How can we reimagine a public space that has been divided by civil war, sectarianism, and capitalist redevelopment? Rather than sophisticated urban design, Tanya Gallo argues that allowing public space to retain its indeterminacy, as in the traditional maidans of Arabic and Persian cities, will keep it accessible for all citizens to express their differences democratically.
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.
Who sets the global urban agenda? What are the world's urban priorities? What should they be? Three international experts and a roomful of readers battled out these questions and more.
Sheila Ochugboju sees much to admire in Mumbai's Dial 1298 for Ambulance but fears the middle class is too small in her own Accra for the model to be replicable there.
Vijay Govindarajan's proposal to design a $300 one-room shed to solve the world's housing problems is riddled with stereotypes and prejudices.
Mumbai is looking to involve the private sector to manage the tons of solid waste it generates every day, but it must be done without marginalising the informal 'ragpickers' who do this work already.
A freelance writer, researcher and consultant on contemporary urbanism, with specific research interests including public space and the public realm…
Sign up here for email updates
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.
