One guy from a city hall in Latin America, told me: "if you want to change things, go _into_ authorities" [e.g. get elected, or become a public official] He ins

One guy from a city hall in Latin America, told me: "if you want to change things, go _into_ authorities" [e.g. get elected, or become a public official] He insisted there's almost no chance to change cities for better if you are just an architect in a bureau, or do some tech tool for city planning. Inside "the power", there's little you can change, but any change lasts. I'd also say, the ending part about reinventing the bus, is a very common thing, not only among the tech crowd. Every educated person has recipies that they suggest to copy&paste from abroad, think of how they'd solve a problem, etc. Often times the solution already exists, it's the matter of execution (e.g. buses need dedicated lanes, and lanes need enforcement, with fines for parking or driving by them). Often times, the educated folks propose fighting for things that are happening already by themselves. E.g. in post-Soviet countries, you can hear people argue for suburbia like in America, express grief & sorrow for living in apartment buildings, suggest subsidies BUT the fact is cities are already rapidly sprawling in suburbia themselves! Another, opposite trend, is to suggest to evacuate people from depopulating villages. People get so emotional about it. "Villages are money black hole!" "Budget leeches!" Yet, the migration is happening at rapid pace itself already! (Fun fact: these guys call themselves "liberals", and are pro-western.) Some people can be both proponents of American suburbia, and evacuation of villages.