Favela de Paraisopolis, Sao Paulo. Photography by Tuca Vieira Courtesy of Urban Age, London School of Economics

Any New Yorker or Londoner can thus easily compare the public transit use in their city to that of residents in, say, Shanghai or Johannesburg. The idea is that through comparative analysis, policy-makers in one megacity can learn from the mistakes and successes of another and apply what worked elsewhere to their own place of residence.
     Lucky for the world’s urbanites, the group’s efforts are only growing. As a result of the success of the Urban Age conferences, the newly-established LSE Cities Programme found a home in January in the sociology department of the London School of Economics. The next conference is set to take place in the fall of 2010 in Chicago. Here’s hoping that this revolutionary conference series doesn’t just stop at its “grammar of success” — the unprecedented scope of its work might just change the dictionary when it comes to urban development.