https://futurehubs.eu/cities/latest/ What changed in the cities en https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/new-building-regulations-take-effect/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/new-building-regulations-take-effect/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTHelsinki's new building regulations took effect on 5 November 2026, capping built coverage on detached and semi-detached house plots at 35% unless the local plan says otherwise and making bird-safe construction a requirement. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/grants-for-theatres-and-cinemas/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/grants-for-theatres-and-cinemas/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTMadrid's Governing Board has authorised 1,755,000 euros in competitive grants for theatres and cinemas, with 1,210,950 euros for performing arts venues and 544,050 euros for cinemas, covering activities carried out between 1 January and 31 December 2027. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/budget-2027-housing-spending-rises/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/budget-2027-housing-spending-rises/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTMadrid's governing board has initially approved a 2027 budget of 6,901 million euros, 4.9% more than in 2026, with the Housing Policy department up 10% to 248 million euros and EMVS Madrid handling close to 9,000 homes. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rennes/news/la-janais-industrial-zone-extension/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rennes/news/la-janais-industrial-zone-extension/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTRennes Métropole has decided to extend the La Janais development zone from 53 to 160 hectares, with 450,000 m² of floor space from 2030-2031, mostly for industry, and has let the Excelcar platform sublet space in Building 78. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/wienerfeld-west-council-housing-second-phase/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/wienerfeld-west-council-housing-second-phase/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTVienna has begun the second construction phase of the Wienerfeld West council estate in Favoriten, adding 40 timber-built council flats, a commercial unit and an underground car park by 2028, on the way to around 300 new flats. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/freedom-of-information-first-year-review/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/freedom-of-information-first-year-review/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTVienna has published its review of the first year under the freedom of information act, reporting 30,279 working hours and about 2.2 million euros in costs, with around 250 officers in city departments handling requests. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/bonn/news/building-applications-digital-only/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/bonn/news/building-applications-digital-only/Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTBonn's building regulation office now accepts building applications only in digital form, with each case handled in a virtual project room on the ITeBau platform, where all documents must be uploaded within three weeks of the invitation. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/substance-use-prevention-action-plan/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/substance-use-prevention-action-plan/Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTHelsinki's Culture and Leisure Committee approved a 2026–2029 Action Plan for Substance Use Prevention on 3 November 2026, covering alcohol, drugs, tobacco, nicotine, gambling and online gaming, with seven focus areas and training for sports clubs and coaches. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/online-calculator-checks-rent-increases/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/online-calculator-checks-rent-increases/Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTVienna's MieterHilfe has launched a free, anonymous online calculator that lets tenants check whether rent increases are lawful under the federal rent brake, which caps regulated-sector rises at one per cent in 2026 and two per cent in 2027. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/ai-traffic-light-pilots/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/ai-traffic-light-pilots/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTBarcelona has selected Kapsch and Acisa to pilot AI-based traffic light management at city intersections, each receiving 100,000 euros for a pilot of at least four months that the city treats as phase 0 of wider AI deployment. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/arabia-circular-hub-network-construction/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/helsinki/news/arabia-circular-hub-network-construction/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTHelsinki has ended its two-year Arabia Circular Hub Helsinki project, which ran the ARKI 135 hub, held 30 public events and two business programmes, and built a network of more than 100 operators that now feeds the city's circular construction cluster. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/winter-shelter-campaign-starts-earlier/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/winter-shelter-campaign-starts-earlier/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTMadrid has opened its 2026-2027 Cold Campaign for homeless people with 472 stable places a day, running for 165 nights from 2 November to 15 April under a new contract worth 3 million euros a year. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/stockholm/news/office-district-transformation-research-testbed/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/stockholm/news/office-district-transformation-research-testbed/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTStockholm and ArkDes, part of Moderna Museet, are starting a practice-based research project that uses Kista as a testbed, with teams chosen through an open call studying how office buildings and underused sites can be reused. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/turin/news/market-electricity-digital-metering-pilot/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/turin/news/market-electricity-digital-metering-pilot/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTTurin's city government has approved a €700 thousand executive project for market maintenance focused on Piazza Benefica, preparing electrical panels and cabling for QR-code-based, per-stall metering of electricity, with works due from March to September 2027. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/zurich/news/enge-harbour-promenade-green-redesign/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/zurich/news/enge-harbour-promenade-green-redesign/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTZurich will start redesigning the Enge harbour promenade in January 2027, moving 127 parking spaces to a car park opposite and raising the number of trees to 140, with works due to finish in stages by spring 2030. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/diagonal-tram-link-works-tender/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/diagonal-tram-link-works-tender/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTBarcelona and the Metropolitan Transport Authority have put the second phase of the Diagonal tram link, between Verdaguer and Francesc Macià, out to tender in five lots, with 120 million euros of City Council investment and service expected in 2031. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/interurban-bus-stops-meridiana-interchanges/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/interurban-bus-stops-meridiana-interchanges/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTA new layout of interurban bus stops around Avinguda Meridiana in Barcelona started on 2 November, with two interchange areas at Sagrera-Meridiana and Clot linking buses to metro and Rodalies; around 650 outbound departures pass Sagrera on weekdays. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/mobile-recycling-points-old-town/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/barcelona/news/mobile-recycling-points-old-town/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTBarcelona's Ciutat Vella district started nine mobile recycling points on 2 November in the Gòtic and in Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, part of a cleaning plan whose pilot cut abandoned rubbish bags by 30% to 42%. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rotterdam/news/fast-cyclists-road-trial/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rotterdam/news/fast-cyclists-road-trial/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTRotterdam has started a trial on the 1st and 2nd Middellandstraat in Delfshaven that lets cycle path users riding faster than 20 km/h choose the carriageway instead, running until the end of March 2027 on a street already limited to 30 km/h. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/stockholm/news/arstafaltet-park-first-parts-open/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/stockholm/news/arstafaltet-park-first-parts-open/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTStockholm is opening the first parts of the Årstafältet park in early November, including three large stormwater ponds, bridges, jetties and a bird tower, with an opening event at the ponds on 6 November from 15.00 to 18.00. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/digital-skills-vision-education-2035/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/digital-skills-vision-education-2035/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTTampere has adopted its first Digital vision for Education and Upbringing, which sets the direction for digital development until 2035 and will define the digital skills taught at each stage from early childhood education to upper secondary or vocational education. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/puutarhakatu-renovation-cycle-path-roadworks-committee/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/puutarhakatu-renovation-cycle-path-roadworks-committee/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTTampere is completing the renovation of Puutarhakatu, begun in March 2025, which replaced ageing water and sewerage pipes and added a wider two-way cycle path on the northern side, while piloting a roadworks committee of residents, entrepreneurs and street users. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/turin/news/master-plan-unanimous-co-planning-vote/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/turin/news/master-plan-unanimous-co-planning-vote/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTTurin's new General Regulatory Plan won a unanimous favourable vote from the co-planning conference with the Piedmont Region, the Metropolitan City and the heritage superintendency, the first plan revision under regional law 5/2026, which halved the conference to sixty days. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/chronic-pain-centre-first-year/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/vienna/news/chronic-pain-centre-first-year/Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:00:00 GMTVienna's chronic pain therapy centre (TCS) in the Rabenhof, run by the Herz-Jesu Krankenhaus, took on around 800 new patients and carried out around 8,000 treatments in its first year, with funding agreed until autumn 2027. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rome/news/smog-absorbing-school-street/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rome/news/smog-absorbing-school-street/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTRome has opened the first school street in Municipio XI, closing via Gaetano Astolfi outside the Vaccari primary school and repaving it with photocatalytic materials across about 2,800 square metres, estimated to remove nitrogen oxides like 200-250 urban trees. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/emt-2027-budget-electric-buses/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/madrid/news/emt-2027-budget-electric-buses/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTEMT Madrid's board approved a draft 2027 budget of 937.86 million euros plus 167.2 million euros of investment, led by 65 electric buses for 34.3 million euros that will bring the zero-emission fleet to almost 600 vehicles. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/nantes/news/solar-canopies-beaujoire-car-park/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/nantes/news/solar-canopies-beaujoire-car-park/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTSix solar canopies are rising on the Beaujoire stadium's S3 car park in Nantes, three by the SAS Nantes Métropole Énergies and three by citizen-backed CoWatt, to produce 1.1 GWh a year after grid connection in January. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rome/news/ostia-culture-house-renovation-approved/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rome/news/ostia-culture-house-renovation-approved/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTRome has approved a €2.2 million feasibility project to renovate the Casa della Cultura in Ostia, in the former San Fiorenzo market, with outdoor works starting in the first quarter of 2027 and the site merged with Parco Gianni Rodari. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rotterdam/news/charging-hub-electric-refuse-lorries/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/rotterdam/news/charging-hub-electric-refuse-lorries/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTRotterdam opened a charging square at Kleinpolderplein on 30 October where 24 electric refuse lorries can charge at once. The project went ahead because the city had requested a heavier grid connection years earlier, before grid congestion created waiting lists. https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/community-equality-programme-approved/https://futurehubs.eu/cities/tampere/news/community-equality-programme-approved/Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:00:00 GMTTampere's City Board approved the Tampere For All development programme on 30 March 2026, with 1.9 million euros for 2026 and work running until the end of 2029, to build a citywide network of low-threshold community spaces.