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Speaking of smart cities, there are so many ways that tech for good can be achieved, and one creative example is quite a literal take on putting people into technology. Agent-based modeling creates an actual virtual world that is used to simulate the true nature of cities- down to the individual residents that call it home. It may sound freaky, but this technology allows urban planners to create worlds that mirrors ours in every way, from 'traffic jams to social segregation,' and analyze all urban aspects at once, something that is otherwise almost impossible. They can determine where a city is going wrong when it comes to the well-being of its residents, until they eventually figure out what will go right.

 

Read more here.

The ninth World Urban Forum is over, but the conversations are just beginning. One particularly heavy topic is urban sexual violence, a global 'pandemic' that boasts a frightening statistic: 1 in 3 women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. There are a million conversations to be had and solutions to be brainstormed about sexual violence, but the conversation that held the audience at the Next City World Stage at WUF9 was about the thing we need first: data. ElsaMarie D'Silva, the creator of the Mumbai-based non-profit, Red Dot Foundation, presented the organization's Safecity platform as one of the innovative and inclusive ways this data can be collected, and used to make a difference. The platform collects personal stories about sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces from around the world, via slips of paper in boxes and online submissions alike, and uses it to analyze what solutions will work in these women's communities. Since its creation in 2012, it has collected over 10,000 stories from over 50 cities in India, Kenya, Cameroon and Nepal.

Read Next City's coverage of this platform  here.

Though urban farming has become popular over the past couple of years in the climate experts circles as much as in the hipster circles, its true benefit over rural farming has been hotly debated. But any uncertainties have been relatively quelled by a new study from the journal Earth's Future. Through the use of Google Earth and population, meteorological and other data sets, the study has determined that urban farming done right could produce 180 million metric tons of food each year, a crazy number. Through looking at 'ecosystem services,' aka the ecological and environmental benefits of maintaining an urban farm, the study has also determined that urban agriculture could be worth as much as $160 million annually. The researched benefits of successful urban farming seem endless; 15 billion kilowatt hours of annual energy savings worldwide, sequester 170,000 tons of nitrogen, prevent as much as 57 billion cubic meters of stormwater runoff, and so much more. Though rural farming will always be essential to cities, urban farming has proven to be a worthy reason to make your city green.

Take our Making Cities Safe survey

IHC Global has created a survey to increase understanding and share knowledge around issues of safety in cities-looking specifically at safety in the home, on public transport, in formal and informal workplace settings, and in common spaces such as sanitary facilities. Results from this survey will provide input into a policy report addressing how SDG 11, Target 7, Indicator 2-which focuses specifically on making urban spaces safe--can be met.

Help us gain a better understanding of urban safety; take our survey  here!