Issue highlights:

• Who Builds Our Cities?

• An Urbanist’s End-Of-Year Impact

• Cities in the News

Dear friends,

I often write about that what and how of city-building, but not always about the who. With growing investment in the construction and infrastructure industries around the world, you are probably starting to ask youself:

Who builds our cities? 

This month, I took a look at the similarities and differences between the US labor market and the labor force behind the recently held FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Two similar ambitions to build new infrastructure in two very different environments.

Hope you have a wonderful new year!
Kate

Who Buids Our Cities?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act spurred 4,300 projects within the first 6 months after it was passed. This has highlighted shifting population dynamics, high workforce attrition rates, the need to upskill workers, and… the impact of slowing immigration. This last one is particularly challenging as a quarter of the US construction industry are immigrant workers. Together, these pressures have left 440,000 jobs open even as money floods the construction market and have given more power to labor.

If you’ve followed the World Cup, you probably heard about other labor issues around the world. Foreign labor has been at the heart of Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure. As of today, the Gulf countries’ workforce is comprised 70% of migrant workers, whereas 49% of the population are migrants. Even though Qatar has pursued labor reform, World Cup construction brought to light harsh working conditions and human rights injustices perpetuated by the kafala system. To build seven stadiums needed for the games, migrant labor worked over 60 hours a week in temperatures higher than 104 degrees in the summers which led to thousands of worker deaths.

Given the growth in the US and the Gulf, both regions rely on migrant labor. But that’s where the similarities stop. Read the full article on my blog:

An Urbanist’s End of Year Impact

Last year I compiled this list of non-profits for end-of-year giving. With just days before the end of the year, make sure you check out these organizations:

Cities in the News

• Can owning the street prevent sprawl or AVs? Should it? [City Lab]

• Urban sims tackle crowd control, nixing irrational mob theories [Discover]

• Helsinki’s district energy system is shifting from fossil fuels to sea-water exchange [City Lab]

• Life in city-sized buildings, one sustainable, self-contained habitat [BBC]

• Fusion breakthrough paves a way forward to power cities [Washington Post]

• 4,314 landfills make good candidates for landfill solar [Vox]

• It’s not too late to catch the best cities for holiday lights [Travel Channel]

Share Your Work

I would love to hear from you and learn more about your work. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a conversation. In the meantime, please forward this email, subscribe your friends, and follow @KateGasparro to stay in touch.