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Cities in the spotlight

  • Chris Michael and the Cities team distributing ‘The Canal Revolution’ publication

    The inside story of Guardian Cities: a new kind of journalism

    The editor of Guardian Cities, Chris Michael, explains the innovative approach he and his team take to covering stories from some of the world’s most under-reported locations
  • N.W.A., 1990<br>LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 01: Rap group N.W.A. is photographed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Blake Little/Contour by Getty Images)

    Straight Outta Compton is a classic album – but did it help or harm 'Hub City'?

    NWA’s seminal album was released 30 years ago this month. We take a closer look at the complex Los Angeles County locale that inspired it
  • Congolese health officials prepare to disinfect people and buildings at the general referral hospital in Mbandaka, DRC

    Mbandaka has fought off Ebola – but can the DRC's equator city recover?

    Aside from the threat of disease, underinvestment and bad government have blighted this colonial city on banks of the Congo for years. Can it recover?
  • Indonesians from different religious groups take part in a joint prayer for the victims of a bomb attack on a church in Surabaya

    Surabaya in the spotlight: Indonesia's renaissance city under attack

    Shocking recent Islamist attacks risk overshadowing a hard-earned reputation for urban revival
  • Preparations for Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan<br>WINDSOR, ENGLAND - MAY 10: Union Jack bunting hangs in front of Window Castle ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and his fiance US actress Meghan Markle on May 10, 2018 in Windsor, England. St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle will host the wedding of Britain's Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle on May 19. The town, which gives its name to the Royal Family, is ready for the event and the expected tens of thousands of royalists. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

    Windsor in the spotlight: where royal wedding frenzy sits alongside poverty

    Saturday’s jamboree will see 100,000 tourists line the cobbled streets – and rough sleepers cleared off them. Has the town built by William the Conqueror been seized by bad PR?
  • Morgestraich in Basel<br>epa05161792 Revellers wearing lanterns parade through the streets during the carnival procession of Basel, Switzerland, 15 February 2016. The traditional Morgestraich starting Monday morning after Ash Wednesday at 4 a.m. marks the kick-off of the Carnival of Basel. EPA/PATRICK SEEGER

    Basel in the spotlight: the city that learned to love LSD

    ‘Bicycle Day’ on 19 April is the 75th anniversary of the day Albert Hofmann accidentally discovered LSD, changing his perceptions – and the city’s future
  • Not just anywhere … the Markthal in Rotterdam.

    Rotterdam in the spotlight: from dismal mega-port to 'Dutch Brooklyn'

    Unilever’s new HQ has shed its mundane image with jazzy architecture and a commitment to sustainability. Even Amsterdammers are interested
  • The house in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria, where Adolf Hitler was born, circa 1940.

    Braunau in the spotlight: Hitler's birthplace embraces inclusion

    The house at 15 Salzburger Vorstadt still attracts tourists, but the town where Hitler was born has reinvented itself as a place that welcomes outsiders
  • Irkutsk Cityscape: Residential District, Angara River and Trans-Siberian Railway

    Irkutsk in the spotlight: the leak in Putin's watertight system?

    Often overlooked by the Kremlin, the Siberian city has a centuries-old reputation for dissidence. But as Russia heads to the polls, will apathy rule?
  • People cheer and take photos of Rita Ora's concert during celebration of the 10th anniversary of Kosovo's independence in Pristina, Kosovo February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

    Pristina in the spotlight: Rita Ora aside, can Kosovo's capital make it big?

    Ten years since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, Pristina struggles with corruption and pollution – but the youngest capital in Europe is full of fresh energy
  • A food market in Changping district, Dongguan, China.

    Dongguan in the spotlight: hi-tech comeback for 'factory of the world'?

    After an economic slump lasting years, Dongguan – the home of ‘Made in China’ – is reinventing itself as a robotics base
  • Korean girls dressed in traditional clothes take a selfie in front of the flags of competing nations at the Olympic Village in Gangneung.

    Gangneung in the spotlight: South Korea's true Olympic capital

    The Winter Olympics will soon begin in South Korea, and the coastal city of Gangneung – the host of the indoor events – is preparing to open itself up to the world
  • Dalat Vietnam

    Dalat in the spotlight: 50 years after Tet offensive, an invasion of a different kind

    Half a century after Dalat’s only major involvement in the Vietnam war, the ‘city of eternal spring’ is grappling with the 3 million tourists who now visit each year
  • Iranian pro-government supporters march in Mashhad

    Mashhad in the spotlight: inequality plagues Iran's holy city

    Rampant development has emphasised a widening social gap in Mashhad, the starting point of last year’s anti-government protests
  • Water cut off in Yemen's Aden

    Aden in the spotlight: war-torn port city tries to dust itself off

    Amid the carnage of the civil war, Aden is the only major city in Yemen looking open for business – but it still has a long way to go before full recovery
  • Bratislava’s old town, with Saint Martin’s cathedral, castle hill and the Danube river.

    Bratislava in the spotlight: Slovakian city celebrates 25 years as capital

    No longer in the shadow of Vienna, Budapest and Prague, the Slovak capital is shaking off its dour Communist-era reputation and rediscovering its position in the heart of Central Europe
  • A giant Santa in the town of North Pole, Alaska.

    North Pole in the spotlight: Alaskan wonderland meets Twin Peaks

    It’s Christmas all year round in this festive fantasia, which attracts 500,000 letters to Santa a year. Just don’t ask about the black market for drugs
  • The world’s largest cruise ship, MS Harmony of the Seas, arrives in Southampton port for her maiden voyage in 2016.

    Southampton in the spotlight: boom times ahead for Titanic's home town?

    The maritime powerhouse is planning to invest in its Royal Pier – but residents remain concerned about poor air quality and heavy traffic
  • The Wood suburb in Nelson, New Zealand.

    Nelson in the spotlight: is a storm brewing in New Zealand's boho bay?

    Swelled by creative émigrés in the 20th century, the city known for its good life now has an ageing population – and a lack of homes for the young
  • Clad in Kachin traditional costumes, women dance with miniature flags of ethnic rebels as they welcome other ethnic rebels during a nationwide ceasefire conference at the headquarters of KIA in Laiza, a border town of China and Myanmar, Kachin State, Myanmar, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013. From 1961 until 1994, the KIA fought a grueling and inconclusive war against the Burmese junta for independence, but now the groups goal is for autonomy within a federal union. The Kachins are a coalition of six tribes whose homeland encompasses territory in Yunnan, China and Northeast India, in addition to Kachin State in Burma. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

    Laiza in the spotlight: Myanmar's rebel capital digs in – and switches on

    Trapped between the Burmese army and the Chinese border, the stronghold of the Christian Kachin people is quietly gearing up for its first film festival
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