Citychangers is a global knowledge hub to help you make cities sustainable. It invites mayors, experts, entrepreneurs, and passionate changemakers to enjoy curated content free of charge. With a the goal to speed up the process and give this rapidly growing community an additional home and created by Urban Future.
Urban Future is known for high-impact events, gathering thousands of changemakers from across the globe to share their experience in making cities sustainable. Feeling frustrated that this exchange of knowledge was limited to one single annual conference, the team decided to create a home base where this global community of more than 30,000 CityChangers and 300+ organizations share their experiences 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
“We want to provide a global stage to share the experiences of those who are at the forefront of transforming cities.” Gerald Babel-Sutter, CEO of Urban Future. CityChangers.org is an online resource hub, designed for those who want to drive sustainable change in cities. It provides inspiration, advice on how to start a transformation process, learnings on what you’re getting into, and details on how to avoid the mistakes already made by others. It is also a global network where you can connect with those who have already done what you are planning.
Solving an existential crisis
“We as humans are in an existential crisis. Climate change, pollution, overpopulation, destruction of ecosystems – you name it. We are risking nothing less than our existence. But while we keep hearing bad news every day, there are so many people in thousands of cities that do amazing things to master a turnaround,” says Gerald Babel- Sutter, CEO of Urban Future. “I believe these experiences are critical to increasing the speed of transformation.”
The purpose of CityChangers.org is to speed up urban transformation by sharing what works, and what doesn’t, in driving change. People interested in urban change will find and share know-how on making it happen in fields such as mobility, real estate, construction, waste, decarbonization, and climate action, with many more to come in the following months.
Now live
At the website you can find some live examples of what Citychangers do:
Join host Mikael Colville-Andersen on his travels around the world to meet some of the most passionate CityChangers right where the magic is happening: on the bike, in front of city hall, or on public transport. From the streets of Milan to the cable cars of Medellín, get inspired by a grassroot activist, a district mayor, a former chief city planner, and a chief resilience officer.
Jim Walker from WALK21 and Mário Alves from the International Federation of Pedestrians are here to clear the air on pedestrian safety and give some insight into why and how to make cities pedestrian-friendly.
Whether you live close to the equator or high up in the North: the climate is always contributing to whether people decide to take the car or the bicycle. The unwillingness to cycle when it is too hot or too cold is a mindset that many experts are trying to get rid of. But what is it like to cycle in Singapore with an average temperature of over 28 degrees? And what can we learn from Oulu, Finland, with up to minus 30 degrees in Winter?
Coproduction
The content has been developed with many of the most passionate urban shapers and organizations, those who are leading and pioneering transformation in cities around the world. An editorial team has gathered data for more than a year, conducted around 100 or more interviews with inspiring CityChangers, and worked through thousands of pages of project reports, books, and transcripts.
“Hundreds of actors in Europe create know-how on urban sustainability ”, says Gerald. “The problem is that the content gets lost in piles of reports, in closed hubs, or is too
overwhelming,” he continues. “Our editorial team has distilled relevant, actionable information in a way that not only speaks to experts, but also has a focus on the ‘how
to implement’ factor.”
