Last week at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, the Citistates Group unveiled what promises to be an engaging and provocative new online forum, Citiscope. Citiscope aims to be the “go to place to find the latest news and trends on fresh ideas, approaches, and ways to help the world’s cities work better for all their people.”
Stories are written by a global network of locally-rooted journalists, with expert viewpoints and analyses accompanying each one. Users are free to comment, share stories, and submit their own ideas. A knowledge network should go live later this spring.
One piece tells the story of “Neighborhood Mothers” in Berlin’s NeuKölln, who offer support to recent immigrants. Others reveal Singapore’s secret solution to congestion, relay lessons from Sao Paulo’s efforts to improve living standards in the city’s slums, and describe some the most promising and innovative features of Chicago’s ambitious climate action plan.
This should be a fun website to follow and watch grow--a timely new resource for keeping track of our ceaselessly globalizing metropolitan age.