Diébédo Francis Kéré knew exactly what he wanted to do when he got his degree in architecture... He wanted to go home to Gando in Burkina Faso, to help his neighbors reap the benefit of his education. In this charming talk, Kéré shows off some of the beautiful structures he's helped to build in his small village in the years since then, includin...

Christian Benimana wants to build a network of architects who can help Africa's booming cities flourish in sustainable, equitable ways -- balancing growth with values that are uniquely African. From Nigeria to Burkina Faso and beyond, he shares examples of architecture bringing communities together. A pan-African movement of architects, designer...

What does it look like when someone in Sweden brushes their teeth or when someone in Rwanda makes their bed? Anna Rosling Rönnlund wants all of us to find out, so she sent photographers to 264 homes in 50 countries (and counting!) to document the stoves, bed, toilets, toys and more in households from every income bracket around the world. See ho...

In 1972, Thomas Sankara was swept into the revolution seeking to wrest control of Madagascar from France's lingering colonial rule. The protests inspired the West African native to read works by socialist leaders and seek wisdom from military strategy. Leaving Madagascar in 1973, he was determined to free his country from its colonial legacy. Li...

Diébédo Francis Kéré and his architectural firm design buildings that are good for the environment -- and those who use them.

Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré (TED Talk: How to build with clay ... and community) designs with both people and sustainability in mind. Raised in Burkina Faso, though he’s now based in Berlin, Kéré is always keen to include community-oriented spaces that invite people to sit down and engage in thoughtful conversation. The central nature of ...

Diébédo Francis Kéré grew up in a small village in Gando, Burkina Faso, before heading to Germany to study architecture. And as a student there, he came up with a very ambitious project. “I wanted to open up better opportunities to other kids in Gando. I wanted to use my skills to build a school. But how do you do that when you’re still a...

About this event: TEDxKoulouba is the first TEDx event ever organized in Burkina Faso. This TEDx tells untold stories from the heart of Africa. Stories that have the power to inspire young talented people from this country. There is no greater motivation, more incentive for action than the success story of others who have evolved in the same context as us. If we...

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Around the world, cities are growing at an exceptionally fast clip. As the oft-quoted statistic goes, by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people on the planet will live in a city. So how do we make sure our urban areas are filled with beauty, complexity and possibility rather than simply with overcrowding? TED is pleased to announce TEDCity2.0, a one-...

About this event: TEDCity2.0 is a day-long TED event for urban innovators, organizers, stewards and builders - with live speakers, global conversations and activities. On September 20, 2013, TEDCity2.0 will take place at the TimesCenter in New York City. This event is a livestream of the final session of the day, co-curated and co-hosted by Chris Anderson. Thes...

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About this event: The first edition of TEDxKoulouba allowed us to "Get Out of the box". The various speakers have told us about how they got rid of the pitfalls that predestined them from every point of view, from failure or from any other trajectory. Getting out of the box is not an end in itself; on the contrary, it is a starting point for opening up to new hor...

About this event: After breaking the codes by thinking outside the box in our first edition, the year after, we took off with "YIKRE". And for our third edition this year, we are embarking on a journey where we revisit and retrace footsteps and roots passed down through generations whether they are family, friends, colleagues or community stories. "Roots" is th...

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As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. A map to guide conservation. After almost eight years of airborne laser-guided imaging spectroscopy, Greg Asner has finally mapped all 300,000 square miles of the Peruvian Amazon. Highlighting forest types that are reasonably safe and those which are ...

Anna Rosling-Rönnlund collects photographs of everyday objects from the richest to the poorest households. Even a toothbrush, she says, can reveal a world of inequalities. Imagine if the world lived along a single street, with the richest households on one end, the poorest on the other -- and every door flung open to the public. That’s the visi...

By Courtney E. Martin and John Cary Curating the program for TEDCity2.0 -- a one-day conference about the future of cities that takes place, gulp, today -- was a true honor for us. The two of us come at cities from very different angles. John is trained as an architect, but has spent his career building the public interest design moveme...

Cities are a constellation of dreams -- dreams that are constantly dying and being born. Cities are living things, with character and distinct personalities. Africa’s cities teem with these dreams. Who gets to decide which ones live, and which ones die? To become an architect, Christian Benimana had to go far away from home. There were no...

The stage is set. The lights are on. The audience of more than 600 people who have traveled from all over the world to be inspired is ready. And ready or not, the speakers are thrust onto the stage, one by one. This is the first session of TEDGlobal 2017, themed “a new map,” a phrase that suggests that in these first talks, we will catch ...

Malaria activist

Anyone in the room here today, at the glossy Times Center in Times Square, has been affected by the imagination and tenacity of Janette Sadik-Khan. It was her vision that created the much-loved pedestrian zones on Broadway and the cool new CitiBikes. In 2008, when Sadik-Khan took the job as New York's traffic commissioner, she saw how hard i...

About this event: Join with other Boston thought leaders for a simulcast of TEDCity2.0 and lively conversation at Space with a Soul, a coworking space housed in Boston's very own Innovation District. Upon arrival, please head directly to the 7th floor, where you will be greeted by TEDx volunteers. Attendees are free to stay for as many sessions as they are able, ...

About this event: I am the City 2.0 Dream Me. Build Me. Make Me Real. TEDxYekaterinoslavskyBoulevard arranges “Cities of the Future” international conference in Dnepropetrovsk on September 20, 2013. TEDxCity2.0 showcases the around the world. On September 20, 2013, TEDCity2.0 will commence at the TimesCenter in New York City from 9am-5pm EST. Co-curated and...

Environmental engineer Francis de los Reyes works with cutting-edge microbiological techniques to create solutions in the fields of environmental biotechnology and engineering. But his big passion, both professionally and personally, is finding ways to improve the plight of the world’s 2.5 billion people living without adequate sanitation. In ...

The democratic process is messy, complicated and often inefficient -- but across Africa, activists are redefining democracy by putting protest at its center. In an illuminating talk, political scientist Zachariah Mampilly gives us a primer on the current wave of protests reshaping countries like Tunisia, Malawi and Zimbabwe -- and explains how t...

In 2020, Mali produced over 71 tons of gold— an amount worth billions of dollars. But Mali saw only $850 million dollars from that gold. And this situation isn't unique: a number of other gold-rich countries in Africa aren't seeing the income they should given the price of gold. So, what's going on? Lyla Latif digs into how foreign corporations ...

Emily Oster re-examines the stats on AIDS in Africa from an economic perspective and reaches a stunning conclusion: Everything we know about the spread of HIV on the continent is wrong.

Forget quinoa. Meet fonio, an ancient "miracle grain" native to Senegal that's versatile, nutritious and gluten-free. In this passionate talk, chef Pierre Thiam shares his obsession with the hardy crop and explains why he believes that its industrial-scale cultivation could transform societies in Africa.