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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/london-design-biennale-5-things-see/  
The London Design Biennale: 5 things to see  

The first ever London Design Biennale takes place this month at Somerset House and showcases installations from 37 countries around the world.

This year's theme is Design by Utopia, and some exhibits look at plausible, existing solutions towards creating a happier, more idealistic world, while others explore hypothetical ideas.

Some don't offer solutions at all, but instead use art and design to create their own interpretations of utopia and dystopia.

The inaugural show certainly has a few teething problems a small handful of exhibits were being hurriedly constructed on its opening day, and there's a lack of thematic order to the exhibition space, making it a little random and incongruous.

While some of the installations appear convoluted and tenuously linked to the theme, there is also imaginative, thought-provoking and intuitive work on offer, which proves design's role in both tackling world issues, and helping to highlight them.

Here are our five picks from the show:

Norway: Reaching for Utopia Inclusive Design in Practice
By Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture

Norway's mini exhibition space within a room in the West Wing is a succinct, informative look at how the country is using design to create social equality.

The space is one of the least visual but most powerful of the show. It answers questions about inclusive design, demystifying what the term means, and explaining why designing systems to suit everyone can help create a more sustainable economy.

It uses infographics to depict the people who are forced to the peripheries of society due to poorly designed systems, such as those with disabilities and older people, and also explores gender discrimination.

The exhibit then shows examples of public sector services in Norway which have been rebuilt based on the principles of inclusive design, including hospitals, universities and railway systems.

The piece is a proactive look at how developed countries have the resources to make public services more inclusive, and sets an inspiring example for other countries to follow.

Turkey: The Wish Machine
By Autoban

Turkey's modern-day wishing well is a simple but poignant way of inspiring hope in a country which has been at the pinnacle of the migrant crisis.

Visitors can write their wish on a piece of paper, roll it up and slip it inside a futuristic pod, then step across a tunnel of transparent hexagonal tubes to drop it into the suction-powered machine.

They'll then see it spiral through the tubes, and even make its way around the West Wing of Somerset House, where the tubes have been neatly laced across the walls.

The destination of the messages is unknown, and the Somerset House staff certainly won't give anything away. While the wishes themselves may be inconsequential, the installation incites hope and consideration for others through design, brings an ancient concept into 2016, and openly invites visitors to interact with the display.

Lebanon: Mezzing in Lebanon
By Annabel Karim Kassar Architects

Lebanon was lucky enough to have been given the entire outdoor River Terrace space of Somerset House the perfect setting for a colourful, authentic imitation of the streets of Beirut.

While the majority of pavilions depict the future in some way, Lebanon's take on Utopia is to present the country's existing, community-based culture as happiness in itself.

Visitors can expect a microcosm of Beirut authentic food and orange juice stalls, a barber, a “cinema” filled with hand-made mattresses and carpets and an area where they can play backgammon. A giant map of the city covers the floor, a reference to the fact that the city was until recently mainly navigated by landmarks rather than its map system.

The pavilion is an interactive look at how utopia can sometimes be found at home, and gives visitors the chance to temporarily absorb themselves within the culture of the country.

Japan: A Journey Around the Neighbourhood Globe
By Yasuhiro Suzuki

Japan's offering is a clever look at how design can be interpreted in alternative ways. Artist Yasuhiro Suzuki bases his piece on the Japanese concept of “looking at one thing as if it were another”, and distorts everyday objects to make them appear as different things.

Visitors will be subject to strange objects which create optical illusions, such as spinning portrait images which depict people blinking, an acrylic, hollow tree stump which has water dripping into it from an unknown place in the ceiling every few seconds, and an “unravelled” model of a globe encased in a zip.

The piece looks at the endless possibilities of design, and also spreads the message that utopia can be found in being open-minded to different points of view. It makes for a visually pleasing display too, with attention to detail and playful design assigned to both tiny and huge objects.

South Africa: Otium and Acedia
By Porky Hefer

South Africa's fluffy depictions of dangerous animals with their jaws wide upon hang from the ceiling of the Embankment gallery, inviting visitors to climb inside (though you're asked not to do this through tongue-in-cheek “Please don't feed the animals” signs). These giant, playful seats toy with conflicting ideas of innocence and corruption, a symbol of the country's troubled history.

The cuddly toys-cum-chairs are an idyllic look at how South Africa has seen change since the end of the apartheid, while still remembering the past. Although not strictly interactive, the pieces are a unique addition to the exhibition. It's probably for the best they can't be sat in, as climbing inside the hanging devices would be a fittingly perilous experience.

While many of the exhibits employ the use of extravagant digital resources, this is a colourful array of back-to-basics craft which successfully communicates an idea of childhood innocence as utopia.

Also look out for:

• China: DenCity presents intricate, small-scale models of a possible block-based building solution to the ever-growing population in Shenzhen, accompanied by animations of people interacting in that space. By Urbanus.
• Israel: Human.Touch is a display of two existing examples of product design with a social purpose Aid-Drop, a pyramid-shaped package dropped via parachute into disaster zones to provide people with first aid equipment, and Louder, a pair of speakers which translate sounds into visual cues and floor vibrations to aid people who are deaf. By Yaniv Kadosh and Sharona Merlin.
• United Arab Emirates: Al Falaj: Water Systems of the Gulf's Oases presents small-scale models which convincingly depict how the UAE's current water systems could be modified and improved using an ancient water drainage system. By Cultural Engineering.
• United Kingdom: Barber & Osgerby's majestic installation Forecast, which looks at the influence of wind and renewable energy, sits at the centre of Somerset House's central courtyard. By Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.

The London Design Biennale takes place at Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA from 7-27 September. Tickets are £15 with an additional £2.35 booking fee if booking online, or £11.85 concessions. Buy tickets here.

The post The London Design Biennale: 5 things to see appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/favourite-brand-sounds-mcdonalds-nokia/  
Our favourite brand sounds: from McDonald's to Nokia  

“Tough decision. Is it a brand sound so irritatingly catchy that you wonder how you found yourself singing along? (Think ‘mmm Danone'). Is it the perfect combination of sound and audio such as the BBC's classic news beeps that accompany it's radiating circles title sequence? Or do you go for Xbox's very on-brand exhilarating whoosh that heralds the muting of my son for another few hours? Each has its merits, but as the lights go down and the popcorn rustling subsides, surely nothing can beat ‘Pa pah pa pah pa pah pa pah papapah' probably the only non-verbal jingle you can write down in gibberish and yet still instantly recognise*.”

*Pearl and Dean, obviously.

---

“My favourite piece of sonic branding comes from Nokia not the infamous ringtone, but the ‘Special' text message tone. Three short beeps, two long ones and three more short beeps spells out SMS in morse code. Even though it annoyed most people, it's definitely memorable. It's also a really clever way to encapsulate what the brand does in a sound, and so carries more meaning to it than your standard jingle something to consider when it comes to sonic branding.”

---

“I still have a Pavlovian response to the HBO ident (static noise + bass note/angelic voice), even years after watching The Sopranos, Curb, The Wire, and so on. I think that's how good audio branding works it's like the bell that Pavlov's dog learns to associate with food. If you hear the HBO ident before any programme, you're conditioned to think it's slightly better. By contrast, the Intel sting is like a closed loop. If I hear the sound, I think Intel, and if I think ‘Intel' I hear the sound. But it doesn't really build an association with anything apart from itself. It's like training a dog to think ‘bell' when it hears a bell. Sort of impressive, but not Pavlovian impressive.”

---

“Sitting in a cinema, the lights have gone down, and from the darkness appears a lion's head which gives two loud roars. To me, this sound indicates that I'm about to be transported to another place, at least for the duration of the film. The MGM lion's roar acts as a signifier for memories, associations and feelings memories of happy times and associations with great films.

However, a lion's roar not being an entirely unique sound, the MGM audio logo must work in association with other elements of the brand and experience. If I heard a lion's roar coming out of the darkness, and I wasn't in a cinema or watching TV, I might feel differently.”

---

“This is a really interesting question as there's so much more connection and power experienced when visual movement and sonic connect.

Some of the more memorable are:

The Movie Houses: They have distinct sonics potentially more audio but they recall that lovely positive feeling you get before you settle down for a film brilliantly. I defy anyone not to have a positive feeling towards the Pearl and Dean sonic.

McDonalds: The whistle (it must have a name?) is probably one of the most successful sonics that has been owned and extended throughout a brand world.

Intel: This has to be one of the most recognisable four notes ever.

Lloyds TSB: The For The Journey campaign ran a sonic for five years that was so successful it ended up being released as a record, and charted you'll find it online.

Magnum: While the crunch sound they use is not a traditional sonic like the other examples it is a totally ownable sound that no other brand could use as it's so distinctive.”

---

“I spent a lot of time in my childhood around computers, playing video games or exploring the internet, especially on systems like Windows ‘98 or XP. But the logo and sound I will always remember is the Windows ‘95 one, which was the operating system of the first computer I was able to experience, thanks to my grandfather's passion for electronics. This sound promised me a lot of discovery, and since that day it's stuck in my mind. Actually, It's only recently that I discovered that Brian Eno, one of my favorite musicians, was the composer of this sound…”

---

The post Our favourite brand sounds: from McDonald's to Nokia appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/5-important-things-happened-design-week-3-11/  
5 important things that happened in design this week  

Deliveroo adopted an angular new logo

Delivery app and service Deliveroo unveiled a dramatic rebrand this week, swapping out its line-drawn kangaroo for a new, flat icon of a rather angular kangaroo head.

Created by DesignStudio, the new logo makes a bold move away from an illustrative to a more symbolic, emblematic look.

But many people have interpreted the abstract kangaroo symbol a little differently… readers and twitterers have drawn a striking resemblance with the “two-finger salute”.

Bit late with this one but does anybody else see the 2 finger salute?https://t.co/vy9HRrOeVH#Deliveroo #logo pic.twitter.com/POteZpYTQX

— Bryan Werbinski (@Bryski_d) September 8, 2016

While it remains to be seen whether the delivery company is giving a metaphorical “fingers up” to any of its frequently emerging competitors (reader comment: “Literal two fingers to Uber Eats?“), DesignStudio want the bold, new logo to become a “character” easily associated with the brand, and intends for the minimal look to “reduce cultural associations” rather than establish them.

The rebrand may also signify a fresh, new start for the company, which hit headlines recently regarding controversy around its new contracts for delivery riders.

Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

Apple is veering further away from extraneous wires in its 2016 round of product launches, revealed this week.

The new phones include the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which start at £599 and come with a set of AirPod wireless headphones.

In fact, the phones won't even include a headphone socket, and users will need an adapter which comes free with a phone purchase to use an old pair of headphones.

The phones can also allegedly be dunked under water to a depth of one metre for 30 minutes without breaking (though we suggest you don't try this), have a 12-megapixel camera, and have the longest battery life of all iPhone models to date.

The launch also sees the arrival of the Apple Watch Series 2, which is also water resistant so can be used when swimming, and has a built-in GPS system.

Along with the physical products, the launch will also see the rollout of Apple's latest operating system iOS 10, which will see a new Home app added to the App Store a control hub which allows people to manage all of their connected home products, such as thermostats, lighting and security cameras.

The London Design Biennale opened

The inaugural London Design Biennale opened at Somerset House this week, and sees 37 countries take on the theme of Utopia by Design.

There's a chunky price tag of £15, but visitors will be able to step into Beirut with an immersive outdoor market stall exhibition from Lebanon, gawp at huge, ferocious-cum-cute animal-shaped chairs from South Africa and witness sustainable design solutions from the likes of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Norway.

While some installations deviate away from the theme, there's a huge amount of imagination, creativity and smart design thinking, which look at how design can be a very powerful tool in both conveying and helping world issues.

Coinciding with London Design Festival, you can catch it at Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA from 7-27 September.

A new 3D printing pen launched

An updated version of the 3Doodler 3D printing pen launched this week, aimed at professional product designers and architects.

The 3Doodler Pro not only draws solid structures in thin air, but also lets users change temperature and speed, enabling them to control the speed of construction.

It can also be used for longer and more intensively than previously before needing a charge, and can draw with a variation of different plastics, which replicate wood, copper, bronze and nylon just in case any designers need to create a nylon-based architectural masterpiece.

Faraz Warsi, creative director at 3Doodler, says the pen could be a welcome alternative to using a 3D printer, which is “expensive”, “requires specialist knowledge” and takes “time to print products”. With the pen, designers can create 3D structures whenever “inspiration strikes”, he says.

The pen is priced at £187, and will soon be available to buy worldwide online from the 3Doodler site.

Ikea rolled out its convenience store concept more widely

The flatpack furniture company opened its first ever order and collection store in London this last week, at Westfield Stratford City shopping centre.

The retail concept marks a turning point for the brand, as it moves away from warehouses only reachable by car, to a more local and convenient experience.

This is probably particularly suited to Londoners, where public transport is king and driving can be perilous.

In a similar style to Argos, customers can order online for collection at the store. Alternatively, they can order in store for home delivery.

The Stratford branch is Ikea's first convenience store in a shopping centre, though it first trialled the concept in Norwich last autumn.

Got a design story? Email sarah.dawood@centaurmedia.com.

The post 5 important things that happened in design this week appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/sep/09/gaudis-partner-in-iconic-barcelona-design-finally-gets-the-limelight  
Gaudí's partner in iconic Barcelona design finally gets the limelight  

Josep Maria Jujol's contribution to Gaudí's Barcelona masterpieces, and those he created himself in Catalonia, have been overlooked. A new documentary seeks to give him the recognition he deserves

Visitors to Barcelona will all sooner or later find themselves in Antoni Gaudí's fairytale Park Güell, admiring the view of the city from one of the sinuous benches made up of fragments of coloured tiles. For many, the benches of Park Güell are the essence of Gaudí, but they are in fact the work of another artist and architect, Josep Maria Jujol.

“When tourists go to Parc Güell, what do they look at? They look at Jujol's work,” says the architect's son, also Josep Maria. “I mean, what they most rave about in Gaudí's work is Jujol's contribution.”

Related: Gaudí's Catalan shadow: the art of Josep Maria Jujol

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http://thenextweb.com/creativity/2016/09/09/cgi-girl-isnt-real/  
This girl isn't real, and it's proof that CGI isn't creepy anymore  

CGI is moving fast, very fast. Not just for added effects in movies, but also for creating completely lifelike 3D models. The biggest problem facing the animation community is an effect called the ‘uncanny valley'. We're confronted with this when we see something that looks nearly human, but just not quite. Humans are so good at recognizing other humans, that's it's extremely hard to create a thing that looks like a normal, healthy person and not a zombie or a corpse. It's explained in the graph below: We've become pretty good at making CGI look like it's almost real, but the real challenge is making…

This story continues at The Next Web  
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http://heptagram.co/post/150189932282  
buromarks: http://neubauladen.com/product/neubau-akademie-ts-1-2...  

buromarks:

http://neubauladen.com/product/neubau-akademie-ts-1-26/

 
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http://heptagram.co/post/150185632362  
mu-th-ur: Kåre Leander Ringling...  

mu-th-ur:

Kåre Leander Ringling Frang
http://www.ofluxo.net/garden-fuzz-by-paul-barsch-and-kare-leander-ringling-frang-at-future-suburban-contemporary-copenhagen/

 
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http://www.designboom.com/art/os-gemeos-lehmann-maupin-installation-art-new-york-silence-of-the-music-09-09-2016/  
OSGEMEOS infill lehmann maupin with immersive installations + music-making machines  

blending drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and kinetic and audio media, 'silence of the music' presents a multi-sensory experience that embraces the power of human imagination.

The post OSGEMEOS infill lehmann maupin with immersive installations + music-making machines appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/peter-matthews-underwater-artist--near-death-experience  
Meet the underwater artist inspired by a near-death experience  

It took a rogue wave crashing over him for Peter Matthews to realise his calling now he makes all his work while bobbing about on or under the ocean, with only the seals for company and rockpools to store his wet and wild work

‘When I have fears that I may cease to be,” as the old poem goes, “before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain ... then on the shore / Of the wide world I stand alone, and think / Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.” The artist Peter Matthews has gone one step further than John Keats: he's actually waded into the sea.

The 37-year-old, who hails from the stubbornly landlocked hills of Derbyshire, has made a career of drawing and painting in the ocean. That's right: floating in the sea, using an old piece of plywood as a desk-cum-flotation aid and scrawling across huge sheets of paper with the charcoal pencils and gel pens that he keeps tucked under his hat.

Related: Europe's first underwater sculpture museum in pictures

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/nick-serota-martin-roth-tracey-emin-bed-the-week-in-art  
Nick Serota, Martin Roth and Tracey's bed  the week in art  

There's a changing of art's top guard (if not sheets), while Mark Zuckerberg runs into censorship issues and London is set ablaze all in your weekly art dispatch

Tracey Emin and William Blake
Two British mavericks meet as Tracey Emin's works, including My Bed, are mixed with those of the visionary romantic artist and poet who wrote The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
• Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, 16 September to September 2017.

Continue reading...  
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/nick-serota-martin-roth-tracey-emin-bed-the-week-in-art  
Nick Serota, Martin Roth and Tracey's bed  the week in art  

There's a changing of art's top guard (if not sheets), while Mark Zuckerberg runs into censorship issues and London is set ablaze all in your weekly art dispatch

Tracey Emin and William Blake
Two British mavericks meet as Tracey Emin's works, including My Bed, are mixed with those of the visionary romantic artist and poet who wrote The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
• Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, 16 September to September 2017.

Continue reading...  
art  

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/nicolas-deshayes-anatomy-of-an-artwork  
Nicolas Deshayes's cast-iron sculptures find beauty in the repulsive  

By exploring relationships between humanity and materials, the young artist is creating ripples in the Thames

These cast-iron sculptures by the young artist Nicolas Deshayes are oddly beautiful. They cling to the gallery wall like the rococo ribbons and twirling flora that encrusted 18th-century ceilings. They ripple, like the Thames water they're named after.

Related: Artist of the week 133: Nicolas Deshayes

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http://www.designboom.com/art/oliver-astrologo-venice-film-09-08-2016/  
oliver astrologo uncovers venice's hidden history and little-known locales  

the film journeys above the city's terracotta terrain, through its crystal blue canals, and inside its otherwise unknown workshops.

The post oliver astrologo uncovers venice's hidden history and little-known locales appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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https://www.theguardian.com/cities/video/2016/sep/09/inside-real-mecca-demolition-hajj-pilgrims-saudi-video  
A prayer for Mecca: the city that many hajj pilgrims don't see  video  

As the hajj begins once again, Saudi artist Ahmed Mater has revealed unprecedented changes to the holy city from flashy new hotels to the loss of priceless neighbourhoods. In the third episode of Crossing the Line, our series connecting the US and Middle East, he takes us inside Islam's urban heart

Continue reading...  
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160907082129.htm  
Beam me up to the video conference  
When science fiction heroes communicate, they don‘t use landlines or cell phones. The caller simply appears in virtual form in the middle of the room; full sized and three dimensional. This vision is already within reach, say researchers.  
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http://borrachas.tumblr.com/post/150176469539  
378  

378

 
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354095589436329198/  
Plant bug (Chlamydat  

Plant bug (Chlamydatus sp.) collected in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: BIOUG14280-C11; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=SSGBA5291-14; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:AAY9054)

 
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http://movieposteroftheday.tumblr.com/post/150146036142  
French poster for LITTLE MEN (Ira Sachs, USA, 2016)Illustrator:...  

French poster for LITTLE MEN (Ira Sachs, USA, 2016)

Illustrator: Pierre-Julien Fieux; Designer: Le Cercle Noir

Poster source: Jeu-cinema.com

 
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/146859637828307501/  
Daily Dozen — Photos  
Daily Dozen — Photos -- National Geographic Your Shot  
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Daily Dozen — Photos  
Daily Dozen — Photos -- National Geographic Your Shot  
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281543706628854/  
Scots pine trees on  
Scots pine trees on Sula Island, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway (© Orsolya Haarberg/Minden Pictures) 2016-09-09 [www.bing.com/search]  
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/255016397629483218/  
Net Atmo presence ca  

Net Atmo presence camera

 
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http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/9/12866738/snapchat-fashion-week-filters-models-desigual-show  
NYFW models wear your favorite Snapchat filters down the runway  

The models for Spanish clothing brand Desigual walked the runway at New York Fashion Week yesterday with faithfully recreated Snapchat filters as their only makeup.

The brand, known for zany prints and patchwork, showed off a denim-heavy, '70s-inspired collection. It paired pretty well with the whimsy of Kim Kardashian's favorite filter, the flower crown, as well as my mom's favorite, the bee face! Other models sported the deer lens, a crown of yellow butterflies, and of course, a dog nose.

#preview Snapchat inspired make up for @desigual show ! #DesigualNYFW #nyfw #backstage #snapchatfilter #model

A photo posted by Valentina Frugiuele (@fwstreetstyle) on Sep 8, 2016 at 12:13pm PDT

Kabuki ? No,...

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fben-barber%2Fair-pollution-costs-255-billion_b_11930688.html%3Futm_hp_ref%3Dgreen%26ir%3DGreen&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Air Pollution Costs $255 Billion A Year  
Worldwide air pollution caused 5.5 million deaths in 2013 from lung cancer stroke, bronchitis and other diseases -- more than malaria or AIDS; And the cost of pollution-related illness and deaths is $255 billion in lost labor last year, the World Bank said in a new report on Sept 8.

One tenth of all deaths in 2013 came from air pollution, said the World Bank.

But the real cost is even higher - more than $5 trillion in 2013 a year - when the Bank economists included what they call "welfare costs" - the money people would be willing to pay to prevent an early death.

One in ten deaths around world is from air pollution, said the Bank's report authors.

And even if London, New York and other wealthy cities have greatly cut pollution in recent decades, the toxic fumes have greatly increased in China, India and other growing economies.

Regarding outdoor pollution, some 87 percent of world population lives in areas above World Health Organization guidelines, said the Bank report.

About half the deaths are from outdoor air pollution, often from cars, industry and clearing forestland. The other half comes from indoor pollution, mainly from billions of people cooking with wood, dung and other smoke-producing biomass, said Urvashai Narain, senior environmental economist at the World Bank and one of the report authors, in an interview.

U.S. and other aid agencies have pushed for many years for people to shift from biomass to gas and electricity; or to adopt efficient cook stoves with metal or clay vents to expel smoke.

For example, U.S. foreign aid delivered to rebuild homes in Pakistan after a 2005 earthquake included a sheet metal cooking stove plus a few feet of exhaust pipe per family.

However, all the improvements from such new technology has been swallowed up, said the World Bank official, by the continued increase in population in developing countries. The planet is set to surge from seven billion today to 10 or even 15 billion in coming decades - depending on whether donor nations are willing to invest in family planning or not. In the United States and in Catholic countries such as the Philippines, providing birth control is a controversial political move.

Pollution causes respiratory disease, especially among children who stay close to their mothers in those smoky kitchens, as well as chronic bronchitis and lung cancer said the report authors said.

"We need to get the private sector to provide technology," said Ms. Narain. "Previous cheap fixes did not penetrate the market, or the technology breaks down and there is no support to maintain it."

The Bank works with a number of governments to develop policies and has made $6.5 billion in loans to cut all forms of pollution between 2009-2016. But the report does not say how to reduce air pollution and save those millions of lives lost each year.

"The report just shows the cost of pollution. It is a call to action," she said.

"We hope the report will lead to more resources to fight pollution."

However, the report confines itself to air pollution and ignores the huge number of toxic waste sources poisoning the soil and water.

In addition, the Bank report should have made a plan of action that could begin to reduce pollution, said Richard Fuller, head of the non-governmental organization Pure Earth, which cleans up toxic waste sites in developing countries.

"What is needed is a plan that varies from city to city to fix this nonsense," said Fuller in an interview.

"For example, city X needs those three power plants converted. City Y needs to shut down burning biomass in winter. Another city needs to convert to stringent European diesel standards.

"We have got to move way from hand-wringing and move to specific actions," Fuller said. "It is not rocket science. It is easy. We won't need to reinvent anything."

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Weekend Roundup: China's Slump Tests Brazil's Democracy  
What global interdependence giveth it can also take away. As long as China's economy grew rapidly, as it did over recent decades, the demand for Brazil's iron ore, oil and soybeans generated enough rising prosperity to disguise the cracks in the democratic system of Latin America's largest country.

China's slump has now exposed the malignant corruption and mismanagement that festered in the shadows of the "Brazilian miracle," sending the nation into a downward spiral of deep recession, high inflation and burdensome debt. Social unrest and massive demonstrations have regularly filled the streets, culminating in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.






Writing from Sao Paulo, Brazil's revered former president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso says, "Brazil has turned a sad page in its history. I would have much preferred that Dilma Rousseff had proved the political and administrative capacity to complete her mandate. Unfortunately the crime of responsibility was compounded by the collapse in her overall ability to govern." But, for Cardoso, Brazil's troubles reflect a larger calamity. Representative democracy is in crisis across the West, he writes. "At the core of this crisis is the widening gap between people's aspirations and the capacity of political institutions to respond to the demands of society. It is one of the ironies of our age that this deficit of trust in political institutions coexists with the rise of citizens capable of making the choices that shape their lives and influence the future of their societies." The challenge for all democracies, he concludes "is to bridge the gap between demos and res publica, between people and the public interest, reweaving the threads that may reconnect the political system with the demands of society."

Writing in HuffPost Brazil, Raphael Tsavkko Garcia warns of further turmoil ahead. "Don't fool yourself; Dilma's impeachment won't alleviate Brazil's current crisis," he says. "For the next two years, [President Michel] Temer's government will be under strong (and necessary) pressure. Cuts on the social programs that Dilma started may be increased and accelerated. ... Our problems didn't start yesterday, and they won't go away anytime soon."

On the other side of the globe, China is seeking to expand its integration with the economies of Central and South Asia through reviving the Silk Road by building out new infrastructure and trade routes. Peter Cai reports on the wariness over China's plans he found during a recent visit to India. "At the heart of India's reluctance to embrace Beijing's promise of road building and connectivity," he writes, "is strategic mistrust. The country is wedged between two nuclear-armed neighbors and has fought wars against both in the last 60 years." Cai cites local experts who see China's effort to build roads and bridges "as instruments of Beijing's intention to build influence in its neighborhood." Some, he says, even suggest that a "new Great Game," not unlike when Russia and Britain jostled for power in the region in the early 20th century, is now underway.

In a WorldPost debate, China scholars Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Kate Merkel-Hess spar with Beijing-based scholar Daniel A. Bell over claims in an essay I wrote recently arguing that Chinese President Xi Jinping's current crackdown on an independent civil society must be understood in light of that country's long history as a unitary state with no autonomous realm beyond its fold. Wasserstrom and Merkel-Hess argue that President Xi is selectively reading China's history, dismissing periods of pluralism as a way to justify authoritarianism. Bell argues that Wasserstrom and Merkel-Hess display a "colonial mindset" by engaging in their own selective reading of Chinese history to suit Western notions of human rights and democracy. All agree, as Bell puts it, that "It's a mistake to say that there is only one political tradition in Chinese history and to draw implications for contemporary China based on that assumption."

In an essay in HuffPost France, Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemns what he calls the "proselyte contestation" of those in France who "seek to defy two of the fundamental principles of our country" -- the equality of men and women and secularism. Marc Steinau, Benjamin Reuter and Nicholas Miriello report that political violence is rising in Germany along with the right-wing Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party.

Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former member of Iran's National Security Council, and Hesam Rahmani assess the state of the Iran nuclear deal, which continues to be attacked by opponents both in the U.S. and Iran. The fear, they write, is that "radical voices on both sides that have sought to undermine the deal will win, and escalation will once again become the name of the game between Iran and the U.S. The path to peace will diverge back onto the path to war."

As if it couldn't get worse, Willa Frej reports that child suicides are escalating in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya. Rowaida Abdelaziz, however, has a glimmer of hope from there -- a family suffering from meningitis has been evacuated for treatment just weeks after one member, an 11-year-old boy, had himself been removed due to the same illness. On the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Dean Obeidallah surveys how the lives of Muslims in the Middle East have been impacted.

Arthur Molella contends that the 1900 world's fair in Paris has shaped our present-day attitudes toward technology He recalls Henry Adam's reflections at the time. "In a chapter titled 'The Dynamo and the Virgin,' he cites Adams as "ponder[ing] the implications of the machine age, expressing deep concern over what he sees as a dangerous clash between the seductive grandeur of modern science and technology -- what he calls 'the Dynamo' -- and the essential undergirding of humanity, religion and traditional values, which he christens 'the Virgin.'"

Finally, our Singularity series this week talks to virtual reality pioneer Chris Milk, who says, "I don't think the future of VR looks like video games; I don't think it looks like cinematic VR; I think it looks like stories from our real lives."

WHO WE ARE


EDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Co-Founder and Executive Advisor to the Berggruen Institute, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Executive Editor of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Alex Gardels and Peter Mellgard are the Associate Editors of The WorldPost. Suzanne Gaber is the Editorial Assistant of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is News Director at The Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost's news coverage. Nick Robins-Early is a World Reporter. Rowaida Abdelaziz is World Social Media Editor.


CORRESPONDENTS: Sophia Jones in Istanbul.


EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media), Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera), Dileep Padgaonkar (Times of India) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun).


VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS: Dawn Nakagawa.


CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large.


The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea.


Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the "whole mind" way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine.


ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as the Advisory Council -- as well as regular contributors -- to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail and Zheng Bijian.


From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt.

MISSION STATEMENT

The WorldPost is a global media bridge that seeks to connect the world and connect the dots. Gathering together top editors and first person contributors from all corners of the planet, we aspire to be the one publication where the whole world meets.

We not only deliver breaking news from the best sources with original reportage on the ground and user-generated content; we bring the best minds and most authoritative as well as fresh and new voices together to make sense of events from a global perspective looking around, not a national perspective looking out.

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