‘Diplomacity’ : what connected cities’ cooperation could mean for the future

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In his latest book, entitled “Connectography: mapping the future of the global civilization”, the global strategist Parag Khanna develops the concept of “diplomacity”, a neologism to design the rising interconnection of cities through their own diplomatic channels. Following a liberal approach, based on transformation of urban planning and local economies through ICTs, the author designates cities as “dis-intermediate state structures” and drivers of a new world system.

In an interview published on City Lab website, the author details his vision via examples of “well-connected cities” and underlines the importance of data visualization to understand the reality of today’s globalization and its future. He also speaks about its digital cartographic project: Connectivity Atlas, an open-source mapping of infrastructure data.

The interview, written by Tanvi Misra, is available at http://bit.ly/1NDIFsv.

Parag Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Factotum a consultancy strategy agency

Parag Khanna is the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and CEO of the consultancy agency Factotum. He has contributed to many international broadcasting channels (CNN, BBC, CNBC) as well as newspapers (New York Times, WSJ etc.) and been an adviser to US National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2030 programme (2014 report on “Alternative worlds” can be consulted here).

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