A guide to 15-minute cities: why are they so controversial?

Why has the 15-minute city urban planning concept become the centre of heated debate, controversy and conspiracy theories? According to research by TUC, the average person spends 59 minutes travelling…

What is urban greening (and how is it creating the cities of the future)?

Urban greening isn’t just making the cities of the future green – it’s helping them become sustainable, too. Here’s how. The built environment is at a crossroads. As a sector,…

What are smart cities (and are they the future of the built environment)?

Are smart cities another marketing buzzword in the built environment, or are they really the future of our urban infrastructure? You may well have heard of smart homes and smart…

Mastering the art of master planning

Could master planning help us mitigate climate change and combat increasing urbanisation, overpopulation and urban sprawl? Despite accounting for less than 2% of the Earth’s surface area, cities are currently…

What’s going on with China’s ghost cities?

Are China's empty cities and municipalities a rare phenomenon or a sign of things to come for urban planning in the built environment? Ghost towns are a phenomenon that have…

Circular cities 101: how do they work?

Applying the circular methodology to our urban planning and infrastructure could be an effective way to reduce the built environment's contribution to the climate crisis. Despite accounting for less than…

Why is the traffic in my city so bad?

It’s not just bad weather, car accidents and roadworks – there’s a bigger reason why the traffic in your city is getting worse. For most people, traffic is simply a…

How can we deal with urban sprawl?

Urban sprawl is significantly impacting society, the economy and the environment. Here’s why (and how) urban planners should address it. The human race is growing exponentially. In November 2022, the…

What on earth are sponge cities?

The concept of ‘sponginess’ has emerged in the urban planning discourse in recent years, but what does it actually mean? As the 2050 target of achieving net zero approaches, the…

Green infrastructure, defined: how could it help us solve the climate crisis?

Could incorporating green spaces into natural environments help planners balance sustainability and continued development of infrastructure? As the global population continues to grow, so does the housing crisis. This need…

All buildings great and small: the spectacular rise of tiny homes

What are tiny homes, and why is this radical approach to homeowning starting to pick up momentum and popularity in the UK? The UK is currently experiencing a housing crisis,…

Sexism and the city: are buildings and cities sexist?

It’s not just in employee demographics that the built environment is short of female representation – it’s in the planning and designs of our buildings and cities, too. It’s a…