cities
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Female rappers take a stand in Mexico's capital of violence against womenOn average more than one woman per week is killed in Ecatepec, on the outer edge of Mexico City. But despite living with this constant threat of brutality, local female hip-hop artists are using their music to try to change attitudes
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Paris is banning traffic from half the city. Why can’t London have a car-free day?Cars will be outlawed from 400 miles of Paris streets on Sunday as the French capital joins the likes of Brussels, Bogotá, Jakarta and Copenhagen in marking World Car-Free Day. Isn’t it time for London to join the club?
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Athens' unofficial community initiatives offer hope after government failuresFrom abandoned municipal offices to theatres and car parks, informal local movements are reclaiming public space in the Greek capital. With the city’s progressive mayor on board they could reshape politics too
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Painting for peace: global mural project highlights the walls that divide our citiesAcross the world, urban barrier walls divide communities on ethnic, religious and political lines. On International Peace Day, artists are turning these walls of separation into points of connection, in one of the largest ever mural projects
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What the Aylesbury estate ruling means for the future of regenerationSajid Javid’s refusal to allow the compulsory purchase of flats in this London estate adds welcome humanity to a savage process that forces people not just from their homes, but from their communities. But is the decision enough?
What is your city doing to resist gentrification?
the big picture
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The city of Liverpool captured through its love of footballKen Grant was born in Liverpool in 1967, and has been photographing it since he was a teenager. His new book, A Topical Times for these Times, offers a unique perspective of his home city through the focus of football
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The gentrification of Washington DC: how my city changed its coloursAuthor Uzodinma Iweala was born in Washington DC, and says the city ‘is in my blood, my diction and my style’. But how has the city he loves, and where his mother and father worked, changed since his birth?
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Paris divided: two-mile highway by Seine goes car-free for six monthsA busy expressway on the right bank is being pedestrianised for a six-month trial – and socialist city hall hopes to keep it car-free for good. The issue has bitterly divided Parisians, with some saying the closure will bring traffic to a standstill
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The Cincinnati experiment: can 'citizen philanthropy' improve a city?‘Philanthropy lab’ People’s Liberty is funding individuals with smart ideas to benefit Cincinnati, in the hope of finding a new generation of local civic leaders
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Could urban farming provide a much-needed oasis in the Tulsa food desert?Oklahoma is one of the most food insecure states in the US, where families struggle to buy enough healthy food. Locals are trying to ease poverty with community farming, but face difficulty in a city with a complex racial history
in depth
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Babylon – how war almost erased ‘mankind’s greatest heritage site’Justin Marozzi tells the story of this once-mighty city in Iraq – a microcosm of human history. Besieged by wars and weather, ‘restored’ by Saddam Hussein, what has become of mystical Babylon?
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get involved
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'A good wander unveils the wonder of a city'As reports show that walking reduces stress, anxiety and depression, we asked readers for their stories of the joys of city wanders, from Glasgow to Damascus
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Share ideas for what we should cover nextFrom filling billboards to mapping a whole city, readers and their experiences have played a huge role in the development of Guardian Cities. But what stories are we missing, and how can we improve? Share your ideas and suggestions
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'It's Prozac in city form': Canadians on the issues facing their citiesThroughout Guardian Canada week, current and former residents shared their perspectives on life in Canadian cities, from street hockey and multiculturalism to the challenges of urban sprawl and unaffordable housing
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Your pictures of incongruous city buildingsNew developments, and the historic buildings they dwarf, can look out of place as the cityscape evolves. Our readers shared their pictures of the conflict between old and new in cities around the world – from Aberdeen to Zagreb
in pictures
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From Tower Bridge to the South BankThese photographs showing the construction of landmark London buildings and infrastructure projects are taken from Collage: The London Picture Archive
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Portraits of English cities in the 1970sPeter Mitchell worked as a truck driver in Leeds in the 1970s, photographing the city during his rounds. These fascinating portraits of factories and small shop owners in Yorkshire and London are found on his website Strangely Familiar
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How New York was builtThe Big Apple’s early 20th-century building boom transformed the city with skyscrapers, subways and an awful lot of cement – as documented in these photographs from the New York Public Library’s archives
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How a skatepark is changing the face of YangonYangon has some of the least public space of any major city – but new efforts to open up Myanmar have seen the creation of projects like this one: the country’s first international-standard skatepark
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Creative crosswalks around the worldWhether for safety, art or celebration, pedestrian crossings in cities around the world have been transformed with colourful or unusual designs – from rainbows and piano keyboards to french fries and bullets
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No vacancies: life in Mozambique's abandoned Grande HotelWhen it opened in 1955, the Grande Hotel in the Indian Ocean city of Beira was one of the most luxurious in Africa. Photojournalist Fellipe Abreu documents the lives of the 3,500 people who now fill this long-closed hotel to capacity
you may have missed
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Is Morrissey's city still recognisable?Thirty years on from The Smiths’ only UK No 1 studio album, how do the band’s legendary evocations of 1980s Manchester compare with life in the city today? There’s only one place to start …
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Affordable housing quotas get waived and the interests of residents trampled as toothless authorities bow to the dazzling wealth of investors from Russia, China and the Middle EastThe truth about property developers: how they are exploiting planning authorities and ruining our cities
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Rumble in the Jungle: 40 years on, Kinshasa is a city of chaosThe heavyweight world championship showdown between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman electrified a city full of pride and promise in the early years following independence – and then the money ran out …
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Timbuktu: portrait of a city on the edge of existenceWhat is life like in Mali’s ‘city in the middle of nowhere’? Guardian photographer Sean Smith recently spent a week there, meeting everyone from Timbuktu’s chief muezzin to its only DJ
Paradise lost: does Copenhagen’s Christiania commune still have a future?