The global implications of domestic political dynamics can and should shape the practical proposals of the city-state movement. As the world’s “strong-man” authoritarians consolidate and strengthen their domestic power, the last hope for international economic,…
China now views the developing world as a market for infrastructure services via development aid. It appears to have adopted a two-pronged approach: direct intervention through investments in hard infrastructure and indirect intervention through the…
Broadband infrastructure must be developed and managed as a regional resource, lest cross-country performance gaps widen. In the collective spirit of the recently implemented ASEAN Economic Community, institutions and infrastructure underpinning economic growth are “everybody’s…
The renowned educator Horace Mann once said: “be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” To paraphrase this, scholars should feel professionally unfulfilled until they have made dictators uncomfortable. Academia is…
“Global” is as much an attitude as a status; even small cities have international ambitions and philosophies. However, national governments can weaken a city’s influence regardless of its size or importance to the global economy….
Urban planners are faced with the challenge of maintaining infrastructure service amidst budgetary constraints, restrictive regulations, and – most of all – growing demand. In many parts of rapidly developing Asia, it is often assumed…
Smart cities have focused long enough on finding cool ways to do the same old things. Lest they be relegated to the garbage heap of worthless miracles, new generations of urban technologies can earn their…
As new amenities accelerate stadium obsolescence, the nation’s almost-big-league cities (a familiar list) jostle for the attention of team owners. While many face fiscal headwinds and political contention, aspirational suburbs are ready to make a…
In a world of ever-expanding communications and transport infrastructure, population size is neither a deterrent nor an advantage for improving global connectivity; any city can network and thereby enhance visibility. The challenge for smaller cities…
Booming urbanization, combined with technology’s seemingly boundless potential, is triggering predictions of smart cities as an urban techno-utopia. Marketing this vision skips straight to dessert; the mechanics of service coordination bore the public, but images…
