UrbanFuture is designed, first and foremost, with me in mind. I am a student entering the second semester of an M.A. program at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass in Political Science. My chief interest is cities: development, planning, architecture, public space, governance and politics.
This semester, I am writing three interlocking papers on similar subjects for classes in Developmental Administration, Nationalism and International Political Economy. I want to use these papers to look at different aspects of conflict and urban development in the cities of the Liberia and Sierra Leone and the extended Mano River region.
There has been not a little research done on West Africa – home to notorious war criminals, blood diamonds and millions of people trying to make lives for themselves – but that research comes from various sources (I’ve found research covering West Africa in journals ranging from Strategic Studies to Civil Engineering) and knowledge is diffused across the internet. The purpose of this site is to gather information and experts from around the world to discuss the cities of the Mano River and West Africa, and broader issues of African and Third World cities generally. As the url suggests, I have visions of expanding the site as time goes on to cover broader issues of Third World urban development and global urban development.
Although this site is selfish, in the sense that I would love for it to be an easy way to throw out and catch ideas around the world on a topic for my paper(s), I hope that it will also be a service to other people to exchange ideas and experiences about our Urban Future.
Yours,
Charlie
