cities
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'There is no escape': Nairobi's air pollution sparks Africa health warningPollution in the Kenyan capital is ‘beyond imagination’. With Africa’s predicted rise in population – and a constant stream of dirty secondhand cars from Europe and Japan – this urban health crisis could kill 1.5 million within a generation
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'It's Prozac in city form': Canadians on the issues facing their citiesThroughout Guardian Canada week, current and former residents shared their perspectives on life in Canadian cities, from street hockey and multiculturalism to the challenges of urban sprawl and unaffordable housing -
The city that declared war on urban sprawlCalgary is like any other Canadian city that grew outwards, not upwards. But led by progressive mayor Naheed Nenshi, the oil-rich, car-friendly city has become an unlikely leader in the battle to limit urban sprawl -
Gundam trashes Edmonton: how the city became worthy of being blown upForget New York, let alone Tokyo: the wildly popular Japanese anime show Mobile Suit Gundam has rather bizarrely chosen quiet Edmonton, Alberta as the backdrop for its two-part season finale
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How hot Chinese money is making Vancouver unlivableAfter Canada’s ugly episode of racism in the early 20th century, Vancouverites feel uneasy talking about how this beautiful but unassuming city became one of the world’s least affordable: an unprecedented flood of capital from China
the big picture
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South Africa's apartheid legacy photographed by droneJohnny Miller used a drone to take aerial photographs of the gulf in living conditions for the poor and the wealthy in South Africa
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The 40-year hangover: how the 1976 Olympics nearly broke MontrealThe Montreal Olympics left the city with a C$1.6bn debt, a string of corruption scandals, and a creeping sense of economic and social decline. Forty years on, how did the city survive?
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Welcome to the new Toronto: the most fascinatingly boring city in the worldFrom the endless scandals of Rob Ford to the endless hits of Drake, Stephen Marche reveals the secret of his hometown’s transformation into the 21st century’s great post-industrial city
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10-year-old girl wins fellowship to 'make the sad streets of Paris happy again'City links: Street art robots, a map tracing Barcelona’s history and ‘peak LA juice bar’ all feature in this week’s best city stories from around the globe
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Mexico City from a wheelchair: 'There's no second chance on these streets'Abraham Plaza is on a mission to break down the countless barriers – physical, mental and social – that make daily life in Mexico City so tough for people with disabilities. But with the help of an alliance of NGOs, he finally sees signs of hope
in depth
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Superblocks to the rescue: Barcelona’s plan to give streets back to residentsThe 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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get involved
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Share ideas for what we should cover nextFrom filling billboards to mapping a whole city, readers and their experiences have played a huge role in the development of Guardian Cities. But what stories are we missing, and how can we improve? Share your ideas and suggestions
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Your pictures of incongruous city buildingsNew developments, and the historic buildings they dwarf, can look out of place as the cityscape evolves. Our readers shared their pictures of the conflict between old and new in cities around the world – from Aberdeen to Zagreb
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Can you identify the city from the blank street map?Gretchen Peterson’s City Maps: A Coloring Book for Adults will no doubt take up all of an urban geek’s spare time, but can you recognise the cities from the book’s maps showing only outlines?
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Your tales of urban lonelinessA new report suggests life in big cities can make people feel more lonely. We asked you to share your stories, and heard experiences of both alienation and connection from Berlin to Vancouver
in pictures
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No vacancies: life in Mozambique's abandoned Grande HotelWhen 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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America's longest strike: the last gasp of Brooklyn's Domino Sugar FactoryFor 148 years the factory employed thousands of immigrants. When Williamsburg began to transform, as Lucio Zago tells in his forthcoming graphic novel Williamsburg Shorts, the workers weren’t going down without a fight
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Playgrounds for the elderlyCities 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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The heritage of London's brutalist architectureA 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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Street football in Africa: flyovers and floating schoolsIn 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 hidden life of Rome's Tiber riverThe 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
you may have missed
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Is Morrissey's city still recognisable?Thirty years on from The Smiths’ only UK No 1 studio album, how do the band’s legendary evocations of 1980s Manchester compare with life in the city today? There’s only one place to start …
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Affordable housing quotas get waived and the interests of residents trampled as toothless authorities bow to the dazzling wealth of investors from Russia, China and the Middle EastThe truth about property developers: how they are exploiting planning authorities and ruining our cities
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Rumble in the Jungle: 40 years on, Kinshasa is a city of chaosThe heavyweight world championship showdown between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman electrified a city full of pride and promise in the early years following independence – and then the money ran out …
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Timbuktu: portrait of a city on the edge of existenceWhat is life like in Mali’s ‘city in the middle of nowhere’? Guardian photographer Sean Smith recently spent a week there, meeting everyone from Timbuktu’s chief muezzin to its only DJ
Rio mayor Eduardo Paes: 'It's not the best moment to be in the eyes of the world'