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Today, we commence a month-long focus on the future of cities. To begin, Doug Crawford-Brown, Robert Mair and Koen Steemers describe the challenges our future cities will face and how mitigation depends on the innovations we create and put in place today.Ìý

New research suggests that a lack of remaining domain names with easy to remember – and consequently valuable – word combinations is restricting Internet growth, with an untapped demand of as much as 25% of all current domains being held back. ̽»¨Ö±²¥study’s author contends that the findings show ICANN’s release of new top level domains could prove a wise policy.

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Research commissioned by government following housing benefit reforms finds increase in tenants self-selecting to downsize, but the areas hardest hit by reform are those least equipped with appropriate housing stock. Researchers found households increasingly cutting back on essentials such as food and heating to make up benefits shortfall.Ìý

New analysis reveals a strong correlation between precolonial institutions in Africa and current levels of deforestation. Researchers suggest that many of these structures still operate at a local level, controlling and exploiting natural resources under the radar of the state, and that such legacies of governance pose a major challenge for implementing conservation policies.Ìý

Replacing housing association homes sold under the new Right to Buy scheme with those for sale could drive up costs for low-income tenants and the taxpayer, according to a new report.Ìý

New analysis of the London Tube strike in February 2014 finds that it enabled a sizeable fraction of commuters to find better routes to work, and actually produced a net economic benefit.

A new study finds the numbers of young people being accommodated by local authorities or homeless services across the UK to be over three times higher than those recorded by the Government, and highlights the ‘hidden homelessness’ of those forced to sleep on sofas of friends or relatives as they have nowhere else to stay. Ìý Ìý

Patterns in the financing activities of firms could be used as a litmus-test to determine company value, according to a new report.

New research seeks to take account of the fast pace at which technology is evolving in understanding how to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead of harming the economies of developing countries, carbon offsets and taxes on shipping and aviation would have a minimal or even a positive economic impact if implemented wisely, according to a new study.