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The city is the solution.
Patrick Mazza
The Global South did not cause this crisis, but we are determined to define its solution. In Punjab, that solution begins with clean streets, safe water, affordable energy, and credible finance – all bound by one idea: the path out of climate despair runs through green...
Maryam Nawaz Sharif
By embedding degrowth principles in local, everyday practice, "Kreisler" associations offer a vision for urban provisioning beyond extraction and individualism and toward a communal, crisis-resilient future.
Cléo Mieulet
Recalling William Appleman Williams' vision for a continental confederation of regional commonwealths.
Patrick Mazza
As Trump demolishes the old and drives America toward a darker future, the Democrats’ instinct has been to grieve, resist, and dream of restoration. But restoration may be the wrong goal.
Richard Sclove
Most American towns before the 1950s were already 15-minute cities. What changed wasn’t freedom—it was corporations dismantling transit to profit from cars and sprawl.
Tim Hjersted
Cities are not associated with being green, but when you measure carbon emissions per household, suburbanites have a much higher carbon footprint than city dwellers. And that’s because American-style suburbia is designed in a way that forces people to live unsustainable...
19 min
With this manifesto, we are putting national governments everywhere on notice. We are not going away. We will become bolder in our local experiments and in our challenges to your authority.
Michael Shuman
In 2024 McAllen, Texas had a booming economy, with $100 million in increased sales tax revenue from 2023. Now, residents tell us that it's a ghost town and the local economy is hurting. Why? ICE raids on shops and factories have left workers too scared to go outside.
5 min
Ever wondered what it would be like to live in a neighborhood that wasn’t designed around cars? Well - in most of the country that’s actually illegal. But in Tempe, AZ there’s a new development called Culdesac that has managed to make it happen. This community is designed...
17 min
Regenerative living is a revolutionary philosophy rooted in reciprocity, creativity, and care.
In this video, I examine why we need solarpunk, ecosocialist, and degrowth-oriented cities. Specifically, I look at what those future cities might look like, and the failures of capitalist cities today. - OCC
28 min
Patreon: https://patreon.com/notjustbikes
36 min
Today we will be exploring the homes abandoned in New Albany, Ohio, and why they went abandoned. - Stringer media
44 min
The details can be complex, but the value of public banking is actually simple to understand.
3 min
Join the localization movement to build resilient local economies and flourishing communities. Local Futures produced a detailed Localization Action Guide to encourage everyone to 'GO LOCAL' - anytime, anyplace. It offers tangible and tested ways for individuals, communities...
Local Futures
This 1962 documentary film produced by the Los Angeles Fire Department, describes the historic Bel Air / Brentwood wildfire that started on November 5, 1961 in the Bel Air community of Los Angeles. Over the course of three days, the wind-driven fire destroyed 484 homes...
27 min
The past century has been marked by the rise of globalization in every sense of the word - through production, culture, agriculture, consumption and more. This trend has brought great wealth and opportunities to many people - but what have we lost and forgotten through this...
89 min
From utopia to reality: fare-free public transport in Brazil.
Daniel Santini
A tour of MIUFI (Michigian Urban Farming Initiative) and interview with its manager - Quan Blunt.
13 min
We are living in a time of profound transition, a moment when humanity must choose its path forward. The old systems—of empire, domination, and exploitation—are showing signs of weakness, and in their wake, we have the opportunity to build something far more life-affirming. A...
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Throughout the history of our nation, this amendment has...
Keeling Baker
The system is broken—so where do we start building a new one? Faced with interlocking ecological, economic, and political crises, local innovators are organizing at the city level to develop real foundations for systemic alternatives.
6 min
Housing is absolutely essential to human flourishing. Without stable shelter, it all falls apart.~Matthew Desmond[1]The issue of housing is of fundamental importance that has a direct connection, among other basic rights, to democratic participation. Despite that (or because...
This 35-minute film is a united call for a new economy, delivered by those who have committed their lives to working for systemic change.
34 min
This 42-minute film is bursting with examples of exciting localization initiatives across the world.
43 min
“Alter Natives” is a documentary about transition initiatives and ecosocial regeneration; a collective project to make visible transformative experiences in our geographies and inspire other possible futures.
115 min
Culdesac, a new car-free community in Tempe, Arizona, is the most Edenic urban space I have seen. Join me on a recent visit and conversation with its CEO Ryan Johnson—who explained how to unlock sustainability in the US and design our way out of the loneliness epidemic. This...
12 min
This Is [Not] Who We Are explores the gap between Boulder, Colorado's progressive self-image and the lived experiences of its small but resilient Black community. Boulder is emblematic of predominantly white communities that profess an inclusive ethic but live in a segregated...
4 min
When the Coronavirus Pandemic threw livelihoods into uncertainty and consequently spurred the creation of multiple direct government assistance programs, every American was given first-hand experience with the concept of Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI), an idea that has been...
3 min
[C]itizens today no longer even approximate the high and eminently human standard of citizenship that was established in the Hellenic world—a meaning that must be recovered, as well as the personal and social training, or paideia, for producing citizens.~Murray...
Yavor Tarinski
Discover the shocking truth about a secret racket in America that's been hiding in plain sight for years; High-value homes are escaping their fair share of property taxes, burdening less wealthy neighbors and straining city budgets.
18 min
"I believe our cities should belong to us. They should be cooperative, co-creative, ecological, and egalitarian spaces, by and for the people. We have so much untapped urban potential just waiting to be explored. Join me as we determine how to build a solarpunk...
42 min
A bunch of "free thinkers" on the internet want you to believe walkable, healthier cities are a plot to enslave you.
We’ve lived in the Netherlands for 5 years now and we’ve been to a lot of small towns and cities in that time. The thing that surprised us the most is that there’s good urbanism pretty much everywhere. - Not Just Bikes
19 min
15-minute cities could be the solution to climate change and income inequality. Or they could just make everything worse. What we do know is that they probably aren't dystopian walled-cities. Let's explore what everyone is saying about 15-minute cities and start to work out...
27 min
A film about the citizen-led community-energy movement in Europe and the visionaries lighting the way.
39 min
Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys to Portland, Oregon to talk with architect Mark Lakeman, founder of Communitecture Architecture and the City Repair Project. Mark initiated a movement in Portland to transform the homogenous neighborhoods of the city into...
17 min
How do we add mixed uses in single detached neighborhoods? People have some ideas… - About Here
9 min
In this video, we explore the concept of the 15-minute city, debunking common misconceptions and conspiracy theories surrounding it. We'll reframe the discussion to focus on the true intentions behind the idea, emphasizing its potential to create sustainable and thriving...
13 min
Over the last few weeks, I reached out to sustainability experts around the world, crunched a bunch of numbers, and asked all of you for help finding the most sustainable city in America. Here's what I learned. - Distilled
12 min
Londoners are rising to the challenges of climate change, food poverty, entrenched inequality and our nation’s mental and physical health crises by reviving one of the oldest human activities of all- sowing, saving and sharing seeds.
9 min
This video is of Tim and Maddy Harland's beautiful no-dig permaculture kitchen garden in Hapmshire UK. Tim and Maddy are the founders of the fantastic @PermacultureMagazine and have a tranquil vegetable garden, meadow and food forest at their home that has been maturing for...
11 min
Urban noise is a common problem, and the vast majority of it is created by motor vehicles. Noise is far too often dismissed as a minor nuisance, rather than the legitimate health issue that it is. The book "Curbing Traffic" has a chapter about the health impacts of noise...
18 min
This video was filmed on an actual CRT monitor, in an actual pile of garbage, at the side of an actual stroad.
3 min
In this video essay, I look at why the suburbs are so terrible for people and the planet. Specifically, I look at the racist history of the suburbs in the United States in order to understand how the suburbs came about. The suburbs have a dark history of white supremacy and...
18 min
Architects, engineers and developers are creating increasingly greener structures - and doing it in a more literal way than ever before.
12 min
Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature.
60 min
The BedZED eco-village is a sustainable housing development based in London, UK. Going Green went to the eco-village to see both the green building design and the sustainable community.
4 min
Planet Local shows a quiet and transformative revolution emerging worldwide.
51 min
"Of all the reasons why we moved to the Netherlands, the independence of children is probably the most important one."
13 min
The story of how a mining town recovered from its legacy of pollution and prospered by building community around the battle to save their beautiful river.
Born in the California Gold Rush, Nevada City was once the scene of some of the most destructive environmental...
57 min
Hiding in the Walls captures the complicated and devastating story of Baltimore’s lead poisoning epidemic. It takes a deep dive into the origins of lead poisoning, the failures of local leadership to stop the problem, and ultimately how it came to be a dangerous part of daily...
2 min
On the homogenization of American cities...
21 min
With 150 trees sprouting across 5 floors of terraces, balconies, and roof gardens, apartment complex "25 Verde" in Italy rises like a giant treehouse, a forest-building ecosystem combining geothermal energy, water reuse, and natural cooling.
25 min
Imagine a future where we mimic the genius of nature—to re-calibrate the way humankind lives, breathes, builds—respecting the limits of our resources and transforming the modern world. Going Circular unlocks the secrets to circularity, an innovative concept that could save...
88 min
I was always told, growing up, that the suburbs (of Canada) are a good place to raise children. But I've come to appreciate the importance of independence for the a child's development, something that's nearly impossible in today's car-dependent suburbs. It was pretty clear...
12 min
Grist built this tiny model town to show what it would look like if we tried to transition to 100% clean energy. In the real world, it’s even more difficult. Staff reporter Shannon Osaka wrote about what it really means when cities say they’re going ‘100 percent renewable.’
6 min
Jon Jondai shares his life story of trying to find success in the city only to turn around and come back home to live a life of freedom.
10 min
Originally the birthplace of the middle class, Detroit is now on the brink of complete collapse. Loosing over 25% of it’s population and 50% of its manufacturing jobs over the past decade, Detroit is now in a state of emergency. Racial tension, globalization, lack of...
3 min
The Circular Economy Action Plan, adopted by the European Commission in 2020, is one of the cornerstones of the European Green Deal. The plan includes a series of measures to ensure that the resources used in the EU are kept in use for as long as possible. The final goal is...
5 min
Learn more at: https://utopiacornucopia.org/
8 min
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Despite all the demands from climate activists, scientists, and even policy makers, hardly a single country is taking the shift to renewable energy seriously. Even countries and regions that claim to be...
Richard Heinberg
Permaculture designer Andrew Faust presents a clear outline for achieving energy independence with 100% renewable technologies in the New York bioregion.
8 min
Learn how to become more regionally resilient with bioregional economics and ecological city design.
35 min
For many homeowners, rooftop solar is a smart move. But what if you could get every home and business in your entire county to switch to renewables, all at once? This is essentially what’s happening in my state, California: a quiet revolution awkwardly named community choice...
Peter Kalmus
Four-part video series on Paul Fenn, pioneer of the Community Choice Energy movement in the United States. Produced by Stuart Farmer. Directed by Yoni Goldstein. Written by Charles Schultz. Production Assistant is Sebastian Alvarez. Filmed on location at Local Power in...
28 min
The way we understand ecocities needs radical change in order to ensure a sustainable future, akin to our ancestors realising the earth was round.
Dr Dominique Hes
Everyone knows that the three, multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bills passed by Congress fall way short. For most local businesses—the lifeblood of our economy—these bills offer too little relief, too late. I’m hopeful though that the states (and maybe, in some places...
Michael Shuman
A 2D animation on why a Green New Deal for housing can help tackle inequality and climate change, narrated by Ted Danson.
2 min
As the COVID-19 pandemic first exploded across our globalised world, I found myself unsure of priorities in this time of pivotal change, even though I had been tracking information about Wuhan since January. Not because I didn’t know that a global pandemic of this scale was...
David Holmgren
This past weekend, a bright Georgetown undergraduate asked me how I squared my passion for localization with the theory of comparative advantage. For economics newbies, he was referring to David Ricardo’s argument that every community should find one product to specialize in...
Michael Shuman
Aeroponics grows fruits and vegetables faster, cheaper and better.
12 min
Each of us is empowered to engage in solutions in a way that is not stressful or overwhelming. It is through the sheer numbers of individuals doing their part that we will see massive positive changes on our planet! -
3 min
An animated story of love, tragedy and the environment.
2 min
These days, city living feels much more difficult than it used to be. It seems everyone has a ‘town planning’ issue or gripe. What’s yours? This animation explores why we need to break from a system of endless economic and population growth. Otherwise, our neighbourhoods will...
6 min
For young people not raised on the land, getting into farming can seem daunting. Even for people who have worked on farms before, it is easy to feel isolated and overwhelmed when it comes to starting a farm of one’s own.
45 min
As we’ve seen, the food system is broken.
36 min
In May, an international group of scientists warned that over a million of the Earth’s species are being driven to extinction; before that, researchers reported the climate was warming faster than even the most pessimistic projections. Worse yet, another report gave humanity...
Thomas Linzey
Ep. 1 // Rats in the Hallway // Working class women of color and young white socialists in an East Harlem join forces against a private equity slumlord. Read the story by Georgia Kromrei at indypendent.org/2018/02/rats-in-the-hallway.
26 min
Denver became the first city in the country to decriminalize the use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms, after a ballot initiative squeaked through with 50.6% of the vote, according to election officials. The unofficial final results -- which are not expected to change...
7 min
STRANGERS IN TOWN tells the story of how global migration unexpectedly transformed and enriched Garden City, Kansas. It brought great challenges to the community, including demands for housing, social services, education, and infrustucture. For the current students at Garden...
33 min
Fully Charged spent an amazing day at the Sustainable City, a housing development in Dubai with 3,500 people already living there and it's still not quite finished. This truly is a remarkable achievement, a stark lesson to building contractors the world over. It's not more...
16 min
The eight UrbanWINS cities are currently implementing pilot actions to prevent and manage waste. These actions are taking into account their urban metabolism data, as well as the discussions and decisions of a wide range of stakeholders who have participated in the online and...
6 min
Plastic polluted neighborhoods in Manila are taking things into their own hands by creating systemic zero waste programs that collect all recyclables, compost all organics, and push for corporate accountability.
4 min
The Plummery is a suburban home where a backyard permaculture garden measuring only 100sq/m (1076 sq feet) produces over 400kg/900 pounds of food year-round. Kat Lavers describes her approach to gardening, including vertical and biointensive growing, and how important it is –...
9 min
Seeing trees as sacred is not an anomaly, it’s the fact that our culture has somehow lost this fellowship that’s an anomaly. If trees are a keystone of our wellness, why not learn to listen to their voice? If we did, how might the things we hear transform the landscape of our...
Our food system is linked to an economic system that is fundamentally biased against what’s good for people and the planet.
Helena Norberg-Hodge
This film tells the story of one small family practicing urban sufficiency. They live on 1/10th of an acre in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. By living more simply and utilizing alternative technologies this household draws 75-80% less electricity from the grid than the...
16 min
Redlining: the racist housing policy from the Jim Crow era that still affects us today.
7 min
Trump’s White supporters—not immigrants—are bringing lethal drugs, violence, and crime.
Mike Males
I was always going to move to Portland. For years, that was my escape plan.
Sarah Kobos
Politics is about bringing people together and taking democratic control of the spaces where we live
Aaron Vansintjan
Communities can do more than just put a Band-Aid on the problem of gentrification and displacement, and a panel of researchers who held a forum at the Democracy Collaborative’s offices in Washington discussed the best thinking and work happening on both sides of the Atlantic...
Isaiah J. Poole
Take that lawn by the grass and grow something!
Jennifer Luxton and Erin Sagen
Fear and uncertainty seem to have settled into our societies, not only among citizens, but also political leaders and transnational corporations who see their capitals and centres of power stagger in the face of the combined effects of slowing global economic growth, imminent...
Jenny Gellatly and Marcos Rivero
Atlas of Utopias is part of the Transformative Cities initiative, sharing 32 stories of radical transformation that demonstrate that another world is possible, and already exists.
Sol Trumbo and Nick Buxton
Despite almost universal scientific consensus that climate change poses a growing threat, President Donald Trump’s recent infrastructure plan makes no mention of the need to build resilience to rising global temperatures. Instead, it actually seeks to weaken environmental...
Katherine Levine Einstein and David Glick and Maxwell Palmer
This paper by Michael Shuman, published alongside three others, is one of many proposals for a systemic alternative we have published or will be publishing here at the Next System Project. You can read it below, or download the PDF. We have commissione
Michael Shuman
Is it time to give more power to the cities? VPRO backlight explores the growing and innovative power of the city in Eindhoven, Seattle and Hamburg. Where governments are stuck in their own ambition and party politics, the cities are bubbling with energy, optimism and vigor...
49 min