Kurt Lin
Local authority
Be it Brazil or Beirut, effective urban regeneration needs ideas from residents who understand their city’s problems and potential. Here’s a global line-up of innovative citizen initiatives.
Business
The future of libraries, a canny way to navigate busy streets and the Taipei thoroughfare that's turned an entire district around.
Space race
We rarely notice street furniture, yet the design of chairs, bins and bike racks has a profound effect on our cities. We meet the designers enhancing our urban mood and surroundings.
Ask the experts
Auckland’s mayor, a Slovenian urban planner and Taiwan’s cycling maven all have one thing in common: they want to improve the way you get from A to B.
Shop, read, listen
Dutch fashion, Japanese wine and some sustainable ventures, plus smart reads and a few devilish accessories for your living room and kitchen.
The direct approach
Flying cars may ease congestion, but why not improve existing options? Here are our favourite simple solutions to get around – and between – our cities.
In full flow
Shiny new infrastructure projects are often for publicity. But as these five schemes show, the smartest planners present viable solutions to real problems – often without grabbing headlines.
City guide: Gwangju
Always a bastion of progressive thinking, South Korea’s sixth-largest city is now luring a youthful and innovative crowd to its attractive streets.
