India is becoming an ‘innovation destination’, according to Nasscom chairman R Chandrasekaran. Really? Patent grants are a straightforward indicator of innovative capability. India has registered a seven-year decline in patents granted and a concurrent rise…
The conditions in which most Indians are brought up present a significant obstacle to human development. From education to social privilege to basic safety, a majority of India’s children must confront debilitating assaults on their…
After Greece announced a public referendum on austerity (effectively rejecting it), Athens was a mix of apprehension and resignation. Drizzle fell on empty Syntagma Square, the scene of recent protests; crowds preferred ATM lines in…
Africa is rapidly urbanising, and the UN projects that a majority of the continent’s residents will live in cities within the next 20 years. Around the world, urban growth is receiving increasing interest, from governments…
With culture-based revitalization best left to natural evolution, neighborhoods can benefit from unexpectedly useful characteristics: fragmented property ownership and historical geographic disadvantage. In South Korea, Mullae and Gamcheon urban villages embody this paradox, and their…
Long-term concerns aside, Nepal must take progressive steps towards restoring services and providing shelter and basic necessities for earthquake victims. When recovery aid money is spent and life returns to some semblance of normalcy, Nepal…
Flexible policy broadens structural capabilities and builds resilience into urban systems, in either a specialized or diversified economy. The outputs include infrastructure both hard (transport, technology and housing) and soft (education, culture, and institutions). In…
Hinz, Greg. “What’s Chicago’s future as a global city?” Crain’s Chicago Business, 22 May 2015. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150522/BLOGS02/150529914/whats-chicagos-future-as-a-global-city#utm_medium=email&utm_source=ccb-dailyalert&utm_campaign=ccb-dailyalert-20150522 Longworth, Richard. “Chicago as Stockholm.” American Review, 28 April 2015. http://americanreviewmag.com/blogs/Chicago-as-Stockholm
Achieving transformative growth is not a matter of size, but of political vision and entrepreneurial initiative. New Zealand has an opportunity to enhance its competitiveness in the new global economy, and its secondary cities should…
Both the government and donors should demand a mix of hard options, such as earthquake-resistant buildings, and soft options, such as enhancing indigenous capacity for disaster management and improving institutional functionality. The country should use…
