To Move, To Think, To Work, To Breathe: French Capital Slashes Toxic Emissions!

#Paris City Hall: between 2017 and 2018, car traffic in the centre of France's capital changed by ▼6.0%, which reduced #airpollution by a comparable amount #France #Europe #cities

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

Not satisfied with achieving a record drop in #airpollution, the #Paris city authorities are pressing ahead with a plan to close off six central areas to traffic on the first Sunday of every month, starting on 07/10/2018 #France

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy: #Paris experiences just 9.1 bike accidents per million trips, compared to 22.3 in #London; present and future investments could render this large gap a chasm

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

To watch: quality of life issues such as #pollution, #transport and wealth inequality are already perceived as vital distinguishing points between cities, a trend which shows every sign of intensification #cities https://t.co/kqHl02Nbhw

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

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Big Trouble in Little Africa: Guangzhou Entrepreneur Hub ‘Evaporating’!

#Xinhua: the population of 'Little #Africa' in the #Chinese manufacturing metropolis of #Guangzhou has shrunk by 25% in just nine years (2009-2018) – and the decline could yet accelerate #China

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

#Guangzhou is home to the largest #African community in #Asia, and was for many years symbolic of the 'Chinese Dream' pursued by many entrepreneurs from the world's most-exploited continent #Africa

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

Analysis: incredibly exacting bureaucratic impositions have made trading in #China too onerous for many #African nationals for countries such as #Nigeria and #Mali; #Turkey and #Vietnam are increasingly preferred #business destinations

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

To watch: #China's aim of becoming a soft power superpower risk being crippled by administrative intransigence; the PRC should consider working with the African Union to streamline and simplify visa procedures #Africa #softpower https://t.co/gr0yGoGGjx

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

Amsterdamned: Dutch Metropolis ‘Europe’s Real No-Go Area’!

According to no less a figure than the city's official ombudsman, late-night #Amsterdam now resembles the Wild West, with a general breakdown of law and order which raises uncomfortable political + philosophical questions

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Arre Zuurmond, Municipal Ombudsman for #Amsterdam: a poisonous combination of criminal money, weak central authority and an alarming lack of police has turned #Amsterdam into an 'urban jungle'

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Analysis (1): #Amsterdam does many things very well, but it needs to rethink what kind of tourists and nightlife it wants to cultivate – as well as provide adequate resources to desperately overstretched public services

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Analysis (2): the drug and prostitution laws of #Amsterdam and indeed #Holland are more nuanced than they are given credit for, but these nevertheless have had the effect of sending out problematic signals

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

To watch: #Amsterdam's slow degradation into a #city in which the basic tenets of lawful #life are often ignored entirely should at least spark a debate about whether #libertarian positions can end up eroding the very idea of public space if pushed too far https://t.co/pBHNqz109G

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

All Aboard the Gravy Train: #HS2 ‘Channels Inner Fat Controller’!

Financial Times: the UK's controversial #HS2 high-speed railway project has eaten up £4.1bn/€4.6bn of public money before the laying of a single brick; this figure is almost half the cost of the entire #HS1 line

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

FT: #HS2 Limited – the company inaugurated to build the deeply divisive #London-Birmingham #rail connection – spent a stunning £0.6bn/€0.67bn on consultants alone in just a single financial year (2017-18)

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

The 'global' figure of £4.1bn/€4.6bn for the 'preliminary' #HS2 phase excludes at least £6.6bn/€7.4bn in construction contracts; amazingly, about 80% of the land and property required for the London-Birmingham line has also yet to be purchased

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

Analysis: while large #infrastructure projects have a tendency to go over budget, #HS2 already risks breaking a series of unwanted records in this context; Britain's embarrassing #HSR deficit is no excuse for what in many other countries would be perceived as grotesque graft

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

To watch: the #HS2 fiasco illustrates all too graphically that an enormous number of companies lack any developed notion of #corporate #social responsibility; until society as a whole takes #CSR seriously, fiscal 'events' will be the norm https://t.co/PBIOGRstU8 #edu #geography

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

King is Cash: Moroccan Monarch ‘Sprays Money on Medinas’!

#Morocco has allocated €300m/US$351.9m for the purpose of renovating its historic medinas as urban renewal finally climbs up the domestic agenda #architecture #urbanstudies #cities

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 21, 2018

#Morocco's push to renew its walled, maze-like urban cores will see the fabric of cities such as Fez, Casablanca, Marrakech and Rabat given a fresh lease of life, with Casablanca alone getting €69m/US$80.93m to refurbish dilapidated buildings #cities

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 21, 2018

Recent urban projects in #Morocco – such as the stunning Casablanca-Tangier high-speed rail line – have been criticised for largely catering to the richer segments of society, a charge which is difficult to level in this instance

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 21, 2018

To watch: #Morocco hosted north of 10m tourists in 2016, approximately a 400% increase on the 1995 figure; closer attention to urban consolidation and improving infrastructure will likely reap further enormous dividends https://t.co/WlkmSStnfm

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 21, 2018

Seeking Knowledge, Especially in China: PRC Tops New Asian #Education League Table!

Chinese Ministry of #Education ('MOE'): #China has become #Asia's biggest destination for overseas #students, and this trend is only accelerating #highered #CollegeAdmissions

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 16, 2018

2017 figures indicate that there were 489,200 foreign nationals #studying in #China, including 75,800 postgraduates or post-doctoral researchers; overall year-on-year growth came in at a seismic 18.62% #internationalstudents

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 16, 2018

Intriguingly, the number of #internationalstudents in #China hailing from Belt and Road Initiative ('BRI') countries – an enormously diverse group of states stretching from #Morocco to #Indonesia – grew 11.6% from 2016 to 2017, an expansion rate below the #global average #edchat

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 16, 2018

Analysis: large and wealthy cities such as #Beijing and #Shanghai are absorbing many of the #internationalstudents heading to China to pursue #highered opportunities, but smaller cities are also hosting significant numbers of foreign knowledge-seekers + becoming more cosmopolitan

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 16, 2018

To watch: the rapid development of #China's #highered sector is evidenced by #internationalstudents' course choices, which are switching from #Chinese to subjects such as law, engineering + #management https://t.co/ldYRmqZPdd

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 16, 2018

Classic American Sitcom Legacy Latest: Eastern Europe ‘Looks Like Central Perk’!

#Euromonitor: #Russia added around 1,000 #coffee shops in just five years (2012-2016) as the northern chunk of Eastern #Europe warms up to global coffee culture

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 3, 2018

Eastern #Europe's #coffee market – which is dominated by #Russia and #Poland – enjoyed a year-on-year change of ▲5.3% in 2016 to reach US$7.45bn #lifestyle

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 3, 2018

The growth trajectory of 'third place' #coffee is reaching stunning levels in #Poland, where the number of branded #cafés grew #14% in just twelve months (Q4/2016 to Q4/2017)

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 3, 2018

Analysis: while the embrace of #coffee culture in countries such as #Poland and #Russia is startling, there is still plenty of room for expansion as per capita consumption remains far behind #Scandinavia and ex-#Yugoslavia

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 3, 2018

To watch: the number of specialty #coffee shops in #Poland has risen from just one as recently as 2010 to at least 40 in 2017, despite the cost of a single #cappuccino representing an entire hour's salary on the minimum wage https://t.co/3M3niJU2Mb

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) May 3, 2018