Follow the Conversation Thus Far

1. Jason Morgan

   March 14th 2008

   Pretty, yes. Interesting, yes. But who is this information being gathered and interpreted for? Who is paying for all?

   “Whether you are a head of state, a leader of a corporation, a media or communication company, a consumer, a parent, or an armchair tourist…”

   Without a commitment to social change, is 19.20.21 just market analysis, especially in a time when sustainability (apparently the only concern of increasing urbanization) is being pursued only as a complement to consumer capitalism? While they do list other areas of exploration (education, cost of living, health) that might yield interesting results from a social justice perspective, without the desire to explore social inequity, I doubt we’ll ever see this data, much less proposed solutions.

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2. Mike Soron

   March 14th 2008

   From the presentation they’ve prepared, it actually looks like most of the research is being re-purposed into citizen- or consumer-focused content; probably as a way to supplement funding.

   I think it’s actually not a bad funding model. Pursue hard research and analysis on population and migration patterns, densification challenges, etc. for decision-makers (corporate, nonprofit, activist, business, etc.) then repackage and redistribute to consumer media channels. From the looks of things, this is the direction they’re moving in. And while ensuring corporate or government decisions are appropriate and sustainable is alone inadequate, it’s an important step.

   If nearly everybody in the West is an excessive-consumer, and decision making authority in inequitably vested in the West, conversations about moving forward need to be conducted with them in mind.

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