Warming to their theme, Andrew Stevens and Jonas Schorr continue last week's dissection of city network associations by arguing that instead of grandiose schemes like a global senate of mayors, we must concentrate on creating popular democratic demand for city networking, and on giving more power and media visibility to the knowledge exchange efforts that cities already pursue.
Andrew Stevens and Jonas Schorr survey the landscape of city networks and local government associations and call for some serious bureaucratic Darwinism to cull the overduplication of organisations.
What happens when a foreign charity introduces an agenda that aligns with local entrepreneurial initiatives? Will locals be seen as like-minded stakeholders or as 'competition'?
There is no better time to witness the shortsightedness of governments than around elections. With municipal elections just around the corner in Mumbai, a whole raft of new promises are being made to certain slum dwellers...
The breakdown of Cape Town's Housing Indaba shows how much such a forum is needed, but also shows how unready the city's stakeholders are for constructive collaboration.
The Government of India has launched a grand housing scheme for a 'slum-free India'. But can grand schemes work when planners and policymakers neither understand the reality of the urban poor nor connect to their aspirations?
Alan Gilbert doesn't believe there is one, but if one must speak of a global urban agenda, he would point to local private sector lobbies as the common force driving similar agendas in cities around the world.
Governments in many places can exhibit a loss in the basic competencies required for effective urban planning. In the UK and India, some of the slack is picked up by the private and non-profit sectors, with surprising and innovative results.
A hundred-year-old street market in Bangalore was demolished in the dead of night last month. How much history and local colour is lost by enforcing the law now after so many years?
The UK government is abolishing Regional Spatial Strategies, giving greater power to local governments. But with many cross-regional issues remaining, will they be able to fulfil their new roles?
Anna Leidreiter describes how the city of Oakland is building the circular metabolic systems required to turn the concept of regenerative cities into a reality.
Mike Duff (Twitter: @MrMikeDuff) is a consultant on strategy, planning and sustainability for cities at WSP, based in London.
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
