EIT Climate-KIC partner Dark Matter Labs is exploring the role ‘dark matter’—the invisible structures and infrastructures that shape our systems, like regulation, procurement, contracting and financing mechanisms—must play in driving city transitions

Singapore’s Global Innovation Challenge for Water

In the near future, Kinshasa, like many other cities, is expected to experience higher temperatures, more extreme precipitation and flooding, and more frequent droughts— all of which could make business and industry less productive. These changing conditions are likely to damage infrastructure with potentially catastrophic effects, especially for small-scale farmers and poor city-dwellers, with damage magnified by rapid, poorly planned urbanization.

As populations rise in DRC’s urban areas, especially Kinshasa, and climate change intensifies, the need for practical solutions is clear. By addressing these challenges, Kinshasa can be in the vanguard of the movement toward more sustainable cities.

“People can feed their own families, even if they don't have money to buy food in the market. In their own back yards or on land in their local communities, they can get the nutritious greens they need for their families.”

Food has become a serious need to the Philippines as COVID-19 hit the country. Their government and communities have started a “community gardening" project to recover from the situation.

One of the founding mothers of the Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines, Ofelia Bagotlo, describes how community gardens on vacant city plots are providing vital nutrition for the urban poor.

What will our eco-friendly homes of the future look like?

The Guardian's Helena Horton spoke with experts at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) to find out what the eco-friendly house of the future could look like.

Photograph: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Near or far, the role of forests in securing clean water for residents and the agricultural lands that cities rely on is equally crucial.

Not only is clean, safe, and affordable water essential to human health and well-being, the pandemic reminds us of how critical clean water is to health and hygiene. And yet, the world is on the precipice of a historic global water crisis.

The situation is dire, but one asset is already at our fingertips. Forest can alter the movement, quality, and availability of water. With the majority of the planet’s population inhabiting cities, the connection between cities, water, and forests works at three levels: inner forests, nearby forests, and faraway forests. Here’s how each one protects water in cities, no matter how far away.

Cities bring together all types of people into confined urban spaces, and they also reveal stark social inequalities. In dense urban environments, the contrast between rich and poor is particularly visible. This is the case in many industrial legacy cities with traditional workers’ districts. Close to former industrial sites, many of these heavily built-up neighborhoods are suffering from soil and air pollution, aging housing stock and lack of green space.

The capital of Liberia, Monrovia, is acutely aware of the current climate change challenges and the need to respond to threats, including coastal erosion that has caused its shoreline at its West Point area to retreat around 30 metres, with just under 700 dwellings having been lost. By adopting an inclusive approach, the city mayor has proven that implementing plans and strategies can be a collective effort that enables cities to embed resilience into the fabric of their city.