Tag Archives: In Conversation With

An engineer has devised a vertical farming system to grow green vegetables for the densely populated city-state, using very little water or energy and producing ten times the output per hectare of traditional cultivation methods.As the world’s population continues to grow and move into urban areas, feeding people in cities is recognised as a big challenge. Land is a precious commodity that is often threatened by over-farming, fertilisers pollute waterways, and chemicals to control pests and...

The digital revolution has launched a wave of innovation in the world’s cities, says MIT’s Carlo Ratti, providing opportunities to improve urban mobility and create better workspaces for the changing nature of work. These are exciting times for cities, according to Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab and co-founder of Carlo Ratti Associati architecture studio. Although they occupy just 2 per cent of the...

The digital revolution has launched a wave of innovation in the world’s cities, says MIT’s Carlo Ratti, providing opportunities to improve urban mobility and create better workspaces for the changing nature of work.These are exciting times for cities, according to Carlo Ratti, Director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab and co-founder of Carlo Ratti Associati architecture studio. Although they occupy just 2 per cent of the Earth’s surface, they are home to more than half the world’s population,...

Two entrepreneurs have developed a simple technology that can generate renewable energy from ocean waves at a price that is competitive with solar power – attracting interest from cities all over the world.More than a billion people live without electricity, mostly in developing countries. Their cities often have access to electricity, but emissions from power plants create high levels of air pollution, which expose their inhabitants to health risks. And bills for imported fuels are rising...

The Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme describes the reasons why more than half the world’s population has moved into cities and the challenges that need to be confronted to reap the benefits.For almost all of human history, people have lived in small towns, villages or the countryside. But the proportion of the world’s population living in cities has rapidly grown over the last two centuries, from 5 per cent in 1800, to 13 per cent in 1900 and 34 per cent by 1960. In...

Published: Tuesday November 07 2017Stephen Barber digs into the foundations of sustainable investment.Humans are not, by nature, very sustainable. We collapse and dissolve all too soon.It’s because life is so desperately brief for all of us that a capacity to think and act sustainably is such a daunting task – yet, when achieved, it is also a deeply impressive concept. Housed in fragile bodies, daily subject to short-term appetites, we are sometimes nevertheless capable of identifying with...

Published: Monday November 06 2017Two sixth-generation members of the Boghossian family are continuing to develop high-end jewellery with their father and uncle, blending Eastern and Western cultures to create contemporary masterpieces.In the exclusive world of high-end jewellers, the Geneva-based Boghossian House is making waves with stunning pieces of fine and high jewellery that reflect its Armenian heritage. Now run by the fifth and sixth generations of the family, its origins date back...

Published: Friday November 03 2017Peace Boat, founded by a group of Japanese students over three decades ago, sails around the world, enabling people to engage across borders, fostering dialogue and mutual cooperation – a floating bridge between culturesThe world faces many serious challenges, such as armed conflicts, nuclear threats, poverty, disease and environmental threats – and finding solu­tions often seems to be beyond the reach of individuals and communities. But in 1983, a Japanese...

Published: Thursday November 02 2017Olivier Capt says that technology will transform the wealth management industry, leading to higher client engagement, better advice and superior service.Winston Churchill once said: ‘Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.’ This is exactly what technology is driving today. Intense simplification is at work in all industries and customers now purchase, book, compare and select without relying on intermediaries.Humans are known to be lazy...

Published: Wednesday November 01 2017The former UN climate chief who presided over the negotiations that led to the 2015 Paris agreement on global warming is now urging investors, businesses and policymakers to grab ‘the opportunity of the century’ and invest in an economy-wide transition to a low carbon world.Words like ‘2020’, ‘milestones’ and ‘optimism’ which are scribbled on the windows-cum-whiteboard in Christiana Figueres’ reception room give some clues into the thinking of the former...