Tag Archives: Cities

Seraphim Alvanides, Northumbria University, Newcastle; Isabelle Buchstaller, University of Duisburg-Essen, and Malgorzata Fabiszak, Adam Mickiewicz University Across eastern Europe, the addresses of Russian embassies are being changed as a form of protest against the war in Ukraine. In the Latvian capital, Riga, the section of Antonijas Street where the Russian embassy is located is set to be renamed Ukrainian Independence …

Johannes Novy, University of Westminster When COVID hit the Netherlands in 2020, Amsterdam emptied of visitors overnight. Long-term residents, inured to the permanent noise and litter and tourists peeing in the streets, welcomed the newfound tranquillity. The pandemic, they told the Washington Post, was “a blessing in disguise”. COVID has offered a rare, if not unique chance to address tourism’s …

Changsha Meixihu Culture and Arts Centre, in Hunan province, China. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in 2019. Jason_x.j / Shutterstock.com Lakshmi Priya Rajendran, Anglia Ruskin University In the five years since Zaha Hadid’s passing, much has been written about the glorious and towering legacy the fabled British-Iraqi architect left behind. Thinking about what she started, though, is more instructive. Born …

The city of Homs has been ravaged by war, leaving millions of people homeless and displaced. Abduljalil Achraf, Author provided Ammar Azzouz, University of Oxford Abduljalil sent me a photo of his ruined home in Homs, Syria. “It is the third floor”, he told me over WhatsApp. The building still stands but it looks like an empty skeleton. Most of …

Matt Gush/Shutterstock.com Paul Dobraszczyk, UCL Carry out a Google image search of the phrase “28 Days Later” and among the many stills and publicity images for the 2002 horror film, one will find a scattering of photographs of London taken during the first COVID-19 lockdown in late March and early April 2020. At that time, some Londoners described the emptiness …

Tungphoto/Shutterstock.com Nick Dunn, Lancaster University As the coronavirus pandemic has moved around the world, cities have gone into lockdown and people have been encouraged to stay at home. In many places, curfews have been introduced. Back in spring under the first UK lockdown, I went on numerous night walks in my home city of Manchester. I was struck by several …

Coyotes and other wildlife are making backyards and urban communities part of their homes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Silvio Santos Lauren E. Van Patter, Queen’s University, Ontario It’s a common story in many North American cities: a coyote is seen on an urban trail, sports field or schoolyard. Members of the public panic, insisting that the proximity or frequency of these sightings …

Herders at the N’gonga cattle market, Niger: Changing rainfall patterns alter locations of pastures the migrating herders depend on. Getty Images Roman Hoffmann, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research The link between climate change and migration has gained both academic and public interest in recent years. Many studies have found that environmental hazards affect migration. But the links are nuanced …

Álvaro Cuéllar Jaramillo, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya A la maltrecha salud del medioambiente provocada por la vertiginosa crisis climática y un sistema productivo, energético y de consumo enfermo, se suma la actual crisis sanitaria. En el modelo urbano mediterráneo, denso y compacto, estos problemas se acrecientan por la falta de espacio libre. Comparado con la ciudad jardín, muestra más dificultades …

Lakshmi Priya Rajendran, Anglia Ruskin University India’s coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people is unprecedented in size and scope, particularly in a country where city streets are so thronged with life in all its guises. After an initial three-week shutdown, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced the lockdown would be extended until May 3. Mobility data from Google published …