Pedestrians and public transport share 20% of the street, while personal cars occupy the majority of the roadway. Can it be different? Ruxandra Aelenei, lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam, spoke about active mobility and the constraints in the revolution of how the car is perceived in the city. If we think …
UrbanizeHub encourages public initiatives and challenges the people to come up with solutions for better cities. We present in this article the projects proposed during the Urban Innovation Hackathons, a contest organized in two important Romanian cities, and we hope that more people will participate in our future hackathons. Between October and November, UrbanizeHub implemented …
We cannot talk energy without constantly looking to the world’s leading economies and trying to understand their course of action. In this case, Germany represents Europe’s largest and most performing economy, an economy that has set out to switch to renewable energy in the near future. For the first time, renewable sources of energy overtook …
People engagement is such a trendy word. While it is a powerful tool to get people think and reflect on things of great significance, of things that matter to the city, the country and the international community, it is not a run-of-the-mill stuff that one can easily execute. Why is it so hard to engage …
There are two governance reforms that are becoming rapidly important in the area of governance across different countries as they serve as valuable channels to enhance transparency, openness, integrity, accountability and civic participation in cities, to wit: open data movement and the civic tech movement. The open data movement is a recent form of social …
We are all familiar with the catch-phrase “Think global, act local”. This remarkable TED Talk (found below) is the perfect representation of that, placed in a larger frame that Majora Carter calls “local eco-entrepreneurship”. She argues for smart infrastructure, for healthy local economic systems and for “hometown security”, using the example of three practical visionaries across …
Governments are not set up for rapid change. By implementing collaborative planning strategies or collaborative rationality, there is an opportunity for sustainable governance. Utilizing collaborative planning strategies, decisions are made through the interaction of various stakeholders to reach a decision regarding the problems that exist within a system. In order to reach a consensus, cohesive …
Most people are familiar with traditional forms of giving and philanthropy. On a small level this might look like volunteering work hours and donating a percentage of your income to a charity or nonprofit of your choice. On a larger scale we see philanthropy take shape through foundations and corporate giving. They are models that …
Public space quality represents one of many criteria showing that Romania’s cities are lagging compared to Western cites. Public space, an essential part of every city that according to UN-Habitat should cover at least 30% of its total surface, has a central role when it comes to the success of already famous cities such as …
‘Inside Out’ is a global participatory art project ‘with the potential to save the world’. Inspired by creator JR’s large‐format street “pastings”, the project gives everyone the opportunity to share their large-scale portrait and make a statement about the things they care about. It is a global platform for people to share their untold stories …