Banking on Better Cities: Financing Sustainable Urban Growth

In our latest blog, GCHU intern Maria Chow explores diverse financial models used across the Global North and South to fund sustainable urban development, critically examining their effectiveness, limitations, and potential for scalability through global cooperation and innovative tools like digital finance.

Beware the buzzword: how can community engagement actually improve housing?

GCHU Intern and BA Chinese Studies student Rebecca Gardner investigates how the UK’s housing crisis, extending beyond supply shortages to encompass monocultural estates and the pitfalls of community engagement, necessitates a nuanced approach, proposing Regional Building Hubs as a potential solution to empower communities, foster collaboration with small-medium sized builders, and address the multifaceted challenges inhibiting effective participation in housing planning.

Deliberative democracy: an alternative for improving well-being?

GCHU Intern Aisha Valenzuela, an MSc student in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance at the University of Oxford, discusses the importance of citizens’ juries in modern-day democracy and their relationship with well-being, focusing on the effects on cities and environmental governance. This blog post draws on the findings derived from a scoping review conducted under the supervision of Dr Astrid Krisch.

Anna Williams: My experience as a GCHU Summer Intern

BA Geography student Anna Williams joined the GCHU on a four-week Summer Internship where she took on the role of Student Research Associate.

In this blog, Anna summarises her experiences of working in the GCHU research team and her advice for any students considering applying for future placement opportunties.