With my survival guide (I guess no one beats the swedish at organizing events with a cool twist), I started my 3-day journey in the fabulous swedish country side of Tallberg, attendingthe Global YES Summit - Rework the World.
At these time of year the sun never truly vanishes from these swedish sky, making this a perfect metaphoric place for a gathering of people that wants to help changing the world.
From every corner of the planet (more than 120 countries represented...), people of all religions, with different professional backgrounds and personal experiences, are joining minds, spirits and visions to design a world that overcomes our troubled realities.
With a range of themes from “rework water” to “rework land” or “rework energy”, I ended choosing to attend a workshop that had the objective of debating and elaborating on how to “rework cities”. This was my first experience here.
I guess at oon, we share this objective of improving the life of people in the cities. That was what probably attracted me to “rework cities”.
How to improve the quality of life of people in the cities, that welcome (not always with a smile) more than half of the world’s population, squeezing not only resources and time but also happiness, is a big question that needs to be answered.
In this world of quantic complexity, better life for people has won a whole new set of dimensions that I wouldn’t even dare to dive in. At least, not without a glass of wine, or maybe more, and several hours of discussion ahead...
We have passed the time of the architect, the politician, the private sector, the urban poet or the citizen as the hero that will save our cities and show us the path to a happy life in the city.
We have entered an era where living in the city or in the intensive urbanized areas that surround it, means not only economic upgrade and the access to many new possibilities, but it also means to live in contaminated environments, hours of commuting, alienation, stressing traffic and a rapid rhythm of life.
Today, in the middle of the workshop, and after many interventions on how to improve urban living, a girl from China posed the question “Can we be truly happy in cities?”. I felt that was thee question. And I guess I wasn’t alone, considering the round of instantaneous applause she raised.
Living in the city is inescapable, at least for the majority of the world population. So it is fundamental that we ask ourselves if we are happy living here and be honest when answering that question. And no matter what will the answer be, I guess it should serve as a starting point of change, whether to make it right or to share as an example.
I truly hope that everyone participates to raise happiness in the cities they live, holistically enhancing awareness and consciousness of a social, economic and philosophical model that will create value across the society and the environment. If we do that individually but sharing with our local community, we will be reworking the world to become a better place.
Mário Silva
