Tag Archives: sustainibility

by | 16/04/2012 · 14:00

The Zabbaleen – Functional Informal Waste Management in Cairo – Part I

By Jakob Hebsaker and Renard Teipelke*

Waste management might belong to those urban issues that are best managed when we do not recognize them. Once we are complaining about dirty streets or overflowing trash cans, we are reminded of hidden waste management being a true backbone of the urban system. In Cairo, Egypt, the waste management system has its roots in the 1880s. Former oasis inhabitants, the Wahis, were migrating into Cairo and started to earn their living by picking up the waste of every household and selling it to public baths which used the waste for heating. After oil heating replaced the waste burning in the 1920s, the Wahis began to sell the waste to Coptic immigrants from the South of Egypt which used the organic waste of the trash for feeding their pigs. Continue reading →

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by | 07/12/2011 · 18:04

Creative Cities International — The Vitality Index (VI)

by Brendan Colgan

Last summer Creative Cities International (CCI) launched a new cultural impact study in the U.S.  entitled the Vitality Index (VI) [click here for the report]. The study aims to model the “human experience of the city at its heart.” In practice, it is a ranking and assessment which applies the same level of rigor to qualitative factors as it does quantitative ones. It brings to life a city’s human strengths as it respects its complexities: a vibrant downtown, an engaged populace, educational opportunity, economic sustainability, good transport, diversity of population and opportunity, and a citizenry that embraces its history and culture. I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Linda Lees, director of CCI, about their recent study: Continue reading →

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by | 27/10/2011 · 18:39

Second Call for Papers | Mediterranean Tourism Conference in Antalya April 2012

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in:polis | urbanism in cooperation with the School of Tourism and Hotel Management (Akdeniz University Antalya) are happy to announce the Second Call for Papers for the Conference “Destination Management and Branding in the Mediterranean Region” to be held in Antalya in April 2012.

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by | 28/09/2011 · 09:58

NEMONA – An Interview

By Caspar Lundsgaard-Hansen & Renard Teipelke

In our last article, we introduced NEMONA – a prime example of local network initiatives in sustainable urban development with a thematic focus on the fashion production in Berlin. In order to gain further insight into this model project, we asked Daniela Fleig and Sabine Hülsebus, both project managers at NEMONA, to explain the project regarding urban issues like neighbourhood regeneration, community participation in northern Neukölln and local economic development. Continue reading →

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by | 17/06/2011 · 08:00

Mediterranean Tourism Conference

in:polis | urbanism in cooperation with the School of Tourism and Hotel Management (Akdeniz University Antalya) are happy to announce the first edition of the Conference “Destination Management and Branding in the Mediterranean Region” to be held in Antalya in April 2012. Departing from the ongoing economic and political crisis in the region, we will discuss the role of sustainable tourism. Accordingly bearing the title “Sustainable Tourism in Times of Crisis,” the first edition of this conference will aim at a broad understanding of the complexity of tourism, ranging from topics like marketing and management to ecologic and social challenges and conflicts. Also, the conference will enrich the dialogue between various actors from different disciplines and different parts of the Mediterranean region by discussing the role of governance and networks as well as the impacts of tourism on society and culture. The exchange between the participants about best practice examples can result in a common understanding of sustainable tourism that will function as the base for further thoughts about destination management and branding.

Visit our conference website for further information about themes and subthemes here.

Please find the first Call for Papers here. The exact venue and the fees will be announced shortly.

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by | 12/06/2011 · 01:00

2nd Nordic Urban Workshop at Stockholm University 25th-26th October 2011

Welcome to the second Nordic Urban workshop, a two-day meeting directed towards PhD students and young researchers studying urban dynamics from a broad range of disciplines.
The workshop features a key lecture and a career strategy discussion, along with parallel sessions to discuss each other´s work. This will provide you with good opportunities to discuss ideas in an informal atmosphere while presenting your work in an international setting and expanding your network.

Keynote Lecture: Cities and Sexualities, by Phil Hubbard Continue reading →

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by | 08/06/2011 · 09:23

The Gulf Emirates: Urbanity – Vision – Gambling

By Renard Teipelke

SPIEGEL journalist Alexander Smoltczyk has done something that was long overdue: unveiling the Gulf Emirates’ strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of an urbanist. The German article is about post-petrol economies, their skyrocketing progress during the past 50 years, their existence in one of the world’s most barren land, and about their (constantly changing, nevertheless long-term) strategy for a fruitful development.

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by | 30/05/2011 · 20:01

Four Days of Critical Geography: 4th Nordic Geographers Meeting in Roskilde, Denmark

By Renard Teipelke

From May 24th to 27th 2011, more than 200 scholars met in Roskilde, Denmark, for the 4th Nordic Geographers Meeting – an international conference not only for geographers, but also for experts from other disciplines (such as political science, sociology, economics and marketing) who deal with the issue of space in their research. Organized and hosted by the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change of Roskilde University, the conference with the theme “Geographical Knowledge, Nature and Practice” provided the room for discussing the importance of places of knowledge and their possible class-ridden, gendered, or ethnocentric character.

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by | 16/05/2011 · 10:19

11th Symposium of the Humboldt Economics Forum: Growth and/or Sustainability!? – Part III

<<< Read Part I

<<< Read Part II

by Renard Teipelke

Part III

The dilemma between growth and sustainability was supposed to be ‘solved’ by the last panel on which Professor Meyer (University of Osnabrück) underscored that all the well-intentioned objectives of a ecologically and socially more friendly development needs to be made the central element of the current political agenda. Oddly enough for economists, Professor Meyer and Professor Burda (Humboldt University Berlin) saw the state as the sole capable actor to force market players into the right direction (a.k.a. ‘offer the right incentives’ – since any notion of socialist methods is to be avoided).

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by | · 10:19

11th Symposium of the Humboldt Economics Forum: Growth and/or Sustainability!? – Part II

<<< Read Part I

>>> Read Part III

by Renard Teipelke

Part II

Addressing the relationship between developed and developing coutnries, Professor Irmen (University of Luxemburg) reminded the audience that the highly developed countries will not be capable of dictating the emerging countries how to grow. London-based development expert Sanou Mbaye furthered this idea for the African case when remarking that we cannot rule out 400 years of European-African history. Despite China’s efforts on the African continent, Mbaye emphasized that the clear strategy of the rising world power has nothing to do with a sustainable development but that this evidently leads to a future relationship between China as the economic heavy weight and the African continent as her extended workbench.

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