Medellín, Colombia used to be the murder capital of the world. With the explosion of the global drug trade in the 1980s, crime burgeoned, plunging the city into a state of lawlessness. Slum communities, stacked up along the perilous slopes of the surrounding Aburrá Valley, were on the front lines of the violence and mayhem.But today, Medellín is transformed.
The story of how Warwick Junction bucked the global trend of replacing informal markets with malls and shopping centers is a testament to the compromise, conflict, and resourcefulness of a small set of actors – informal workers, local officials and the small non-profit Asiye eTafuleni (Zulu for “bring it to the table”). It is a story of social healing and the enduring contradictions of a modern African city.
Chaos often reigns on the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital. Minivans, cars and motorcycles careen along half-finished roads without markings, sidewalks, or traffic lights. Pedestrians walk single-file within reach of speeding vehicles. Groups of children in matching school uniforms hold hands as they linger at the road’s edge. They scan for breaks in traffic and dart across before the bell rings for the start of class. Every day, this journey puts their lives at risk.
Many cities are looking for a new future after the decline of traditional manufacturing industries. From the American Rust Belt to Europe’s industrial heartlands, mayors are striving to reinvigorate and reinvent, while cleaning up the pollution left by heavy industry.
One projection has a price tag of $14 trillion USD by 2100. Another has a trillion USD of property value loss in the United States alone. These are big numbers. The global GDP is only 78 trillion USD.
Thanks to a small transformation in federal transportation policy since Obama took office, cities around the nation are looking at the real possibility of creating new streetcar lines within the next year or two. In a series of momentous moves, the Obama Administration has made it easier for cities … [continued]
Microsoft presents it’s vision of the year 2019, and I’m so pleased to see some thinking on the green tech side, as I’ve tried to capture in the screen-stills below. Ten years is not too far out, and some of these ideas are fun. For example: * Connected classrooms where … [continued]
Aesthetic. Original. Functional. Who knew solar panels could make a statement? Apparently Peter Richardson knew when he submitted a winning solar design to the International Design Awards. His idea is to turn disused water ways into functional space by populating them with solar panels shaped like water lilies. Aiming to … [continued]
