Some corona crisis lessons so far: execution, not ideas, make the difference; China is no longer passive in its positioning for power; activism’s coming of age; tourism and architecture set to change.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Under Xi, China seems much more willing to demonstrate openly that it is the region’s preponderant power (…) and that other Asian countries should fall into line.” – Shashi Tharoor
Steven Weber and Nils Gilman, The Long Shadow Of The Future
(Noéma, 10 June 2020)
With the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re living through a real-time natural experiment on a global scale. The difference in performance of countries, cities and regions in the face of the pandemic is a live test of the effectiveness, capacity and legitimacy of governments, leaders and social contracts. The pandemic has revealed how valuable it is for governments to have operational expertise, plan for the long-term and socialize certain risks. An interesting observation that applies to the fight against the pandemic: ideas are cheap and easy while execution (what truly matters) is hard (reads in about 15 min).
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Shashi Tharoor, China’s “Peaceful Rise” Vanishes in Thin Air
(Project Syndicate, 8 June 2020)
This is an Indian perspective in the recent clashes that took place between China and India in the Himalayas. According to Tharoor (a former UN under-secretary-general and Indian minister), the message is clear: the latest act of Chinese belligerence marks a shift in the longstanding status quo at the border that augurs the end of China’s self-proclaimed “peaceful rise.” China is now the region’s preponderant power, and everyone else should fall in line (reads in 6-7 min).
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Christopher de Bellaigue, The End of Tourism?
(The Guardian, 18 June 2020)
The pandemic has devastated global tourism, with many saying ‘good riddance’. Tourism is an unusual industry in that the assets it monetises (like a view, a reef, and a cathedral) do not belong to it, and yet it pays little towards the upkeep of the public goods it lives off. Is there any way to reinvent an industry that does so much damage and is yet so vital economically (in terms of growth and employment)? The article doesn’t really respond to that question, but it makes an interesting read nonetheless. The incontrovertible conclusion: the industry will have to change (reads in 15 min+).
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Ronald Brownstein, The Rage Unifying Boomers and Gen Z
(The Atlantic, 18 June 2020)
This article focuses on protests in the US, but its analysis and conclusions are valid for other countries as well. Enormous differences separate today’s protest movements from those of the 1960s (it was then a revolution of rising expectations, it is today a struggle to gain a foothold), but they may ultimately prove united by the magnitude of the change they impose. The recent massive demonstrations show the culmination of the disparate strands of activism that have fuelled youth-led movements over the past decade: climate change, gun control, immigration, and inequities of gender (#MeToo) and race (Black Lives Matter) (reads in 9-10 min).
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Kyle Chayka, How the Coronavirus Will Reshape Architecture
(The New Yorker, 17 June 2020)
It starts with an interesting insight: much of modernist architecture can be understood as a consequence of the fear of disease, a desire to eradicate dark rooms and dusty corners where bacteria lurk. In recent months, we have arrived at a new juncture of disease and architecture, where fear of contamination again controls what kinds of spaces we want to be in. This article, rich and dense, explains how this will affect our homes, offices, and also the city space (reads in about 15 min).
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