Universal basic income won’t help people find work but it will make them happier, expert report finds
Researchers looked at the implementation of guaranteed income in a neighbourhood in Barcelona and found out that it didn’t help people find work, but it made them happier. Against what some critics of basic income say, the money didn’t stop people from looking for a…
From vectoralism to platform municipalism: Imagining a ‘people’s smart city’
The author presents ideas on an emerging mode of production based on information and digital data-what the critical theorist McKenzie Wark christens as ‘vectors’-which is arguably replacing capitalism. Vectors are lines of economic activity connecting producers and consumers extensively across space through intensive technologies of…
Getting privatisation undone puts centre-left in good shape in Hamburg
In September 2013, 51% of the electorate voted to “re-municipalise” the local electricity and district heating networks, as proposed by grassroots initiative “Our Hamburg Our Grid”. And while the energy debate has only played a minor role in this year’s election campaign, it has increased…
Indigenous technologies “could change the way we design cities” says environmentalist Julia Watson
Indigenous communities are pioneers of technologies that offer solutions to climate change, according to designer and environmentalist Julia Watson. In her new book Watson argues that tribal communities, seen by many as primitive, are highly advanced when it comes to creating systems in symbiosis with…
The future is public: Special report from Amsterdam
Laura Flanders reports from Amsterdam at The Future is Public, a conference that brings together hundreds of organizers, scholars, and government officials who are working to democratize their municipal and national economies. Photo: rompalli harish
As big cities get even bigger, some residents are being left behind
Cities with above-average knowledge economies and below-average levels of social vulnerability are better placed to cope with the dual challenges of technological change and social inequality. Photo: Public Domain Pictures
In the fight against climate change, cities need not be hotbeds of environmental degradation
Instead of thinking of cities as pressure points for the global environment, we need to see them as innovation hubs for solutions to address climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Compact, green, inclusive urban centres are a critical weapon in our quest to keep the…
As climate risk grows, cities test a tough strategy: Saying ‘No’ to developers
Last year Virginia Beach became one of a small but growing number of communities willing to say no to developers when it rejected a proposal to build a few dozen homes on this soggy parcel of 50 acres. A judge recently ruled that the city…
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić protest ‘enough’ draws 20,000: Stops traffic
Around 20,000 citizens protested in early February against Zagreb’s mayor and USKOK indictee Milan Bandić demanding his permanent removal from politics. Bernard Ivčić, from Green Action, said that citizens had come to say enough to Bandić’s system of clientelism, which is destroying Zagreb. Photo: Anna…