Drone data has allowed us to find solutions for a wide range of social challenges, like humanitarian aid, resource conservation, resilient urban planning and many more. But as the field has expanded, three pressing issues have emerged:

1. how to produce impactful analysis in a rapid manner;
2. how to then bring back results to beneficiaries to turn data into action; and
3. how to make ethics a main concern in each step of the process.

The global initiative supports Helsinki’s goal of achieving a more significant role for cities in implementing the sustainable development goals.

The United Nations’ Social Impact Investing Initiative has opened a new office in Helsinki, further bolstering the UN’s presence in Finland.

The Social Impact Investing Initiative (S3I) of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is a programme for promoting the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) in developing countries.

The year was 2009, and Typhoon Ketsana — known locally in the Philippines as Ondoy — had just struck Metropolitan Manila, Philippines. One of the strongest typhoons to have made landfall in the megacity, Ketsana displaced thousands of families and left them without their source of livelihood and income. I was a researcher then, assigned to do a rapid assessment of Tatalon, a village in Quezon City, known to be a site of informal settlement families.

Residents say that quality of life is under threat from increasing tourism and rising rents that are pushing out young people and poorer families

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Walking through the hip San Juan neighbourhood (barrio) of Machuchal, it is hard to miss the house painted bright yellow, green and red, with a sign on the side reading "Casa Taft 169".

It is difficult to traverse the muddy terrain of the colony’s settlements. Truckloads of soil are being deposited by huge cranes in the distance; vast stretches of marshy land stare back in defiance. A short spell of rain and the place turns back into the flood channel that it once was. Uninhabitable concrete structures lie abandoned with cracks in their walls and ceilings. Sewer spills emanate an acrid smell.

Agriculture makes up only about 1 percent of Singapore's land area, but urban farming - including vertical and rooftop farms - is fast becoming popular

SINGAPORE - Rain or shine, every day for the past year, Kanti Kagrana walks a short distance from his son's flat to Singapore's HortPark, a national park where he grows chillies, eggplant and spinach in his allotment garden.

Poor land records, rampant speculation and weak or corrupt implementation of regulations means that cities are using land inefficiently

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Urban areas are expected to grow by 80 percent by the end of the next decade, and unless they grow up rather than out, they could be in trouble, according to a new report from the World Resources Institute and Yale University.

• While cities are generally considered to be poorer in biodiversity than rural areas, new research finds that urban areas could actually play a key role in conserving pollinator communities.
• A team of researchers led by scientists at the UK’s University of Bristol studied pollinators and floral resources at 360 sites in four British cities representing all major urban land uses, including allotments (community gardens), cemeteries, gardens, man-made surfaces like parking lots, nature reserves and other green spaces, parks, sidewalks, and road verges.

Cities exercise power in many areas that touch on human rights, and growing urban inequalities mean advocates must focus more attention on municipal governments.

Many Indians face untold hardships due to lack of good shelter including health issues. Those in cities live in a slum close-by or stay far-away where there is no livelihood and few commuting options.

According to the State of the Low-Income Housing Finance Market 2018 report, with increasing urbanization and the lack of planning for housing, there is an estimated shortage of 10-12 million low-income homes, along with 26-37 million urban poor who live in poor quality informal homes. .

"As African countries seek to achieve inclusive economic growth to combat poverty, unemployment, inequality and informality, among other challenges, it is imperative that their policies recognize and realize the potential of urbanization. Cities, if well planned and managed, can become engines of structural transformation through the expansion of the productive sectors of the economy, including industries and services. " These were the views expressed by the Head of the Data Centre of the Central Africa Office of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Ms.

A 300-year-old community in Bangkok will have its homes demolished as part of the city's modernisation plans

BANGKOK  - For more than two decades, a community of more than 300 people living next to an old fort in Bangkok staved off drug dealers keen to extend their turf, and city officials eager to tear down their homes and build a park to draw more tourists.