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Blog space


Rebuilding Hope: Translating Iztapalapa's Utopias to Post-Conflict and Post-Disaster Contexts
Iztapalapa's Utopias offer a blueprint for rebuilding: community-driven, multifunctional spaces foster resilience and healing.

afkar collective
Oct 28, 20243 min read


The Ominous Fusion of Collective Intelligence and Technological Determinism
The fusion of collective intelligence and powerful AI models like LLMs risks subordinating human agency to technological determinism.

afkar collective
Oct 24, 20242 min read


The Seductive Illusion of Guardrails in the Hyperreal Open Society
Guardrails are essential for sustaining open social ecosystems, but rigid frameworks can stifle the very freedoms they aim to protect.

afkar collective
Oct 22, 20242 min read


The Emotional Ecosystem: Nurturing Communities Through Feeling
Embracing emotional diversity in communities fosters resilience. By honoring all feelings, we create spaces for authentic growth and healing

afkar collective
Oct 19, 20243 min read


Bridging the Metaverse Divide: Ensuring Digital Inclusion in an Emerging Virtual World
As we stand on the brink of a new digital frontier, the metaverse promises to revolutionize how we interact, work, and play. This...

afkar collective
Oct 12, 20243 min read


Biotech Urbanism: Harnessing Nature's Wisdom for Future Cities
Biotech Urbanism fuses nature and technology, reimagining cities as living ecosystems.

afkar collective
Oct 8, 20243 min read


Innovation Ecosystems: How Local Communities Drive Global Success
Local innovation ecosystems: Where community-driven creativity sparks global change. Discover how your backyard could be the next big thing.

afkar collective
Oct 2, 20243 min read


Rethinking Placemaking: An Ecosystem Approach Centering Non-Human Stakeholders
Rethinking placemaking through an ecosystem lens - designing urban spaces that prioritize non-human stakeholders

afkar collective
Sep 20, 20243 min read


Bridging the Gap: Reconnecting Bits and Atoms in Modern Urban Development
Cities trapped by outdated codes: The urgent need to bridge digital innovation and physical infrastructure for smarter, sustainable cities.

afkar collective
Sep 18, 20243 min read


Unleashing Innovation in the Middle East: Confronting the Paradox of Risk Aversion
Middle East's innovation held back by risk aversion. Overcoming cultural, regulatory barriers critical to unleash entrepreneurship.

afkar collective
Sep 16, 20243 min read


Emerging Innovation Frontiers: Reimagining Progress in a Post-Growth World
Innovation's new frontiers circular economy, biomimicry, social innovation, regenerative design, decentralized & wellbeing-focused approach

afkar collective
Sep 12, 20243 min read


The Hidden Costs of Commodifying Innovation: How the Race for Quick Wins Stifles Breakthrough Technologies
Commodifying innovation hinders breakthroughs, favoring quick wins over transformative technologies.

afkar collective
Sep 9, 20243 min read


The Simulacra of Intention: AI Language Models and the Erosion of Human Innovation
AI LLMs risk creating a simulacrum of intention, eroding genuine innovation. We must resist the hyperreal to preserve human creativity.

afkar collective
Sep 6, 20242 min read


The Truth, The Likely Falsehood, and The Post-Modern: Unmasking the AI Illusion
AI lacks moral agency. LLMs simulate truth, detached from reality. Their unchecked use widens the truth-fiction divide, risking catastrophe.

afkar collective
Sep 3, 20242 min read


Bits, Atoms, SynBio, and the Future of Cities
SynBio merges bits and atoms, transforming cities with sustainable materials and living infrastructure.

afkar collective
Aug 29, 20243 min read


The Digital-Physical Divide: Urban Technology's Struggle to Keep Pace with Climate Change's
Cities race ahead digitally but lag physically. Climate change exposes risks of outdated infrastructure. We must innovate in atoms.

afkar collective
Aug 26, 20243 min read


Adapting Infrastructure for Resilience: Embracing Graceful Degradation and Biophilic Design in a Changing Climate
Climate change is transforming our weather patterns and increasing natural disasters. Our infrastructure, designed for stable conditions, is

afkar collective
Aug 14, 20243 min read


The Crucial Role of Autoconsistency in Deploying AI Systems
Ensuring autoconsistency in AI is crucial for reliability, fairness, and user trust.

afkar collective
Aug 12, 20242 min read


Digital Architecture Infrastructure Design for Future-Ready Cities
Incorporate Digital Architecture Infrastructure Design in city planning to boost connectivity, economic growth, and sustainability.

afkar collective
Aug 7, 20243 min read


The Trap Around Digital Sovereignty in the Age of AI
Digital sovereignty in AI must balance autonomy with global collaboration to avoid isolationism, redundant efforts, and ethical blind spots.

afkar collective
Aug 5, 20243 min read
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