The Inevitability of Inequality

The Inevitability of Inequality

But I’m also skeptical of a certain kind of skepticism — a fatalistic, apocalyptic, complainalism — that merely points out all that is wrong with humanity without every considering what can be done to improve our condition.

What I Learned at the New Cities Summit

What I Learned at the New Cities Summit

The theme of this year’s New Cities Summit in São Paulo was “the human city.” But what is a human city? And, for that matter, what is a city? We must be able to conceptualize the non-city in order to define the city and “cityness,”...
[Grant] Cidade Democratica

[Grant] Cidade Democratica

This blog post is a summary of a $202,500 grant from Omidyar Network to Cidade Democratica to continue developing their open innovation platform and business model. This information is also available in IATI-compliant XML. Amount of grant: Up to USD $202,500 Date that...

The Pacification of Rio’s Favelas

Weekends like this. Locked up in my room, or in various cafes, with a constant intake of caffeine to keep my fingers tapping on the keyboard to the rhythm from my tinny laptop speakers. Right now: J-Live. Yesterday I worked about 12 hours on a single post, a general...
[Brazil] A Ministry of Culture for the 21st Century

[Brazil] A Ministry of Culture for the 21st Century

What do ministers of culture do? This was the question asked by Slate political reporter Chris Beam back in 2007 when, in the same week, commandos raided the Iraqi culture minister’s house to arrest him for a 2005 assassination attempt on a fellow politician....
Local Street Art in Barrio El Progreso, Colombia

Local Street Art in Barrio El Progreso, Colombia

A couple months ago a French photographer and street artist who goes by JR gained a good deal of attention for his latest installation in Kibera, one of the world’s largest slums (population 1 million), located on the outskirts of Nairobi in Kenya. His work was...