Martin Crookston, editorial board member and guest editor of 'Arts & the City', introduces this next special issue of Built Environment.

Christopher Martin reflects on the potential impact of COVID-19 on urban futures, which should provide food for thought for built environment academics and practitioners alike.

Ye Zhang & Jeffrey Kok Hui Chan present their guest edited issue of Built Environment, 46(1) on Space-Sharing Practices in the City, and call for urbanists to rethink how we might reshape sharing and togetherness in space.

Dr Hee Sun Choi presents a pictorial study of public space in Hong Kong. Looking at the four unique spaces, she considers the possibilities of alternative designs.

Iain Roberts shares his experiences of consultation in planning a Councillor in the UK, and reflects on the lessons from this.

Introducing our new special issue, on new patterns of commuting and the changes today.

Sam Brown, an Architect based in the UK, reflects on the international collection of case studies in our latest special issue,‘Collaborative Housing: Resident and Professional Roles’ guest-edited by Jasmine Palmer and Lidewij Tummers.

Dudley et al. consider how the data enabled by new urban transport technologies can become a prime motivating force in political power struggles.

The fifth in our editorial board member Yasser Elsheshtawy’s series of blogs on Riyadh, considering the uses of both informality and regulation.

20 years on from the publication of Urban Task Force report ‘Towards an Urban Renaissance’, Martin Crookston, one of our editorial board members, describes the UTF impact on design.