Global Cities Blog
- Do actions speak louder than logos?
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Last week was a fascinating time to be in Moscow. Levels of democratic expectation are high and rising. I was there participating in the Moscow Urban Forum. I had two roles on this occasion – first as a member of the Urban Land Institute Advisory Panel – a group of international urban specialists offering recommendations [...]
- Return to Lingang
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It was a great pleasure to return to Lingang in November and participate in the Healthy Cities Roundtable as facilitator. The city is an extraordinary development and its ambition is without parallel. The vision for the city is to become many things, including a major tourist destination, a high-tech and creative industries specialist, a home [...]
- What’s Trending?
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What is trending? It’s question that users of the social media micro-blogging site Twitter constantly ask. Being aware of just what the hotly tweeted topics are allows them to feel they are in the know, up to date and (if we still used the phrase)…on the ball. But there’s much more to what is happening, [...]
- The surprising city creativity factors
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When I was working on the European Capital of Culture in Liverpool I came across a project that set me thinking and which came to mind again this week. Sir Bob Scott, Chair of the Liverpool Culture Company, shared with me an idea he was developing around just what ignites the spark of creativity within [...]
- Aarhus – Danish for Progress
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Just back from Aarhus where we launched the new promotional identity. Started work on brand development with the city some six months ago and really pleased to have reached this point – where key stakeholders and city leaders are all behind the brand and beginning to use it to promote overseas. Aarhus immediately presents a [...]
- Placemaking – integrating old and new. Maasmechelen.
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Flanders really is a very beautiful part of the world, and an extraordinary crossroads between so many parts of European culture. In the midst of a mini heatwave, Maasmechelen felt positively Mediterranean, not least because of its strong Mediterranean diaspora. I was there with the Urban Land Institute, chairing the panel set up to advise [...]
- Cities in transition – Similar Cities Conference, Aarhus.
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Had the opportunity to meet a number of North European cities when speaking at the Aarhus ‘Similar Cities’ conference. The network was formed by the participant cities to learn from similar sized-cities about the kind of economic and urban challenges they face. Participants in the network included Utrecht, Ghent, Edinburgh, Malmo, Bologna, Stuttgart and Aarhus. [...]
- Siberian Front. Novosibirsk.
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Siberia is a place-name potent with meaning. It immediately conjures up images of bitter cold, exile and hardship. That was the case for most people I spoke to before I set off to speak at the Novosibirsk conference on city branding. Not for everyone though – one week before arriving in the capital of Siberia [...]
- The only extra on-set. Lingang City, Shanghai.
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I’ve visited Shanghai several times since 2006 but this was my first visit to the extraordinary new development of Lingang City. Home to the world’s biggest port, Yangshan deep water port, as with so many Chinese grand infrastructure projects, it is at once stunning, breathtaking and extraordinary. The place was designed by German architects – [...]
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