Reading Development

Random readings on society, politics and change – Jorge Carrillo

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

Tuesday, 19 January 2016 · Leave a comment

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

Tuesday, 19 January 2016 · Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, 13 January 2016 · Leave a comment

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

Tuesday, 5 January 2016 · Leave a comment

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

Friday, 13 November 2015 · Leave a comment

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

Friday, 30 October 2015 · Leave a comment

Report: The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health

We identify three categories of challenges that have to be addressed to maintain and enhance human health in the face of increasingly harmful environmental trends. Firstly, conceptual and empathy failures … Continue reading

Tuesday, 21 July 2015 · Leave a comment

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

Tuesday, 7 July 2015 · Leave a comment

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

Tuesday, 7 July 2015 · Leave a comment