Financial Times has published an extraordinary and comprehensive special on the future of cities, with articles addressing trends urban centers, the discussion on urban centers and residential peripheries, urban regeneration, the new impetus for investment in transport and urban mobility, the relationship between urban life and community health, the emergence of a new urban democracy supported by new technologies , etc. They are extensive articles in many cases, with a variety of references and personal testimonials from urban thinkers and managers, and together they offer a very complete image of the most current issues that revolve around the urban transformation that the world is experiencing.
It is hard to imagine that a “traditional” media in Spain could publish something like this…..
Guardian also has its own space dedicated to analyzing urban trends, in this case linked (and sponsored) by IBM, a company that has been positioning itself in the urban services market for a few months through its analysis platform Smarter Cities, linked to the broader Smarter Planet. A more partial vision emerges from this collaboration, because, evidently, the company that supports the publication of these articles has a technological nature and seeks to place in the debate the solutions that address urban problems and needs. they can be offered from technology (ultimately, it can offer itself). A more specialized vision, but equally exhaustive and that serves to disseminate the digitization process of urban life.
It is hard to imagine that a “traditional” media in Spain could publish something like this…..
These are two examples, coinciding in time, of the interest that urban issues arouse in some foreign media. I suppose that my subjective vision makes me think that these are transcendental issues that should have space in the media, but I can admit that they are not so relevant. It is enough to take a look at the “Most read news” section in the digital editions of the main newspapers to understand that this topic, nor many other highly relevant ones, is not of great social interest nor does the media pay attention to it.
But the fact that the most prestigious foreign media dedicate monographic specials or fixed sections on the world of cities suggests that in other places there is a greater awareness that what happens in cities has a direct impact on the quality of life, on the technological development of countries, on cultural and social development, …. I do not forget that some media in particular have their small section of architectural criticism in their cultural weekly, others in their specialized blogs have a space dedicated to more or less Less related, some free newspaper that has now disappeared has been able to have a firm with its own section on urban analysis and, yes, from time to time there are reports that go beyond architectural criticism or reports on municipal corruption. But my feeling is that the debate on urban issues with a global vision in the Spanish media is very low compared to other foreign media.
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