The Pop-up City: Making Something Out of Nothing
The city is constantly in motion. In a dynamic city, people are shopping working, interacting, eating in restaurants, drinking in a cafes, walking/driving to a destination etc. Without people, a city is merely buildings, roads, trees, parks, grass….a ghost town. However, many cities have become dull places, reduced down to their functional economic uses: retail, business, industry and residents. This functional capitalistic city is embodied in the suburbs in the U.S.Suburban life has been reduced to strip malls, fast food restaurants, big box stores, malls, car lots, endless subdivisions, parking lots, streets, expressways and the constant buzz of cars and…
Suspended Coffee: A Simple Way to Pay it Forward
Yesterday, a friend of mine had shared a link on Facebook about “suspended coffee” which led to an article in The Examiner, “’Suspended coffee’ movement ignites widespread interest.” What is this all about I wondered? The featured picture in the article was of a disheveled man in a café. Accordingly, I assumed this was a sentimental Horatio Alger type story about some miraculous event that had happened to a poor person, such as finding a one thousand dollar bill, inheriting a million dollars or winning the lottery. This type of story seems to pervade the Internet, along with memes of…
I Don’t Have a Car and Don’t Want One: Emergence of Car-sharing Organizations
Many in urban areas are finding that their automobiles are a burden, but can’t really do without one. Owning a personal vehicle is expensive: car payments, gas, insurance, maintenance, parking fees, etc. An automobile is ultimately a depreciating investment where you often pay more than the vehicle was worth on the showroom floor. Due to the stagnant wages of the middle class and subsequent decrease in discretionary income, automobile loans have become more long term; a five year or longer loan is not uncommon anymore. In the U.S and many other countries the automotive industry is very vulnerable to economic…
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