Amman is expanding its urban green spaces in a bid to combat warming temperatures by relying on trees, which can lower temperatures by up to 12°C, Bloomberg reports. Together with a Japanese designer, a Jordanian architect has worked on five mini-forests, and the duo is working on their sixth and largest project yet. The mini-forests create natural cooling mechanisms to provide relief from record-high temperatures spurred by climate change.

A special Japanese technique to ensure the project’s sustainability: The duo has opted to emulate a technique developed in the 70s by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, which consists of packing seeds close together to promote rapid growth. This ultimately allows miniature forests to grow in as little as 10 years. Other pragmatic choices include focusing on endangered trees that can flourish in arid conditions to save water.

Part of the allure: Trees can be planted anywhere. While it is challenging to find appropriate spaces in urban settings due to their high density, all it takes is some creativity and the potential becomes endless. This brings to mind other projects in the region like Egypt’s Schaduf, which has been planting green roofs across the city.

Where do “digital nomads” flock to? Barcelona, Toronto, and Beijing are the top three cities where remote and hybrid employees prefer to work — or, as the youths call it, go on work-cation, according to a report by flexible workplace company International Workplace Group (IWG) cited by CNBC. The idea of work-cations — working while traveling — has recently gained popularity, along with remote work and hybrid work. IWG compared 26 cities worldwide grading them on a scale from 1 to 10 according to climate, culture, accommodation, transportation, food, happiness, broadband speed, and accessibility of flexible workspace.

What makes these spots special: Barcelona was described as “alluring” due to its combination of the sun, sea, and cosmopolitan atmosphere, as well as being relatively cheaper compared to other European cities. Toronto also offers affordable accommodation along with flexibility of workplaces as 18% of the city is dedicated to parks offering more space for digital nomads. The Chinese capital, meanwhile, contributes to the world-class art scene offering 1484 galleries and museums, along with cheap accommodation and transportation.

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