Monthly Archives: February 2014

CULTURE IS ECONOMY – OR MAYBE NOT? (TAKE 2)

by Ares Kalandides The other day, following an “unfortunate” speech by the Greek minister of Culture and Sports, I offered some thoughts on culture and the creative economy (here on this blog). Only the day after, on Sunday 23rd February … Continue reading

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“Culture is economy” – or maybe not?

by Ares Kalandides On 20th of February 2014, the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos delivered the opening speech of the EU conference ‘Financing Creativity’ in Athens. The aim of the conference was to address models of … Continue reading

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Misplaced Perceptions of Urban Development beyond ‘the West’

By Renard Teipelke “I was so negatively surprised: This city looks exactly like a city in Europe or the US.” (…) “I couldn’t believe how they can do so much wrong – it is so different from our cities.” I … Continue reading

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Bogotá – the Decades of Transformation*

by Ares Kalandides When, in 2012 UNESCO decided to include Bogotá in the network of creative cities, the surprise was huge: the city of drugs and kidnapping, of violence and of civil war, a “creative city”? Yes, it is hard … Continue reading

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Pick of the Day: African Cities and the Evil of Global City Development Paradigms

By Renard Teipelke A critical discussion about “Global Cities” is neither new to this blog (see for instance 1, 2, 3) nor to the community of critical geographic research. However, our understanding of “Global Cities” and “Ordinary Cities” in the … Continue reading

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Pick of the day: Flipping the corruption myth

“This geographical division fits squarely with mainstream views, which see corruption as the scourge of the developing world (cue cliché images of dictators in Africa and bribery in India). But is this storyline accurate? […] But this is just the … Continue reading

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COBRA: Looking for Opportunities in Weak Rural Areas

by Ares Kalandides Last year our team completed a Regional Development Plan for a part of Niederlausitz in Brandenburg, an area physically marked by open lignite mines and poor lands, by structurally low economic performance, high unemployment and an aging … Continue reading

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Crowdfunding Urbanism – Breaking New Ground in Civic Participation

by Valentin Schipfer To be honest, I have never parted with Euros for any crowdfunding project until today. I suppose ideas on http://www.kickstarter.com , http://www.indiegogo.com or similar platforms have not yet convinced me enough. Probably I did not enthuse and … Continue reading

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