2016
The past few weeks have been full of speculation as to the future of the Northern Powerhouse, the plan to create strong links between urban areas in northern England.
India wants 100 of them.
A recurring theme of this blog is how cities, rather than nations, will be on the front line tackling global challenges in the future.
Whilst working for UNESCO in Vietnam we hosted a training programme for senior Ministry of Education and Training staff on disaster risk reduction, looking at the role of policy makers in times of crisis.
The central paradox of the modern metropolis is that ‘proximity has become ever more valuable as the cost of connecting across long distance has fallen’, writes Ed Glaeser in Triumph of the City.
The returns to primary education (whether social or private) are the highest among all educational levels… Top priority should be given to primary education as a form of human resource investment.
Relations between regions will be the new international relations.
Having studied both history and international development, I’m always interested in work that bridges the two.
A new “Russell Group type” alliance of the top universities in Africa will bring together 15 universities from 8 countries.
Development practitioners call it brain drain.