The theme of International Women’s Day in 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge. Here at WBEF, we choose to seek out and celebrate women's contributions to the most important discussions around the future of the built and natural environment.
“During the cholera outbreak in Paris in 1832, almost 19,000 Parisians perished. Among the turmoil, rumours spread that King Louis-Philippe was poisoning people by having arsenic added to water wells. Panic and violence ensued, and the army and police struggled to maintain basic order. The lesson? Communications around impactful events need to be authoritative, clear, accurate and proactive.”
“When the World Bank started working on the issue of informal housing, they didn’t build the homes. They provided the site and the essential utilities: water, electricity, sewerage. They also made sure that there was a mechanism for borrowing a small amount of money so that you could build your own home. The actual house is not the most important thing.”
“Most likely, this will not be the last pandemic. What will make up the technical and design specificities of a “healthy building” in the post COVID-19 era? There is not one stand-alone solution, but a multi-pronged approach which can be broken down into four main areas of action.”
“While the connection between food and infrastructure is often seen through the prism of investment, when it comes to shock events, it is resilience that matters most. Political and economic resilience is the ability to bounce back from shocks or crises repeatedly, without jeopardising socio-cultural stability. Good food policy is about resilience, which ensures food security during the short-term, and offers bounce-back mechanisms in the long-term. The ultimate goal is food sovereignty.”
“In 1997, having lost the year before, an IBM computer named Deep Blue™ beat reigning world-champion Gary Kasparov by two games to one over a six-game series. It marked a watershed moment in the evolution of humankind’s relationship with machines. Deep Blue™ is now enjoying a hard-earned retirement in Washington DC’s Smithsonian museum. Were it capable of emotions, it might well be feeling much older than its 23 years of age; AI has come a long way since the late 1990s.”
“Over the summer months, as the major western economies began to transition out of extreme lockdown, many began to question what a return to normal would look like. Would we revert back to sluggish delivery of vitally needed active travel schemes or, worse still, see a rollback of all progress made through COVID-19 emergency responses?”
“In the last decade, countries in South Asia have experienced significant economic growth, driven by structural changes, market reforms and a dynamic and aspirational middle class. This progress has pulled millions out of poverty and seen substantive improvements across a range of human development indicators including health, education, and living standards. But COVID-19 is threatening to reverse many of these advances.”
“It isn’t yet possible to monitor capital flows into “build back better” projects. However, we are seeing promising trends in sustainable and digital investment
– two sectors that have the potential to achieve long-term transformative outcomes. Our tracking is also showing clear intent from governments to start thinking long-term about infrastructure.”