In 2020 the pandemic laid bare the severe inequalities within and between countries worldwide, showing us the importance of investing in long-term structural changes to make the world more just and resilient. As we move forward, many of us realise that most of our cities are far from ready to deal with exceptional circumstances like a sanitary emergency. The future will bring even more challenges as we must mitigate the causes and adapt to the effects of climate change.

This lecture examines the relationship between large green-blue infrastructure projects and political cycles in Chile, Colombia, Kenya and Peru. It argues that the continuity of projects beyond political terms—usually four to eight years—depends on how leaders connect citizens to these long-term processes. A community that “owns” a project will defend it from the political challenges of new ideologies and trends. Through these four case studies, it becomes clear that good ideas don’t survive because they’re good but because they’re popular.