OuiShare Fest – Cities are taking over

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The OuiShare Fest started today, and it’s crowded. Near a canal, in Paris, 1500 people endure the 30 degrees heat to connect, learn and empower each other onwards a new economy and democracy. This year’s theme is cities. Urban challenges are in focus, as there is a new rise of cities. People, companies, and organizations want to be where the action is, and that is more and more urban centers. In the Society 3.0 book, Ronald van den Hoff, already said that the future will lie

In the Society 3.0 book, Ronald van den Hoff, already said that the future will lie in mega cities. Those gigantic urban spaces will have not 1 million habitants, but 50 million. At the same time, those cities will have more in common with themselves instead with their countries. This already happens. Think about New York; does it represents the rest of the United States? Not really, NYC has more things in common with other metropolitan cities as London, than the rest of the country that it is in.

Those cities are becoming more independent and are taking actions over their government. One strong example is what happened this year with the Paris climate accord. The treaty establishes standards on several aspects to stop the greenhouse effect. Donald Trump backed out, but several cities committed to staying in the accord led by Michael Bloomberg, ex-mayor of New York City. This only one of the recent events where cities take actions apart from their countries.

So the main theme in OuiShare Fest are those cities and incredible initiatives in them. To discuss that, they separated the main theme in the following subjects: APIs for new urban services, fighting climate change, future of work, living together, new technologies for impact, presence and consciousness, social justice and taking power back. Do you know any great initiative in your city within those themes? Let us know in the comments.