The Global Opportunities (GO!) program, which CGT offered from 2017-2019, linked M.A. in Global Thought students to research projects during residencies at Columbia Global Centers. GO! internships and experiences immersed newly minted graduates in subjects they had been studying just weeks before, allowing them to continue developing their reflections on global questions, as well as their skills as researchers and writers.

Andrew Ryan

M.A. in Global Thought Class of 2018

Through the Columbia Global Center in Santiago, I pursued an internship at the Center for Territorial Intelligence (Centro de Inteligencia Territorial), where I was able to study the planning system of Chile and compare it to the planning systems of countries all over the world. The ultimate goal was to show the deficiencies in Chile’s planning system and recommend specific directions policymakers could go in to improve it, based off of the international comparisons. This research project built on the research I had conducted for my M.A. essay, which examined the effects of thinking globally on the realm of the local. As globalism continues its progression, the need for effective placemaking will grow, necessitating innovative and responsive governance. Cities and local communities can be one of the most effective sources of this new governance, and being able to study that potential in a cosmopolitan, global city like Santiago was a true privilege. This was definitely the experience of a lifetime for me.