Good day my good friend.

Times are looking tough, aren’t they? But falling into doomism, no matter how tempting, easy, or ‘realistic’ it is, can only be temporary. Brighter futures are possible, and positive change only comes through fighting for it. Whilst we’d love it to be so, nobody ever said the fight would be easy.

If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.

James

Infrastructure as political behaviours

Major infrastructure projects have often been used as political tools. In the UK, the most famous example is the Humber Bridge, which started life as an off-the-cuff promise made in a by-election and is now a pretty impressive feat of engineering. But more interesting is this example of the link between roads and politics in Columbia.

The outcomes are not so much a question of the relative value of infrastructure projects either as an economic or political tool, but of the transparency by which they are procured. There is a strong risk that political deals undermine effective procurement and the selection of appropriate projects that achieve the best return on investment. Too often, these deals are hidden from view.

There is a lot more interest in sustainability innovations in cities than ever before

Sorry to all your traditionalists out there, but technological innovations are part of the way that we tackle the various crises that are affecting our cities. If you want to know what is driving these various innovations, this new literature review does a pretty decent summary of them. Or, to summarise more succintly:

We have identified four main perspectives through which the scholars discourse the…dimensions in the smart city context: technology perspective, organizational perspective, social innovation perspective with citizen engagement, as well as system-level changes with innovation ecosystems.

Random things

These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.

• Bill Gates is funding a controversial climate fix that could save the Earth – or doom it (Inverse)

• A 4-year-old can run errands alone … and not just on reality TV (NPR)

• Mexico City and the pitfalls of becoming a remote work destination (Vox)

• Citymapper Has Just Launched An Elizabeth Line Journey Planner! (Londonist)

• The Future of Public Parks (New Yorker)

Something interesting

Turns out, if you put a propeller on a bike, its a lot of fun!

If you do nothing else today, then do this

Thank you Tim Gent for pointing out this play about Robert Moses currently showing in London. If you are that way, I have heard that it’s a good one and worth your time.