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Looking back, to look forwards

Nov 2017 | Personal, Thinkpiece

I have a confession to make. It was not until 2014, just before my second year at BUILD (Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues), that I fully understood the role of its initiator, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS). I had been describing...

What is a community?

Mar 2017 | Thinkpiece

Communities Week 2017 provided a refreshing reminder of how local communities continue to take action on the issues that affect them, without apology or permission. It reminded me, too, of many national conversations I have been party to around how to support,...

Magnetic cities

Oct 2016 | Thinkpiece

During my third year at BUILD (Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues), organised by the German Marshall Fund of the United States) we talked a lot about magnetic cities and what it takes to create one. In discussion with leaders from a range of...

Gun crime – a view from the UK

Jun 2016 | Thinkpiece

When Jo Cox MP met her untimely death, holding a constituency surgery on 16 June, I mused over the reaction to this tragedy in comparison to the mass shooting in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub four days earlier. Why had this single event, on a small island, provoked such...