Affairs
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A decade after designation, has Detroit’s Unesco status brought benefits or is it just branding?
This year, Detroit is celebrating its 10th year as a Unesco City of Design. Has the title truly transformed the former industrial metropolis, or is it only a glossy label covering deeper struggles?
Visionary ‘sponge city’ architect Kongjian Yu dies in Brazil plane crash
The pioneering architect’s death casts new light on his radical vision for greener, flood-resilient cities – ideas he shared with The Urbanist in a 2024 interview.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff on the ‘moron’ president’s ‘incredible incompetence’
Trump’s second act is less a comeback than a test of the US system. This, at least, is the argument advanced by the author who has chronicled Trump’s rise, chaos and survival.
Recognising Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic – but symbols are powerful
Update 22nd September 2025:The UK, Australia and Canada have formally recognised the state of Palestine in a joint move ahead of the UN General Assembly. The decision, which follows similar steps by France and…
US mayors have a chance to keep the White House at bay – but they must be more vocal
The eternal internal conflict of the US is often delineated as between the federal government and the states. “States’ rights” regularly serve as a battle cry for the kind of conservatives – including, up…
Trump’s UK state visit: The true cost of glitz and glam diplomacy
Helicopters, motorcades and champagne banquets – Donald Trump’s second UK state visit was diplomacy at its most extravagant. But at what cost – and to whose benefit?
Corporate activism is melting under Trump 2.0. Ben & Jerry’s is the latest casualty
Jerry Greenfield’s exit from Ben & Jerry’s reflects a broader reckoning: socially minded business is struggling to survive in an era where activism is seen as a liability, not a strength.
Inside Paris’s secret gardens: How rooftop re-wilding projects are turning the city green
The busy boulevards and architecturally alluring buildings of Paris are, at first glance, unlikely to nourish green spaces - but there are plenty of people determined to bring nature to their city.
Lula turns Bolsonaro’s downfall into a win for Brazil’s democracy
The fall of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s mercurial hard-right former president, came gradually and then suddenly. After a steady, years-long drip of revelations about his time in office and months of judicial procedures and hearings,…
