The unexpected story of the world’s largest tactical urbanism project in a warzone
The TORV Kyiv project was made possible through generous sponsorship of Novo Nordisk, Carlsberg Ukraine, GAU Fonden, Bosch, Negrich Workshop, DSV Global. In Kyiv’s historic Podil district, on 11,000 m² of blistering post-Soviet asphalt, an unexpected story has unfolded. Piece by piece, we built what is likely the world’s largest tactical urbanism project. This isn’t […]
Colors as a means of salvation. Soutine’s Genius
History grants no dispensations; it comes for us all. People, no matter how exceptional or ordinary, political or disinterested, cannot escape the tumult of their time. This was true of the great painter Chaim Soutine. Soutine spent his golden years at the cultural epicenter of the globe during the busiest period of artistic excitement in […]
Varosha will decide the fate of Cyprus, a broken island
“Disco,” reads the faded banner above a doorway in Varosha, the abandoned southern district of Famagusta. Once a glamorous Mediterranean hotspot that drew Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor, Varosha today is a concrete graveyard. When war divided the island in 1974 and Turkish forces took control of Famagusta, Greek Cypriot residents fled. The district was […]
Once, some countries wanted to leave the EU. Now they aim to destroy it from within
Pascal Lamy, economist born in 1947, was for eight years director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and head of Trade for the European Union during Romano Prodi’s Commission. Now he is president of the Paris Peace Forum and coordinator of the think tank network of the Jacques Delors Institute. We meet him in Venice, […]
Albania welcomes everyone, Italy’s migrants and Jared Kushner’s resort
In 1948, a group of Soviet officers and East German engineers visited the Albanian island of Sazan, five and a half square kilometers of rock wedged between a Soviet Navy base on the Albanian mainland and the heel of Italy. According to some reports that have been declassified by the CIA, the Russians and their […]
Taking the measure of AI in our workplaces
The effects of artificial intelligence on work are the favorite topic of those podcasters who interview prophets of the apocalypse. There exists a roster of guests, always the same ones, often defectors from big tech (Google, Microsoft) who have reinvented themselves as sorcerers, “doomsters,” or gurus: they want to warn us about the risks of […]
The EU’s global strategy against the influence of Russia and China (and Trump’s tariffs)
A packed schedule of summits around the world COP30 in Brazil, the summit with Latin American countries in Colombia, the G20 in South Africa, the meeting with the African Union in Angola: António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, the presidents of the European Council and Commission, will have little time in Brussels to deal […]
What’s on Europe’s mind? A brief inquiry between school and therapy
In recent years, even in the institutions of the European Union, there has been more discussion about mental health, but politically there is a lack of long-term strategies, as denounced by Mental Health Europe, the main non-governmental organization in the sector. The European Commission adopted two years ago a document on the “comprehensive approach to […]
Drawings, theatre, flamenco and our Mediterranean Sea
OCTOBER 3, 2025-FEBRUARY 7, 2026. KYIV BIENNALE / VARIOUS CITIES IN EUROPE The Kyiv Biennale in diaspora due to the war While Russian drones and missiles continue to strike Ukrainians, in October “Near East, Far West,” the Kyiv Biennale, opened. Like an organism in diaspora, after the 2023 edition this one too is spread across […]
Media freedom is crucial for EU democratic action
Free, independent and pluralistic media are the cornerstone of democracy. For democracy to work and participation to be meaningful, citizens should be able to form their own opinions in a public space where different views can be expressed freely and where free media and civil society can play their role in stimulating open debate. Article […]