The Possible 09: Everything is connected. Climate change is revealing how closely
We are just starting to realize how profoundly cities impact life outside them. Let’s use these new insights to find a more sustainable balance
Trailing places: #4 Can we stimulate growth without major investment?
Decarbonization will mean doing everything differently. Policymakers and planners can use this momentum to unblock the potential of lagging regions
Trailing places: #3 Can the green transition save declining regions?
The zero-carbon economy will create new industrial heartlands — but sustainable growth depends on many other factors, too
Trailing places: #2 Why invest in transport where there’s no traffic?
It’s hard to justify new infrastructure in shrinking regions when there’s congestion elsewhere. So maybe we need to rethink how we calculate value
Trailing places: #1 Solving regional disparities
Within countries, the gulf between rich and poor regions has never been so wide. How can we arrest the decline of post-industrial areas, and stop major cities from sucking them dry?
Managing water: how digital twins reveal hidden leaks
Water infrastructure is often underground out of sight. New digital tools can make the invisible visible, and offer a solution to the perennial problem of leaking pipes
Water: climate change brings new risks for industry
Major users can no longer take water for granted. Climate change is forcing companies to confront an array of heightened risks — from shortages and flooding, to reputational damage and conflict with neighbours
Water: New Zealand applies Maori philosophy to 21st-century challenges
Aotearoa New Zealand is taking a radical approach to water management — based on Māori principles that prioritize the health of water above all other needs
The new shape of water: adapting to climate change
Climate change is altering rainfall patterns, and making both floods and drought more frequent and more extreme. To survive and thrive in the 21st century, we need to rethink our relationship with water and the way we manage this most precious of resources
A vanishing land: helping frontline communities plan for climate change
The Alaskan village of Shaktoolik is on the frontline of climate change, and the community faces a difficult decision. A risk assessment that combines traditional knowledge with advanced modelling aims to put them in control of their future
Five reasons why emerging economies don’t need to copy the West
Abul Mahdi of humanitarian architecture charity Article 25 on the importance of keeping things local
Dinner for 10 million
Our food system isn’t sustainable and it isn’t working. We urgently need to find new ways to feed fast-growing 21st century cities — or to help them feed themselves
Cities after Covid: Back to life
The lockdown experience has fundamentally changed the way that many of us relate to the built environment. Designers can make shared spaces safer — but can they make people feel safe again?
Modular buildings: movable, interchangeable, but are they flexible?
Additive architecture has a mixed history, and pods are not exactly suited to creating open spaces, but plug-in buildings may offer other advantages
Adaptable secrets of (very) old buildings
Heritage buildings are often masters of reinvention — what can today’s designers learn from them?
Flexible buildings: the problem with mixing layers
Different parts of a building evolve at different speeds, so it makes sense to keep them separate
Smart tech: another layer of flexibility
An adaptable overlay of smart modes could help buildings to remain useful for longer
The ultimate flexible building
More than ever, we need buildings that can bend to whatever the future brings. But flexibility itself has always been a malleable concept. Can it be pinned down?
The first domino: what business can learn from wellbeing
We can think about corporate resilience in the same terms as wellness and self-care, say Kealy Herman and Emily Wasley
41 billion reasons to decarbonize
Costa Rica’s decarbonization plan could make it US$41 billion better off by 2050 — even if other countries do nothing, says Adrien Vogt-Schilb
Five thoughts on flexible buildings
We need new solutions for sustainable reuse, says Maria Brogren, but we should also look to the past
Digital resilience by design
Smart buildings present new, unprecedented risks to their developers, owners and tenants. Managing these must become part of the design process
Cities after COVID: How Can We Create A Positive Legacy For Health And Wellbeing?
The pandemic has given a stark illustration of how the built environment affects our health, but also shows the potential for change
After COVID-19: What Does A Resilient Healthcare System Look Like?
Examining why we weren’t ready can help us equip for future disasters of any kind
Future of healthcare: telemedicine and drones bring universal access nearer
Technology will be critical to expanding provision in remote areas
The Possible issue 06: We need new, better answers
As COVID-19 shutters communities around the world, collaboration is more important than ever
Future of healthcare: prepare for the unexpected
Healthcare facilities need to be resilient to a range of perils, known and unknown
Urban agriculture: The edible city
Food sovereignty and sustainable food systems expert Nick Rose is pioneering urban agriculture in Melbourne. He explains why the future of city life depends on it
Zen and the art of building maintenance
We need to stop thinking of buildings as fixed entities and give them the chance to adapt, writes Mark Bessoudo
Greening cities: what’s the point?
From flood mitigation to mental health: the scientific case summarized
Herbal Remedy: making space for nature in cities
Can we afford to make space for nature in our ever more crowded cities? Faced with overheating, pollution and total ecosystem collapse, can we afford not to?
The Possible issue 04: what can’t we afford to lose?
This issue seeks the optimum balance between technology and the human element