Cities are often painted as bleak, dangerous and lacking in soul. This issue argues the opposite. Around the world, new urban centres are emerging at speed, designed to be interconnected, powered by renewable energy and built with climate-ready architecture at their core. In many cities, violent crime is falling. Car-dominated sprawl is giving way to green space. Communities are finding ways not just to restore the land, but to revive the civic spirit that makes cities feel alive.

Other features include: Ex-offenders educating others through theatre • Protesters who refuse to retire quietly • An unplugged holiday in Denmark • Female entrepreneurs in Yorkshire • Ian McEwan on AI and the future of the planet • France’s first LGBTQIA+ care home • The art of looking slowly • Aimee Fuller’s life lessons • Life after a terminal diagnosis • How to navigate a mid-career transition • You told us: what does patriotism mean to you?

Published 14 Jan 2026

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At a time when support is needed most, cuts to school funding have made it increasingly difficult for many students to access musical instruments that could inspire and empower them. But as we uncover, a host of organisations are bringing repaired and upcycled instruments into the hands of young learners, ensuring that access to music isn’t dependent on wealth.

Other features include: The organisations helping independent artists thrive • Frank Turner on supporting live venues • Competing in the British Transplant Games • New mum-friendly comedy clubs • How farm work is transforming young people’s behaviour • The regenerative farming community • The surprising industry that saved a Norwegian island • Ethical hacking • For the love of doing nothing • Sam Ryder’s life lessons • Life after escaping the Taliban • How to have meaningful conversations • You told us: which works of art have changed your life

Published 8 Oct 2025

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Concerned parents are pushing back against the omnipresence of phones in kids’ lives. Smartphone Free Childhood began with a conversation between two mums and has since exploded into a nationwide campaign for change that has signed up tens of thousands of families. At its heart is a powerful idea: that childhood should be protected, not shaped by technology

Other features include: Award-winning honey from rescued bees • How to focus on solutions rather than struggles • Greening the sport of running • The campaign helping parents to ditch party waste • Giving London’s trees a second life • Portraits of the people who feed the UK • For the love of reading with children • Brian Cox’s life lessons • Life after surviving the Spycops scandal • The scent-based workshops helping UK prisoners • You told us: what have you learned from your most challenging experiences?   

Published 9 July 2025

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While finding well-paid, meaningful work remains a struggle for many right now, some career paths focused on social benefit are on the up. From the festival organiser who sees potential in a new funding model for live music, to an academic who’s using AI to help detect cancer, we meet six people with joyful jobs in exciting emerging sectors

Other features include: Saving endangered crafts • A new tool to discuss climate emotions • The tiny home from an old wind turbine • For the love of weather • Progressive workplaces • The safe house for trafficked child slaves • Optimism and social progress • The School of Sustainable Floristry • Katherine Ryan’s life lessons • Five ways to get more – and better – rest • You told us: what abundance means to you

Published 9 April 2025

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Millennial fathers spend, on average, triple the amount of time with their children compared to dads in the 1960s. It’s no straightforward golden age – parenting today is for many a complex juggle – but the shift in roles has been profound, with children and society poised to benefit. We meet two UK men who are dadding differently, and the fatherhood scientist who’s tracking the rise of more involved dads

Other features include: Amanda Knox on her search for meaning and resilience • The volunteer divers cleaning up the UK’s seas • Life after being on death row • How to be creative every day • The restaurant staffed by people who have experienced homelessness • Rewilding sign language • For the love of folklore • Saving Somerset’s last eels • Carving picture books for blind children • You told us: experiencing the kindness of strangers 

Published in January 2025

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Whether sparked by childhood curiosity or an impulse to help species at risk, these people all feel a strong affinity with a particular kind of UK wildlife. Beguiled by birds, hooked on hedgehogs or obsessed by orchids, they show what’s possible when we narrow our focus – and truly take nature to heart

Other features include: Could AI save the planet? • How to avoid burnout • The magician performing ‘climate magic’ • How blind women are being trained to detect breast cancer by touch • Literary first aid at the Poetry Pharmacy • Get on my land! The farmers opening up space for nature connection • Life after being a leader in the far right • For the love of a river • Stewart Lee’s life lessons 

Published in October 2024

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Passionate bakers and campaigners from all corners of the UK are working on raising our game when it comes to bread. We can do far better than cheap, ultra-processed supermarket loaves, they say, democratising good bread so it’s available to all.

Other features include: Bold and beautiful ideas for collective thriving in The Ministry of Imagination • London’s first all-female garage • Training African hairdressers in mental health counselling • For the love of men supporting men • Life after escaping gang violence • How to inject awe into your life • Putting empty buildings to use • The value in changing our minds

Published in July 2024

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Casting off its fusty, dusty reputation, secondhand fashion is experiencing a renaissance. We ask five people with a passion for preloved why buying old is the new new.

Other features include: How UK nightlife venues are diversifying for survival • The women who are reclaiming ageing • Supercommunicators • Nigeria’s first climate cafe • For the love of breakdancing • Life after leaving a cult • How to shrink your digital footprint • Isabella Tree’s life lessons

Published in April 2024

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“We need to let hope out of the box” says Chris Packham. The veteran wildlife broadcaster, author and campaigner speaks to us about unleashing the power of young people to protect the planet, why he’s an angry – yet hopeful – old man, and why you shouldn’t call him the next David Attenborough.

Other features include: Behind the menu at the world’s first zero-waste restaurant • The inner development goals • Graphic rewilding • Teaching young people to navigate the media • For the love of libraries • Life after sexual assault • The sports stars speaking out on the climate • Anna Whitehouse’s life lessons

Published in January 2024

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Reintroducing lost species into nature-depleted Britain involves navigating a patchwork of laws that can take years. It’s time that we don’t have, say a growing movement of guerrilla rewilders, who are secretly breeding butterflies, birds and beavers, and illegally releasing them across the country. Are they halting the tide of extinction, or doing more harm than good?

Other features include: The new golden age of medicine • Buildings that heal • The mighty power of beans • Saving Britain’s rarest native tree • A Finnish approach to mental healthcare • The fixing factory run by refugees • Rebuilding after an ‘honour’ killing • Charlotte Church’s life lessons

Published in October 2023

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