Academic turns city into a social experiment (2004)

The title of this article really doesn't do it justice. (And honestly, the article itself really buries the lede.) Some interesting passages:

  He launched a “Night for Women” and asked the city’s men to
  stay home in the evening and care for the children; 
  700,000 women went out on the first of three nights that 
  Mockus dedicated to them.

  Another Mockus inspiration was to ask people to call his 
  office if they found a kind and honest taxi driver; 150 
  people called and the mayor organized a meeting with all 
  those good taxi drivers, who advised him about how to 
  improve the behavior of mean taxi drivers.

  Initially 20 professional mimes shadowed pedestrians who 
  didn’t follow crossing rules: A pedestrian running across  
  the road would be tracked by a mime who mocked his every 
  move. Mimes also poked fun at reckless drivers. 

It really strikes me how the "academic" in question, Antanas Mockus, was able to inject some whimsy and levity into the dour field of politics / civil service. Other politicians are so obsessed with how they come across that they sand off anything resembling humor.

>Mockus, the only son of a Lithuanian artist, burst onto the Colombian political scene in 1993 when, faced with a rowdy auditorium of the school of arts’ students, he dropped his pants and mooned them to gain quiet.

Wouldn't that be classified as sexual harassment now?

Love this. I help organize a group in San Francisco that aims to improve it through technology (code4SF). Considering most people in the organization work/want to work in civic tech, many of our members (and organizers!) are extremely PC and are afraid to take risks that might make them look bad to their peers. I think there is a lot of good that can come out of having fun helping others/your city, but I think most citizens are afraid of the potential ramifications.

What I especially like is that he knew that public life should be full of art and personality, not just pasty faced bureaucrats who try to avoid attention.