Megacity drought: Sao Paulo withers after dry ‘wet season’
Sao PauloExceptional drought, extreme temperatures, unprecedented drops in reservoir levels and threatening water shortages for millions of people have dominated headlines in California in recent years. Unfortunately, Californians are not the only people being stressed with the “water crisis.” Citizens of one of the most densely populated areas in South America – the Sao Paulo metropolitan
São Paulo’s drug policies are working – will the new mayor kill them?
Sao PauloAfter a fierce mayoral electoral campaign, São Paulo is a city on the verge of a potentially significant political change. The new mayor João Doria, elected on October 2, has promised to roll back many of the programmes associated with the current administration of Fernando Haddad, his left-leaning political rival. Among Haddad’s boldest initiatives were expanding
At what cost gentrification? São Paulo expels drug users and razes buildings to ‘revitalise Crackland’
Sao PauloIt was a rainy Sunday morning when São Paulo’s “Crackland” was destroyed. On May 21, 500 civil and military police descended on the downtown neighbourhood where, since the late 1990s, hundreds to thousands of crack-cocaine users and drug dealers have congregated (hence its dubious appellation Cracolândia). Throwing gas grenades and weilding barking dogs, the police raided the area
Deadly highrise fire in Brazil spotlights city’s housing crisis and the squatter movement it spawned
Sao PauloA massive fire in historic downtown São Paulo, Brazil, on May 1 has killed at least one person, with three more suspected dead. Several neighboring buildings, including a church, were destroyed, scorched or evacuated. The 25-story building that caught fire and later collapsed was a vacant former police headquarters now occupied by squatters. Most of the several
‘Day Zero’: From Cape Town to São Paulo, large cities are facing water shortages
Sao PauloWill South Africa’s second largest city dry up on August 19 of this year? By launching an official countdown, Cape Town City Council wished to highlight the impending cuts to domestic water supply for its more than 3.7 million inhabitants. The BBC then upped the ante, with an online list of 11 cities that may
Global tourism industry may shrink by more than 50% due to the pandemic
TravelDue to the coronavirus, people around the world have canceled their travel plans. Governments and health officials have warned the public to avoid boarding cruise ships and long flights. Major events like conferences, trade shows and the Olympics have been canceled or postponed. As a result, many businesses in the travel and tourism industry are likely to find themselves in jeopardy. Predicting
A traveller’s guide to airline price discrimination
TravelSummer is underway, and it’s the perfect time to plan a getaway. After spending days deciding where you would like to go, you finally pick a destination. Flights are only a click away, right? But once you’re seated on the airplane, you might not be aware that a person right next to you may have
It’s time for a new approach to travel
TravelWhen I overcame a flying phobia, I resolved to make up for lost time by visiting as much of the world as I could. So in the course of a decade, I logged over 300,000 miles, flying everywhere from Buenos Aires to Dubai. I knew intuitively that my travels would “make me a better person” and
Save money when traveling abroad by thinking like an economist
TravelA record number of tourists and business travelers visited a country other than their own in 2017, and this year is already on pace to exceed that tally. One thing you definitely need when traveling abroad besides a passport is local currency, such as euros in Europe, yen in Japan or rubles in Russia. In the past, travelers would
The travel industry has sparked a backlash against tourists by stressing quantity over quality
TravelTravel is a major global industry, but in 2017 it attracted unprecedented resentment and retaliation towards tourists. A growing global backlash against tourism extended from tropical rain forests to urban destinations like Rio de Janeiro and Venice. I have studied tourism’s social and environmental consequences along the coastlines of Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in the rain forests of Peru