The Artificial Intelligence fueled transition toward smart cities and network societies has tremendous impact on the future of humanity. The current narrative of smart cities and data enabled urban systems totally leaves out the components of human experience, feelings, emotions and real human relationships. However, what makes a city smart, is the degree and quality of human connections and social cohesion that individuals feel. Cities are more than just objects, buildings and fixed entities...

Artists and creative workers have long been attracted to urban environments. Yet the ‘creative city’ of the 21st century comes with its own pitfalls. From precarity at the level of the worker to gentrification at the level of the city: the creative engine starts to sputter. Therefore, after or even against the creative city, this book explores the rise of the ‘common city’. What is the value of commoning for cultural practices in urban contexts? The volume defends the hypothesis that ...

Masculinities+ discusses the urgency of exploring masculinity as a societal and cultural discourse in the context of the 21st century. It highlights the evolving nature of masculinity within a new society characterized by progressive ideals such as pluralism, diversity, inclusivity, individualism, and freedom. The book raises questions about the role of new masculinities in various aspects of culture, media, pop culture and fashion, emphasizing the need to adapt the discourse to a society whe...

We are living on a finite planet. Mankind is overstepping planetary boundaries, however. In 2021, worldwide consumption has exceeded the yearly bio-capacity of the Earth (what we call the overshoot day) on the 29th of July. For industrialised countries, the situation is far worse: In 2022, Belgium reached that overshoot day on the 26th of March. In the face of these urgent challenges of sustainable resource use, there is wide agreement on the need for a transition, a fundamental societal shif...

Standards play an important role within society, shaping many transactions between consumers and companies, citizens and governments, as well as customer/supplier relationships in the broadest sense. This book investigates the economic and strategic importance of standards in a small, strongly globalised economy. The case of Belgium is developed from both a macro-economic and micro-economic perspective.

Based on an econometric model, the macro-economic part quantifies the impact of standards ...

Imagine biting into a burger that was produced without having to slaughter the animal. Why not say “yes” to genetically edited (gene-edited) food crops?

Does corn turn hamster mothers into cannibals?

Should we fear unrestrained use of glyphosate in years to come?

Will Cupid’s arrows assume the form of a nasal oxytocin spray?

Vertical farming: eco-friend or foe?

These are just some of the challenging and often awkward questions Leo Goeyens confronts his readers with. Human activity has b...