Hana Grgić of Political Critique reveals how the Urban Alternatives online mapping cooperation came into being. Cities are the scene of resistance, innovation and alternatives: the place where social protests erupt and mutual cooperation unfolds, where street mobilisations and cultural creation and productive innovations emerge. The online map Urban Alternatives emerged from the cooperation between […]
Posts Tagged ‘Innovation’
Mapping Urban Alternatives collaboratively
Online tools for urban practitioners
Political journalist, Jamie Mackay, takes a look at URBACT’s choice of digital tools, a fundamental part of how we work today. Innovation in urban development is first and foremost about people, about how citizens imagine the future of their local communities, and how specialists realise this. It is, by extension, a question of organisations, of […]
New urban planning: long-lasting innovation or just a temporary illusion? [PART 2]
Iván Tosics, URBACT Programme Expert from the Metropolitan Research Institut in Budapest asks whether new urban planning methods will stand the test of time. In the first part of this article, Ivan introduced the process of development of new public policies accross Europe and gave concrete examples of new urban policies and planning. The new […]
New urban planning: long-lasting innovation or just a temporary illusion? [PART 1]
Iván Tosics, URBACT Programme Expert from the Metropolitan Research Institut in Budapest asks whether new urban planning methods will stand the test of time. The Great Financial Crisis (economists talk about the crisis in capital letters) created a new situation: the severe changes in economic and financial conditions extorted the revision of existing public policies. […]
From Liveability to Lovability – The role of the placemaker in co-creating vibrant cities
Placemaking is a term that captures the collaborative process used to design and animate the public realm, and promote social and cultural life in the urban environment. Jan Gehl, the famous Copenhagen based urban designer, wrote about ‘Life between buildings’, and how quality public spaces connect people to the places they share, and enhance happiness, […]
Can Marshmallows Save Our Cities?
Spaghetti and Marshmallows…What could possibly go wrong? Ever tried balancing a marshmallow on the end of a stick of spaghetti? Neither had I until last week. Let me tell you that it’s harder than it looks – particularly when the spaghetti (spaghetto?) is balanced on top of a structure made up of other…spaghetti. By now […]
Smart City +…Turin’s Platform for Employee-Driven Innovation
Torino: Open to ideas Energy sensors to minimize power usage in public buildings; the adoption of virtual meetings to reduce staff travel time; and the establishment of a crack team to modernise local authority procurement methods. These were some of the winning ideas generated by local authority staff as part of Innova.TO, the city of […]
From Bologna to Europa: Relationships between Creative Industries & Local Authorities
How can a whole city be involved around the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship? During a transnational meeting of the URBACT project Creative SpIN in Bologna, the Municipality showed the impact of the long-standing interaction among local public administrations, entrepreneurs active in traditional sectors and cultural and creative enterprises. The visit exemplified the project’s process […]