--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 8 description: Inequality in cities, solar-powered meals, scholarships for foster kids, building a more secure internet and how women can protect peace. canonical: https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-08T17:01:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:21.211Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas. og:description: Inequality in cities, solar-powered meals, scholarships for foster kids, building a more secure internet and how women can protect peace. og:url: https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas. twitter:description: Inequality in cities, solar-powered meals, scholarships for foster kids, building a more secure internet and how women can protect peace. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 8 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 8, 2015 5:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 8, 2015 5:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**The same features that make cities hubs for innovation may spur inequality. Smart policies can strike a balance.**](http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/01/the-connection-between-successful-cities-and-inequality/384243/ "undefined") By Richard Florida in CityLab **2\.** [**Solar power can provide hot meals for the masses.**](http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/15/life-is-beautiful/ "undefined") By José Andrés in National Geographic’s The Plate **3\.** [**A simple way to make a huge difference in the lives of foster kids: college scholarships for youth ‘aging out’ of the system.**](http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/01/05/368436717/from-foster-care-to-freshman-year "undefined") By Jennifer Guerra at National Public Radio **4\.** [**When we include women in post-conflict peacekeeping, they do a better job of managing resources to prevent future war.**](http://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2015/01/report-highlights-womens-roles-natural-resource-management-conflict/ "undefined") By Priya Kamdar in New Security Beat **5\.** [**It’s time to build a more secure internet.**](http://time.com/3659180/time-to-build-a-more-secure-internet/ "undefined") By Walter Isaacson in Time  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 8","datePublished":"2015-01-08T17:01:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:21.211Z","description":"Inequality in cities, solar-powered meals, scholarships for foster kids, building a more secure internet and how women can protect peace.","url":"https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/","keywords":["Innovation","women","Food","Internet","poverty","Inequality","Hacking","hackers","conflict","Hunger","Security","Peace","cities","Solar Power","scholarships"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3659528/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-january-8/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: January 8"}}]}] ```