesses have learnt to cooperate. She shares her advice for other cities wanting to create a #circular, urban food waste system.  👉🏽 Check it out on @citychangersorg at #linkinbio

Urban Regeneration initiatives provide a chance to transform stagnant cities into places where people thrive. 💪🏾   It takes vision, hard graft, and considerable investment.  If places are going to return to - or exceed - their former glory, all of this is needed and more. Truro in the UK is a town characterised by an ageing population, but it’s is reemerging from its socio-economic slump and attracting young people back. 🔙   How?   Urban density is improving liveability with: 🟢 new and affordable housing,  🟢 sustainable transport infrastructure, 🟢 a business and innovation centre, and 🟢 public spaces for social gatherings, greenery, and cultural celebration.   “The vision is to offer new ways of living, learning, working, and playing,” says Luis Obregon. It’s a lot of work, but well worth the effort.  “You will have a failing place and an infrastructure that is just going to derail if you don’t invest in it.”   Most encouraging of all: the public sector taking the lead!   👉🏼 Read this @citychangersorg story about reversing the decline of former commercial and industrial hubs at: #linkinbio

Curiosity. Tenacity. Positivity.  Our crowd of 100 #CityChangers in Łódź on Friday embodied just that! 💛    Huge shoutout to the inspiring speakers who helped kick off #UF25: Hanna Zdanowska | Karolina Taczalska | Michał Piernikowski | Adam Pustelnik | Anna Wierzbicka | Maciej Riemer | Gerald Babel-Sutter      We are now gathering all people, businesses, NGOs and cities who are making cities more sustainable. Want to create #UF25 together with us? Reach out to our team to get involved! 🫶 hello@urban-future.org or #linkinbio   💪🏽 Transforming cities takes grit and patience. Let’s do it together

Urban future kick-off event in Łódź! 💛 100 enthusiastic citychangers in one place, ready to make a difference in May at #UrbanFuture 2025 Are you in? Get involved: #linkinbio

💥 Yesterday we kicked things off for #UF25! Around 100 local #CityChangers in Łódź, including Mayor Hanna Zdanowska, gathered to share stories and thoughts about what will make #UrbanFuture 2025 a hit. What a great spirit! 💛 A special “thank you” to these incredible change-makers who took the stage last night: Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Łódź; Invest in Łódź Karolina Taczalska, CEO of Design Lab Group Michał Piernikowski, Director of Łódź Design Festival Adam Pustelnik, Deputy Mayor of Łódź Anna Wierzbicka, PhD, Director of Environment Management Division, Łódź City Office Maciej Riemer, Director of the Ecology and Climate Department, Łódź City Office Gerald Babel-Sutter, Ceo and Co-Founder of Urban Future QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have a challenge: each of you need to invite at least 3 people to come to Lodz. If they come, the satisfaction will be guarenteed!” -Anna Wierzbicka During the #UrbanFuture conference week, Łódź is eager to share its knowledge on transformation, urban regeneration, retrofitting and creative city building while discovering new ideas from other cities. Will you be there? 🇵🇱 Łódź, Poland 📅 May 21-23 Want to get involved? Reach out to our team today if you want to become part of the UF25 programme. 🫶 #linkinbio

Our team made it to #Lodz! Were discovering the beauty of Europe’s “last undiscovered city,” even in this Fall weather! ☁️🍂 It’s truly gorgeous here. We’re now ready to kick things off today for #UrbanFuture 2025! Stay tuned! 👀

Holistically getting food from farm to fork...🍴   Urban food systems are linked to climate change and problems with biodiversity, public health & more. This could be solved with transitions towards #sustainable urban food systems.    But how? 🤔   The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact has developed a framework of actions & interventions in collaboration with almost 300 international cities, benefitting almost 500 million citizens. 💫  Now it’s ready to roll out everywhere else.   Food Trails supports municipalities to interpret and implement this guidance, and Siobhan Maderson has kindly written an easy-access guide to the main learnings for @citychangersorg. Main takeaways: ⚪ investing in staff training is a key part of the process. ⚪ embedding good food practices in policy & procurement processes helps them remain even after a change in political leadership. ⚪ food education programmes for young people tackle root causes of unsustainable and unhealthy eating. ⚪ reducing food waste in the commercial sector provides bigger rewards than in the domestic market.   👉🏾 More on these ideas and the tools for change can be found at #linkinbio

🌿 Community farms and gardens help us to get outside, get our fingers dirty, and grow food locally - together. 🙌🏽   So, rather than building on vacant plots in cities, why not think about the community? Why not make a veggie garden?🐝🪴🐌 An enterprising group of residents, calling themselves East New York Farms!, started that way: by stepping in to grow veggies on land left empty by demolished buildings. @enyfarms Done originally to provide residents with fresh food, it’s delivered so much more:  ▪safe public spaces ▪income for residents ▪activities that engage local young people - including paid internships! 🍋🥬 Each veggie garden is an oasis of calm and cohesion, says Iyeshima Harris - Ouedraogo , MPA. “It’s about using food as a vehicle to bridge and build and strengthen communities, and allowing for those within their community to give back to each other and rely on each other.” 👉🏾 Check this @citychangersorg story out now! #linkinbio