Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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I want to ride my bicycle: smart cities and the Danish concept of ‘hygge’
City planners could learn a lot from Copenhagen’s approach to cycling, argues COLIN TODHUNTER
TRANQUIL: A cyclist in Copenhagen
[Pic: Kristoffer Trolle]
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
INDIAN cities are in crisis. Spend any length of time in a large city there and you will notice the overcrowding, the power and water shortages and, during monsoon, the streets that transform into stinking, litter-strewn rivers.
At times, these cities can be almost unbearable to live in. Little wonder then that the concept of “smart cities” is taking hold among policy-makers, however fundamentally flawed or cynical the strategy to implement the notion seems to be.
And, not least of course, there is the horrendous traffic chaos and congestion, the choking pollution and the increasing number of massive concrete flyovers — monstrosities that have taken their place among so many other architectural monstrosities that blight the typical Indian city.
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