City as Ideology: What the Second Day of WUF13 in Baku Revealed About the Future of Urban Development

The eastern Mediterranean is once again becoming the stage for a dangerous confrontation between Israel and Turkey — two regional powers that only recently had begun cautiously rebuilding diplomatic ties after years of mistrust. The interception of the Sumud flotilla, which was sailing from Turkey toward Gaza, has become far more than another episode in the long-running blockade of the enclave. It has reopened deeper geopolitical tensions involving Ankara’s regional ambitions, Israel’s security doctrine and the increasingly polarized politics of the Middle

Azerbaijan and Georgia have agreed to resume operations of the Baku–Supsa oil pipeline, a route that, after several years of effective inactivity, is once again being viewed as an important element in diversifying Caspian oil supplies to Europe amid growing risks surrounding traditional export routes through Russia.

The modernization of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway line, officially completed on May 18 in Baku, was more than an infrastructure event for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It reflected a deeper transformation of global logistics, where transport corridors are increasingly becoming instruments of geopolitical influence, economic resilience and competition among global power centers.

The second day of the World Urban Forum WUF13 in Baku demonstrated that global urbanism is rapidly moving beyond architecture and municipal governance, becoming one of the central issues of world politics, where housing, climate, migration and urban resilience are increasingly forming part of a new geopolitical agenda.