Safe Streets, Safe Cities
Discussions of sustainable cities tend to focus on environmental goals such as developing eco-friendly architecture, recycling, and improving the resiliency of urban infrastructure systems. But public or citizen security is an equally important aspect of building a sustainable city. Often, it is the issue that tops the list of citizens’ concerns—and with good reason. Violent … Read more
Rethinking Buildings
Read sidebars on public space, governance and energy efficiency. Cities are concentrations of people, buildings and activity. Infrastructure helps knit all of the pieces together and delivers essential services. The traditional infrastructure that supplies many of these services consists of a centralized, fixed-point service facility and a delivery network. Think energy (power plant and transmission … Read more
How Do We Make Sustainable Cities Sustainable Policies?
Read a sidebar on waste and recycling. Several of the region’s high-profile mayors who championed sustainability during their administrations have recently left—or will soon leave—office. This raises an important question: what will happen to the policies and programs they left behind? Incoming mayors have their own agendas and policy preferences, and sustainability initiatives—unlike crime or … Read more
USTR Head Announces Enviro Trade Negotiations in Davos
U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman announced today in Davos that the United States would join others including China, Canada, the EU, and Japan to negotiate freer global trade in environmental goods. An economic sector estimated at over $950 billion annually, the market for such products is already significant and it is only expected to grow. … Read more
Shifting Mood in Canada–U.S. Relations
In a recent blog, I described Canada’s new and emerging American economic challenge with our neighbor to the south as it was heading towards energy self-sufficiency with its consequent impact on the manufacturing sector of its economy. While Canada has increased its trade with new partners in recent years and is actively pursuing new markets … Read more
Independent Watchdog Says NSA Program Is Illegal
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent federal privacy review board, has concluded that the National Security Agency (NSA)’s phone call record collection program is illegal and should be discontinued. The 238-page report published yesterday finds that the spying program “lacks viable foundation” under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, violates the First … Read more
From “Make-Sicko” back to Mexico City: The Greening of Mexico’s Distrito Federal
Read a sidebar on transportation. Mexico City has one of the world’s most complex concentrations of people. In the early sixteenth century, Mexico City already had 200,000 inhabitants, and the Valley of Mexico almost half a million—which is to say, it has always been one of the world’s largest cities. Due to its longstanding position … Read more
National to City, Diagnosis to Funding
For too long, Latin America’s urbanization has been haphazard and chaotic. As a result, the world’s most urbanized region (with over 80 percent of its population living in cities) became associated with sprawl, waste, inefficiency, pollution, and increasing vulnerability to climate change. But a new approach to this challenge emerged on the sidelines of the … Read more
Extreme Sustainable City Makeover: New York
Read sidebars on water management and citizen engagement. Most of us are familiar with the concept of the “ecological footprint.” Originally developed by Canadian academics Matthis Wackernagel and William Rees, the idea embodies a series of algorithms (numerous versions are available on the web) that convert a wide variety of consumption inputs into a single … Read more
From the Think Tanks
SEDEREC Mexico City has seen a surge of external and internal migration since the late 1990s. In the report, Ley y reglamento de interculturalidad, atención a migrantes y movilidad humana en el Distrito Federal: Reflexiones, SEDEREC sums up the proposals made by the public and private sectors to the Mexican government over the past 15 … Read more
Worst of the Worst
The U.S. holds the sad distinction of putting more people behind bars than any other country in the world—over 2.4 million people in prisons and jails. Many of the most brutal and depressing facilities—and those inside them—are tucked out of public view. A group of Connecticut film makers, however, managed to penetrate the veil of … Read more
Para todo mal, mezcal; para todo bien, también
Mezcal used to be sniffed at by Mexican sophisticates as the slightly less respectable cousin of tequila—a fiery peasant’s drink consumed in dark corner bars or rural ranchos in Oaxaca, where 94 percent of Mexico’s mezcal is produced. But that is no longer the case. For many trend-setters in the capital and elsewhere, mezcal has … Read more
Graphicanos
View a slideshow of Graphicanos prints below. Indiana is better known for the Indy 500 and sports teams than for a thriving art culture, so most art lovers would be surprised to stumble upon the cutting-edge exhibit of serigraphic prints—a contemporary art form that uses block-size ink stencils to print images onto canvas—on display this … Read more
Canada-EU Trade: Free Trade Fever Up North
Just recently, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to Montreal’s Board of Trade to laud the benefits of the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA). Choosing Montreal was a recognition of the support provided by the city’s business leaders and the Québec government for the free trade accord. Sitting at the head table was a former Conservative … Read more
Energy in Mexico: The Politics of Reform
While Washington has struggled with political gridlock, its southern neighbor has achieved notable legislative success over the past 12 months—thanks to a negotiating mechanism called the Pacto por México. Established soon after President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December 2012, the mechanism was responsible for a series of major reforms in Mexico that had … Read more
