The Future of Jakarta: Urbanization Reaches a Breaking Point
Since 2000, the world’s second-largest megacity, Jakarta, has seen its population swell by a staggering 34 percent. Though the city proper is home to just 10 million, the urban zone … Continue reading
Climate Change as a Catalyst for Transformative Sustainability in Cities
This policy brief examines the power of exploring synergies between responding to climate change and other development priorities in cities: in other words, can decision makers devise response strategies that … Continue reading
Structure and agency: The seeds of sustainability for 21st century cities
Merely critiquing cities’ unsustainable throughputs is not enough, and mistaking them as parasites is even worse because it usually precipitates highly ineffective solutions (e.g., making cities less city-like). We must … Continue reading
100 key research questions for the post-2015 development agenda
This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post-2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into … Continue reading
Empty promises: G20 subsidies to oil, gas and coal production
This research discovers that G20 country governments’ support to fossil fuel production marries bad economics with potentially disastrous consequences for climate change. In effect, governments are propping up the production … Continue reading
Transforming cities for sustainability: facts and figures
Architects, engineers, urban planners, civil society and policy makers face the challenges of creating sustainable, healthy, ‘smart’, ‘green’, adaptive, inclusive, productive, safe, flexible and resilient cities. These are just a … Continue reading
Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality : A Global Perspective
This paper analyzes the extent of income inequality from a global perspective, its drivers, and what to do about it. The drivers of inequality vary widely amongst countries, with some … Continue reading
Remembering Our Future
The received wisdom is that beyond all else, economic essentials of fiscal stability, trade flows and investments drive economic growth. That point of view, rightly stressing the essentials of growth, deserves to … Continue reading