cities
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The deadly spread of ebola in west Africa and the prolonged earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti were a wake up call for the international community: they must find a more effective way to tackle humanitarian crises in urban settings
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Leftover heritage or new developments in cities can sometimes stick out like sore thumbs. Share your photos of incongruous city buildings with GuardianWitness
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The richest and poorest residents of Argentina’s capital are separated by the walls of gated communities. When heavy rains in 2013 left those outside the barriers vulnerable to severe flooding, their only hope was to tear them down
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As Rotterdam becomes the latest city to unveil its resilience strategy, Athlyn Cathcart-Keays looks at how the port of Vejle – the ‘Manchester of Denmark’ – came to create its own roadmap for future survival and growth
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Photographer and activist Richard Nickel spent much of his life battling to preserve Chicago’s diverse architecture. His death, while trying to save remnants of its Stock Exchange building, gave him ‘an almost mythic status’ in the city
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As activists demand President Maduro’s removal, his natural supporters are joining protests against shortages and high prices
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Migrants fleeing war in the Middle East have brought new culture and a trade revival to Malmö
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City links: The art of procrastination, skyway urbanism, lost Tokyo designs and how to move a city feature in this week’s roundup of best urban stories
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While Myanmar comes to terms with huge political changes and a flood of foreign investment, life on the streets of the old capital goes on. David Levene documents the people of Yangon
in depth
the big picture
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When it opened in 1955, the Grande Hotel in the Indian Ocean city of Beira was one of the most luxurious in Africa. Photojournalist Fellipe Abreu documents the lives of the 3,500 people who now fill this long-closed hotel to capacity
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In today’s cities, a failure of any sort can be ‘on the scale of major natural disasters’. So a new online tool hopes to help urban leaders across the world understand their vulnerabilities – and make better decisions for the future
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The Catalan capital’s radical new strategy will restrict traffic to a number of big roads, drastically reducing pollution and turning secondary streets into ‘citizen spaces’ for culture, leisure and the community
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Twenty-five years after it opened, Kenya has announced its third biggest ‘city’, the Dadaab refugee complex, is to be shut down. But for many residents, this sprawling slum in an inhospitable desert is the only home they know
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Images of the devastated Canadian city show just how destructive fire can be to urban populations. But the risk is greatest in informal settlements, where high population density and low-grade construction can be a deadly combination
talking points
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The foundation of al-Mansur’s ‘Round City’ in 762 was a glorious milestone in the history of urban design. It developed into the cultural centre of the world
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get involved
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From tackling isolation in Leicester to better footpaths in Dhaka, you shared your experiences of how cities could be improved for older generations
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To kick off our collaboration with the Young Urbanists, quizmaster Rob Cowan tests your city knowledge with questions straight from the group’s pub quiz
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Refuge cities Europe continues to be gripped by a refugee crisis, but forced migration is happening all around the world. We want to hear your first-hand accounts of migrating to a new city and how you’ve been received
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Readers from Istanbul, London, San Jose, Montreal, Newcastle and Buenos Aires share their experiences of neighbourhood change over the decades
in pictures
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Cities around the world have been designing outdoor gyms and play areas for older generations to improve fitness and wellbeing. Even non-specialist playgrounds are getting multi-generational. Play’s not just for kids...
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A new project by photographer Rory Gardiner and studio esinam highlights the subtle beauties hidden beneath the hard surface of London’s oft-maligned brutalist buildings, from the Barbican to the National Theatre
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In Africa, the beautiful game isn’t confined to the stadium: from city roads to markets to beneath giant flyovers, football belongs everywhere
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The Tiber’s banks provide an isolated ecosystem in the centre of the Italian capital. Photographer Luigi Pastoressa documents a riverside used by cyclists and street vendors, homeless people and artists, drug addicts and fishermen
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Urban growth, sporting events, financial crashes and political turmoil have left a trail of city airports and airfields deserted around the globe. While some lie abandoned or face redevelopment, others are being creatively reused
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Photographer Laurent Kronental spent four years documenting the lives of older citizens living in the Grands Ensembles housing estates built around Paris after the second world war for his Souvenir d’un Futur project
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Burma's bizarre capital: a super-sized slice of post-apocalypse suburbia
This article is 1 year old
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