Tag Archives: creativity

The Digitized City – The book

This new book describes the tectonic shift unfolding where digital devices with their disruptive potential are changing cities, society and social life, connectivity, the economy and cultural life. Its impacts and influence will be as powerful as the climactic changes … Read More

A deeper yearning

Competitions, awards and accolades are proliferating. They act as a way of encouraging the trajectories of urban change. I have been involved in several juries and looked at over 750 proposals from across the world and they all have different … Read More

The balancing act

Three complex dilemmas have emerged with greater force. They are the balance of power between the city and state; the evolving balance between the virtual and the real and the balance between focusing on risk aversion or on promoting creativity. … Read More

The PUBLIC Symposium:

International change makers & their transformative ideas There is a deep yearning for shared experiences and shared conversation as well as desire for projects, places and platforms where such encounters can unfold. It focuses our attention on the great virtues … Read More

Emerging themes April 2015

A shift is happening and it could be significant. Three issues jump into the foreground and they are linked to three words: ‘human’, ‘public’ and ‘start-up’. There is the Human Cities project led by St. Etienne, involving 12 places across … Read More

The City 1.0, The City 2.0 & The City 3.0

Preface People complain how complex urban transformation is and how it might be possible to describe this in understandable terms. In giving talks I have discovered a very simple and useful way to characterize the different phases of urban development … Read More

Co-Innovating at Speed: The Shaking Hans Project

N.I.C.E. is the Network for Innovation in Culture and Creativity in Europe and at the Forum d´Avignon Ruhr on the 27th and 28th June 2013, held at the famous rejuvenated Zeche Zollverien in Essen, it instigated an imaginative experiment to … Read More

The personality of cities

I always like thinking of cities as if they were a person. It makes it easier for me to get a grip on them. Traditionally when we assess a city we look at its employment rate, its industries, its locational … Read More

Starting the Conversation

I am really pleased to be starting a regular blog. I realize that I have not communicated very well with the people I have met over the years in many countries and others who have contacted me. This way I … Read More