How to adapt our cities to better cope with unpredictable weather has shifted up the list of priorities for urbanists in recent years. One of the latest ideas comes from Copenhagen: officials in the Nørrebro neighbourhood have installed a 50-metre experimental stretch of perforated pavement that distributes excess water to nearby plants (any surplus is stored until it evaporates). The ‘Climate Tile’, as it’s known, has been created by Danish urban-design studio Third Nature and will be unveiled on Thursday. The nifty creation has a 50-year lifespan and can also be used for roofing, where it redirects rainwater to storage tanks. This isn’t a miraculous solution for climate change but it’s a step in the right direction and sure to get other ideas flowing.

World leaders are due to gather in New York today for the UN General Assembly’s general debate. Amid the cluster of prime ministers and presidents there is one making his debut on the world stage: Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel, who arrived on Sunday for his first official trip to the US. The General Assembly takes place amid worsening relations between the US and its old Cold War adversary. With the US economic blockade still firmly in place, Díaz-Canel will be looking to make new friends in New York. “Díaz-Canel knows that he isn’t going to get any kind of easing of the US line,” Scott Lucas, professor of American studies at the University of Birmingham tells The Briefing. “He will be talking to other states to try and forge new economic and political links.” Whether many will be keen to invoke the ire of the US president by dealing with Cuba, is another matter.