Table of contents for N. 125 in Topos

Oh, hi there! I’m topos, the leading international magazine for urban planning from Munich, Germany. For me, everything revolves around the sustainable city of the future. Online, I spend 365 days a year dealing with the question: how will we live sustainably, healthily and technologized in the world’s future metropolises? In addition to my home www.toposmagazine.com, I am published four times a year as a print magazine (that’s what you are holding in your hands right now!). I address everyone who is interested in the smarter, greener city of the future and who works in, on and with the city. My readers include CEOs, mayors, architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers, digitalization specialists, researchers – simply everyone that is interested in urban development! My great passion is finding and analyzing…

4.5 kilometers long, up to three meters high and secured with barbed wire – in Lima, Peru, the so-called “Wall of Shame” has divided the rich and the poor for more than 40 years. The wall was built in the 1980s during years of violence from the Shining Path, a Maoist rebel group which intended to overthrow the government. The residents of the affluent La Molina district wanted to use it to protect themselves from the increasing violence. The rebel group was crushed in the 1990s, the wall remained and grew even longer. Now, after a four-year legal battle, the country's constitutional court has decided to tear down the wall that separates La Molina and the poorer district of Villa Maria del Triunfo. The wall is coming down, but the…

It is still one of the great social taboos that we prefer to avoid. Perhaps it is because I am a psychologist but friends and clients alike tend to tell me more about their sex lives, their core fears and how they feel about ageing and dying than they do about their finances. Where does this profound discomfort with talking about money come from? Is it a remnant of past societal rules, a fear of arousing envy or pity or is there an inherent internal connection between market value and self-worth? In my experience, unlike other vulnerable topics, talking about money is uncomfortable because it is not as much of a shared reality. Most people have experienced heartbreak and loss but experiences concerning money and all that goes along with…

Globally, one in five children lives in extreme poverty. A new report from UNICEF and the World Bank shows that over 330 million children worldwide are affected by the many dimensions of poverty. However, child poverty was decreasing prior to Covid-19. Experts from UNICEF and Plan International share their insights with us and make some recommendations for urban planners. A recent study by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and the World Bank, shows that an estimated 333 million children worldwide live in extreme poverty, meaning one in six children is affected, struggling to survive on less than $2.15 per day. According to Save the Children, 5.9 million children die each year, most of them in the world’s poorest communities and from preventable diseases. Over the last decade, child poverty worldwide…

Imagine having your period and not being able to buy hygienic products to deal with the flow. This is an everyday occurrence for more than three quarters of women, girls and those who menstruate in Lebanon, according to a 2021 study by the NGOs Plan International and Fe-Male. The country is experiencing one of the world’s worst economic crises with skyrocketing prices, meaning that sanitary pads now cost 500 percent more than in 2019 – and that is if you are lucky enough to find them in a store. Taboos around menstruation further complicate the issue. Let’s take a closer look at period poverty. Poverty in cities can take many different, often hidden forms. One example of this is period poverty, where menstruating people do not have safe and affordable…

People living in poverty are often excluded and stigmatized in Asian societies. Especially in a glitzy and ultra-modern capital like Taipei, people living in poverty can sometimes be almost invisible. However, there are people who have taken up the cause of better understanding the challenges and needs of poor people and creating awareness. Precarity in the form of poverty has been an ever-present issue even in economically advanced East Asian metropolises. In these cities, however, overshadowed by the abundance of wealth and spaces of consumption, poverty tends to be rather obscure and invisible. In Taipei, the center of a technologically and economically advanced society in Taiwan, this invisibility reflects the persistent societal biases against poverty and the continued barriers facing those experiencing precarity. To overcome these biases and barriers, a…

Theresa Ramisch studied Urban Planning at the TU Munich. She began working as an editor for G+ L and topos in 2016. Since 2021, she has been Editor in Chief for G+ L – the leading German magazine for Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. Since 2023, she has been as well Editor in Chief for topos. t.ramisch@georg-media.de A-Yong Chu co-founded Do You a Flavor and Learning from the Poor Coalition in Taipei. A cat-loving person, she is also a curator, designer, and writer. She has served as the curatorial lead for the Poor in Taipei exhibition since 2017. tosememe@dyaf.tw Jeffrey Hou is Professor of Landscape Architecture and the director of the Urban Common Lab at the University of Washington, Seattle. His work focuses on civic urbanism, design activism, and bottom-up placemaking. jhou@uw.edu Ramona…

For 30 years, global extreme poverty fell year on year. For 30 years, a total of one billion people managed to escape the absolute poverty line. Then Covid arrived and 70 million people fell into extreme poverty in 2020 – vulnerable groups in particular. This is according to the World Bank report "Poverty and Shared Prosperity" of 2022, which states that this is the largest increase in extreme poverty since data collection began in 1990. At the time of the report, an estimated 719 million people were living in extreme poverty and therefore had less than USD 2.15 a day at their disposal. 2.15 USD or 1.96 euros. This extreme poverty particularly affects people in sub-Saharan Africa (where 60 percent of people affected by extreme poverty live), conflict areas and…

While Moldova, emerging from the ruins of the Soviet Union in 1991, was financially devastated for long time and not only its capital slowly but steadily left to decay, oligarchs and corrupt representatives of the people stuffed their pockets as much as they could while they still could. Eventually, this meant that there was little to no money left to maintain any monuments or landmarks. Nor to repair pavements or make abandoned buildings habitable again. Those in charge in Moldova, it seems, have a free pass for a few years to feed off the country's bosom as the proverbial serpent and betray the ordinary citizens. The population, it seems, can only choose between varying levels of corruption. The biggest coup so far was in 2014, when a billion dollars suddenly…

The 125th issue of our magazine, which you are holding in your hands right now, marks a very special milestone for us. For more than three decades, we have been covering the metropolis of the world and the diverse aspects of urban existence. In 125 issues, topos magazine has evolved from a once rather classic, bilingual landscape architecture magazine into an international cross-media urban planning brand that raises the question of what the sustainable, intelligent, digital and social metropolis of tomorrow should look like. For this mission, you, dear readers as well as our partners and supporters are instrumental in making our magazine what it is today and we are celebrating 125 issues of concentrated ink and paper fragrance with you. Without you, 125 issues of topos would never have…

Around six to seven thousand people are still living in the illegal settlement of Cañada Real Galiana, a street in the south-eastern area of Spain’s capital Madrid, making it the biggest slum in Europe. More than fourteen kilometres in length, the original Cañada Real is not only a centuries-old historic route and therefore worth protecting, it’s also a sting in the flesh of society, the economy and politics. In Saudi Arabia, the planned city project THE LINE continues to baffle the whole planet. Across 170 kilometres, project development firm NEOM (a word made up of the Greek prefix neo- meaning new, and the letter M representing crown prince Mohammed bin Salman) wants to built a mirrored linear city for approximately nine million people, as they claim, without cars, streets –…

Despite the best intentions, NGOs often fail due to their own structures and, above all, inexperienced staff. Nevertheless, the billion-dollar NGO business is flourishing more than ever before. But with all the donations, I wonders where the aid is going. Non-governmental organisations, or NGOs for short, have been forcing their way into the crisis regions of our world for years. No wonder. The business of suffering and donations is a lucrative billion-dollar enterprise. Donations for humanitarian aid are increasing year on year. Around 30 billion euros are now collected worldwide, every year. This means that the amount has increased almost tenfold in the last three decades. This can be read in the annual "Global Humanitarian Assistance Report". It also states that 215 million people were already in need of humanitarian…

“Pioneers lead the way and bring about progress. That's definitely what I associate with Oxfam, and if I can be a part of that, I'm happy to accept it,” explains Serap Altinisik. She has been the Executive Chairperson of Oxfam Deutschland e.V. since February 2023. She then adds that many of the partner organisations and activists with whom Oxfam cooperates all over the world are active in rural regions. “For me, they are also pioneers, rural pioneers, so to speak.” The statement shows that for Serap Altinisik it is not the individual, but only the community that can change the world. In her words, “If we work together and learn from each other, we can make our shared vision a reality.” The vision of Serap Altinisik and Oxfam e.V. is…

ZikZak Architects has its headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, and Limassol, Cyprus, from where it accompanies and shapes design projects of all kinds. We spoke to the office's founder, Alesia Karnaukhova, about how different design requirements can be, depending on the country and situation, and what Ukraine needs most right now. From your offices in Ukraine and Cyprus, you design high-end office spaces and commercial interiors around the world, including in such wealthy countries as Saudi Arabia. How does the contrast feel with regard to wealth in these projects, after all Ukraine, where your headquarters are located, is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe in terms of GNI per capita? To be honest, comparing projects in different countries based on GNI per capita is not indicative. Yes, there is…

Today, many residents of Detroit talk about a “tale of two cities.” While redevelopment is occurring in the city’s central district, poverty anchors many residents in its neighborhoods. This stems in part from a history of policies that exploited African American residents in the housing market. New approaches to housing and homeownership are also central to the work of planners and politicians modeling what reparations might look like for the Motor City. Driving around many Detroit neighborhoods, it’s hard to believe that a century ago, this city was a mecca of opportunity and innovation. The reasons for the city’s great success – its auto-centric specialization and the efficiency of the assembly line – also contributed to its decline since its heyday during World War II. Ten years ago, Detroit became…

Old-age income poverty is an international challenge. Some countries are more affected than others. Growing old carries an additional risk of becoming or remaining poor. Older people are more vulnerable to economic insecurity and poverty. Why is this the case, what are the effects on the countries affected and what could help? According to the United Nations, there are no international databases of all countries to compare poverty in old age worldwide. A study of OECD countries from 2021 is the most up-to-date study on international poverty in old age, but many countries, particularly in the Global South, are not represented. However, it is clear that the risk of poverty increases with age in most countries. In addition, access to social security in old age is closely linked to gender…

“Share for a better world” – this was the slogan with which the company Share began selling nut bars, water and soap in German retail stores in 2018. Share's product range now includes well over 100 products, has more than 100 million shares and, according to Wirtschaftswoche magazine, the former start-up has become one of the ten most innovative SMEs in Germany. In just four years, a fixed idea has become an established brand. How did this success come about? And can a company that operates within the given power and market structures really save the world and fight poverty? The story of Share begins even before it was actually founded in 2018 and is closely linked to the career of Sebastian Stricker. The political scientist initially worked as a…

The statement that wealth in Germany is unequally distributed probably comes as no surprise to anyone. However, if one looks at the figures, the extent is shocking: the richest 1% of the wealth distribution – i.e. 800,000 people – own 35% of the assets, the richest 10% own 67.3%, while the poorer half of the population – i.e. 41 million people – own only 1.2% of all assets. This extreme inequality is also the result of a tax policy that has systematically privileged the wealthy and has continuously reduced the taxation of wealth and inheritances. This has led to a dangerous concentration of capital and influence in the hands of the few, while more and more people struggle as they face material insecurity. On the other hand, there are whopping…