A new urban agenda

United Nations conference on cities needs to set goals for the next 20 years.

A United Nations conference seeks urban sustainability. But the agenda will fail without input from researchers, warn Timon McPhearson and colleagues.

Smaller settlements are growing faster than megacities — and they need more protection from extreme events, write Joern Birkmann and colleagues.

Richard T. T. Forman and Jianguo Wu call for global and regional approaches to urban planning.

Building more strategic links between urban innovation and global governance will help to tackle today's grand challenges, argues Michele Acuto.

Social equity and global impacts are missing from measures of cities' environmental friendliness, write David Wachsmuth, Daniel Aldana Cohen and Hillary Angelo.

Local implementation and public scrutiny will make or break the government's urbanization strategy, say Xuemei Bai, Peijun Shi and Yansui Liu.

Without drastic action, population growth and urbanization will outpace waste reduction, warn Daniel Hoornweg, Perinaz Bhada-Tata and Chris Kennedy.

Austin Williams examines two books that probe the dynamic relationship between people and city.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Colin Ellard examines a study of the new urban paradigm that fosters 'deep sharing'.

Mike Davis on a chronicle of four 'instant' cities modernized by mimicking the West.

As interests vie for the soul of smart cities, Melanie Moses asks: “Smarter for whom?”

Anthony King enters a parallel city that teems with hackers innovating for the public good.