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Masdar City: A Zero Emissions City in the Desert
Oil‐rich Abu Dhabi is building a green metropolis. Should the rest of the world care? “If the Masdar project doesn’t justify itself financially, it could indeed be just a green playground for the rich, an environmental theme park that is largely irrelevant for the development of sustainable technology on a broader […]
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Slum Formation or Urban Innovation? – Migrant Communities and Social Change in Chinese Megacities
“China’s economic success over the last 20-30 years has been accompanied by rapid urbanisation based mainly on rural-to-urban migration flows. Many observers expect highspeed urbanisation and massive population redistribution to continue for another one or two decades. Nevertheless, China seeks and claims to be pursuing a process of urbanisation that […]
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The Self-Culturalisation of the City: On the Transformation of Modern Urbanity in the ‘Creative City’
“The expression creative city is on everyone‟s lips. If there has been talk of a „Renaissance in cities‟ since the 1990s, then at the interface of political, media and social science debates, this is regularly linked with the concept of the „creative city‟. From the widely discussed revitalisation of Berlin‟s […]
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A review of the main challenges to urban sustainability
Considering the existential threat that global warming poses to humanity, the current focus on climate change is undoubtedly justified. However, this should not overshadow the fact that sustainable development does not only end with environmental concerns but also covers social and economic domains that are mediated through physical spaces and […]
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Scientists from Germany and Korea work on creating green mega cities
New building concepts and IT solutions for the mega city Seoul are supposed to save energy, cut pollution and make living in the city a more pleasant experience. Read more