We all know our world is increasingly urbanized, but what makes a city smart? A sense of place, for starters, says Ian MacFarlane, consultant for National Geographic Channel’s Smart Cities program. “A city needs a heart and soul—typically the center, where people congregate for work and leisure. Smart cities are well-connected
SAVE THE DATE: The United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) Culture Summit will be hosted by the City of Bilbao, on the 18th until the 20th of March 2015. The process to elaborate the new Agenda 21 for culture was initiated by the Committee on Culture in 2013 through subsequent
UCLG and its members are advocating for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that take local and regional priorities into account, in particular in the light of the rapid urbanization faced by many regions of the world. These SDG’s include a specific urban goal: to make cities and human settlement inclusive, sage, resilient and sustainable. If
Valletta, Malta, is preparing itself for becoming European Capital of Culture in 2018. Newspaper MaltaToday speaks to filmmaker Kenneth Scicluna, fresh off the set of ‘Elegija’ – a short film inspired by the poetry of Doreen Micallef, to be screened at the upcoming Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. The Malta Mediterranean
The Valletta 2018 Foundation is the body responsible for Valletta’s journey towards the title of European Capital of Culture in 2018. Chairman Jason Micallef was quoted in the media as saying that the Foundation has to be funded to invest in tools that will help it address the challenges Valletta
Birmingham has ruled out a bid for the European Capital of Culture crown after deciding the costs outweighed the benefits. The city council will not join the race for the title in 2023, despite losing out to Liverpool in 2008. Birmingham has followed Manchester, which said it was aimed at “smaller cities”.
Fifteen years ago I worked in the private sector as a proposal writer for an I.T. services firm. I sat in board meetings with some pretty high-level people. And much of the conversation involved words like “export,” “delivery of services,” “marketability,” and “strategic positioning.” What’s disturbing is that I now sit
A rendering of the new Museum for African Art, with its soaring four-story wall, curved ceiling of rare Ghanaian wood and elaborate spiraling staircase, still sits on an easel in an unfinished concrete skeleton facing Central Park. But those distinctive features and the $135 million budget that would have paid for
Recently appointed head of Italy’s department of cultural heritage, Dario Franceschini, announced a suite of reforms to his organization and its subsidiaries across the country, on Monday, L’Espresso reports. The reforms were spurred by the need to eliminate at least 37 top-level positions within the department in order to comply with new
In recent years, the growth and development of digital applications and elaborate interpretive designs for museums and cultural heritage sites have been nothing short of explosive. Every major site and museum– it seems– wants, or is persuaded, to continually renovate and improve its visitor experience. As I have written over the
VanGoYourself is the first Europeana Creative pilot launched, which went live in May 2014 as part of Culture24’s Museums at Night festival of late night openings in the UK. The website encourages people to recreate a painting with their friends and share the photograph in their social media channels. The paintings come (via Europeana) from a
IGCAT recently posted a review in Amazon of the book “The Age of Culture” by D. Paul Schafer. According to IGCAT: “This book inspires passion and a great deal of soul searching as to how and where culture and arts got lost in their importance in today’s society. The exceptional author,
Delhi is a step closer to earning the prestigious tag of a World Heritage City, as the Ministry of Culture has sent a full-fledged dossier to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in January on the matter. UNESCO officials will visit the national capital around September to examine
“80% of people in the United States now live in cities. They have to be fed.” So begins the trailer for Growing Cities(embedded below) and the film itself stays true to this simple but important idea. Visiting urban farming projects across the USA, stars and creators Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette
Berlin’s new cultural affairs secretary, Tim Renner is worried that the city’s fast-moving economic development might force artists and other culture-creators out of the city by 2030, he told the Berliner Zeitung. As part of his entree into the role, Renner says that he sat down with key members of his new
Brussels, 19th-20th June – On the Move participated in the two-day seminar on Artists’ mobility, social security and taxation in the EU convened by the European commission – DG Education and Culture. OTM was commissioned, via the EENC network*, to prepare an analytical report on the issue, which served as the background document of the event and was completed
