Press release -
Comeback Cities and Green Revolutions: Urban Future 2025 Spotlights Transformation
Łódź, Poland | 21 May 2025 – This week, the city of Łódź is taking center stage in Europe’s urban conversation, as nearly 2,000 urban change-makers from more than 120 cities gather for Urban Future 2025 – Europe’s Better-Cities Event.
From May 21 to 23, the event showcases a bold truth: cities are not waiting for permission - they’re driving the biggest changes of our time.
“Łódź is a true comeback city,” said Adam Pustelnik, First Deputy Mayor of Łódź. “Once an industrial hub in decline, we’ve reinvented ourselves with ambition, green vision, and the courage to make hard choices. Hosting Urban Future here is a signal that transformation is possible anywhere.”
Some cities illustrate bold urban change. Like Paris, where dramatic measures to reduce cars and green the city have inspired global headlines.
“We’re seeing what happens when cities stop hesitating and start doing,” said Lily Munson, Secretary General of Villes Vivantes and former urban advisor in Paris. “To change urban space, you need a vision, but you also need to empower people to act upon their desires and projects. That’s what we help cities unlock at Villes Vivantes.”
Kicking off Urban Future, the press conference featured leading voices pushing for people-centered cities, like Ewelina Jaskulska, a Polish architect and researcher, who called for gender-sensitive urbanism: “Equity in cities is not only about recognizing different spatial experiences — it is, first and foremost, about redistributing spatial power. It means seeing those who have been unseen and representing the unrepresented. Equity demands that we design not just for those who produce and consume, but also for those who carry and care.”
“Urban Future is not about theory – it’s about action,” said Gerald Babel-Sutter, CEO and founder of the event. “We bring together doers from around the world – mayors, planners, activists – who are already making cities greener, fairer, and more liveable. Łódź is a perfect backdrop for that story.”
With dozens of hands-on sessions, field visits across Łódź, and global speakers from diverse places like Vienna, Copenhagen, Montreal, Vilnius, and Berlin, Urban Future 2025 is where the next big urban ideas are being born.
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At Urban Future you meet people who drive change to make our cities more sustainable. Be it mayors, architects, mobility experts, city planners, scientists, sustainability managers, representatives from start ups, environmentalists, innovation experts or others. What unites them is their passion for better cities.
