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. He discusses the role of local politics and the global urban institutions in reshaping the agenda for the world's urban citizens.
There is much to be commended, and much to be weeded out, in Foster's vision for a new London airport in the Thames Estuary and the proposal for a new transport, utilities and data spine running the length of the country.
...but with the Al Maktoum International Airport, the logistics centre in Jebel Ali, and a flourishing of small-scale economic life, evidence would suggest otherwise, as Michele Acuto observes.
Bus maps can play a role in drawing people into greater engagement with the city they live in.
Applying the principle of democratic equality to the planning of road space leads to powerful arguments for the pedestrianisation of our streets and the expansion of bus and cycle networks.
At a recent conference on India's transportation, it was argued that the only thing Mumbai really needs to replicate the success of Ahmedabad's Bus Rapid Transit system is a change of attitude and political will.
Manila's urban landscape is characterised by ineffective government planning alongside strong, ambitious private sector developers. Arguably, the city will only develop economically if the private sector takes over the role of planning the whole metropolis.
Michele Acuto is CPD Research Fellow at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School, PhD Candidate at the Australian National University…
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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.
