• OPINION

  How remote work withers our social networks

  News, Published on 05/12/2022

  » Since the start of the Covid pandemic more than 2.5 years ago, there have been endless debates about working remotely. At first Zoom and Teams software inspired optimistic futurists to announce that the office was now irrelevant. Then, a militant return-to-the-office demand rose to defy them. The most recent prominent boast came from Tesla founder Elon Musk who told employees: "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum, and I mean minimum of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla."

• OPINION

  Where is World Expo 2020 host Dubai leading us?

  Oped, Published on 18/03/2022

  » 'Connecting minds, creating the future", the slogan of World Expo 2020, is everywhere in Dubai. The ongoing event, which opened a year late in October 2021, is the first of its kind since the beginning of the pandemic. Few other places in the world are as future-oriented as Dubai. But what kind of future does Dubai want? The city has established itself as a model for the emerging urban centres of Asia and the Middle East, so its choices today could have far-reaching consequences in the future.

• OPINION

  World cities and the climate-data collection gap

  Oped, Published on 21/01/2022

  » With cities facing disastrous climate stresses and shocks in the coming years, one would think they would be rushing to implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. Yet most urban residents are only dimly aware of the risks, because their cities' mayors, managers, and councils are not collecting or analysing the right kinds of information.

• OPINION

  How Melbourne rescheduled its entire future

  Oped, Published on 01/12/2021

  » Melbourne is not the most distinctive of Australia's cities. It does not have Sydney's sandy beaches or Brisbane's rugged, Crocodile Dundee appeal. Lying on a flat plain, crossed by a meandering river, it is an urban agglomeration of some 10,000 square kilometres -- six times the size of London -- consisting of a dense urban core surrounded by sprawling suburbs.

• OPINION

  Helsinki rises to climate crisis challenge

  Oped, Published on 22/10/2021

  » Among the many misleading beliefs about climate change, one in particular has too often gone unchallenged. This is the idea that temperature increases will negatively affect only warmer regions, while making polar climates milder and more pleasant. In fact, extreme weather and rising sea levels in colder countries will far outweigh the benefits of warmer winters.

• LIFE

  Wrapping of Arc de Triomphe begins in Christo tribute

  AFP, Published on 13/09/2021

  » PARIS: A first giant sheet of fabric was draped down the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday as work started to wrap the monument in a tribute to late artist Christo.

• OPINION

  Singapore is a laboratory for urban mobility

  Oped, Published on 13/08/2021

  » Tiziano Terzani was no fan of Singapore. The Florentine writer and journalist explored every corner of Asia. He had witnessed the fall of Saigon to the People's Army of Vietnam, and the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge. When he visited Singapore, he concluded all it had to offer was its airport: "The concentration of everything Singapore has to show: its efficiency, its cleanliness, its order." Otherwise, the wealthy city-state was nothing more to him than "the largest supermarket of consumer goods, futility, and prissiness in Asia".

• OPINION

  The death of inner cities is greatly exaggerated

  Oped, Published on 23/04/2021

  » The end of the office, the end of the university campus, the death of the city. The past months of pandemic doom and gloom have witnessed many dire predictions. A common theme has been that our new-found, battle-hardened ability to live and work remotely will render physical space obsolete. Yet, after countless lockdowns, quarantines and Zoom sessions, I would put forward an opposite proposition: embracing and reimagining the space of our cities will soon be more powerful -- and more necessary -- than ever before.

• BUSINESS

  Boats join self-driving tech race

  Business, Associated Press, Published on 15/09/2017

  » BOSTON: Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years -- but autonomous boats could be just around the pier.

• TECH

  Amsterdam to pilot world's first 'self-drive' boats

  AFP, Published on 21/09/2016

  » THE HAGUE - Amsterdam's iconic canals may soon see the world's first driverless boats, doing everything from moving people and goods to providing "pop-up" bridges and cleaning up thousands of dumped bicycles, the project's scientists said.

1 2 Next Last