opencities
How wireless and mobility is changing architecture
The fact that people are no longer tied to specific places for functions such as studying or learning, says Mr Mitchell, means that there is “a huge drop in demand for traditional, private, enclosed spaces” such as offices or classrooms, and simultaneously “a huge rise in demand for semi-public spaces that can be informally appropriated [...]
On the success of London’s electronic transit card
The benefits of the programme are multiple in terms of streamlining travel, reducing queues, minimising cash handling, reducing the possibility of fraud by customers and cash theft by staff, and generally improving the customer experience. Having said that, the biggest benefit is the £60 million reduction in annual operating costs for TfL of the ticketing [...]
“…it’s critical to remember that these changes were happening for the first time ever, accelerating human life into the modern age at a pace that barely allowed time to gain vantage on the present before hurtling into the future, all the while changing the expectations of what that future might hold.”
In case you missed it, this is from a great post last week by Michele on the reaction of artists, crafts people and designers to the disoriented changes in, wait for it, Victorian england as spurred by the industrial revolution.
She is pointing out the strong parallels between historical change drivers like the industrial revolution, [...]
And if that doesn’t do it, WiMax is coming
From Intel’s developer forum today:
“Intel is developing a Wimax enabled CPU [chipset?] called Echo Creek in the middle of next year, with a number of vendors committing to producing notebooks that use the chip. By 2012, over a billion people will be covered by Wimax and 150 million by 2008.
.. in mid 2008, will launch [...]
The Flavour of Cities – My deck from OpenCities
UPDATE: oh and my speaker notes are here on the slideshare page which might explain things a *little* more clearly.
A great commentary by Edward on the discussion that followed (thanks!):
“At the final session, insulated by a Creemore, it was interesting to think of as flavour as taste: in the look and feel and design and [...]
Open thoughts for open cities
..Because gifted children are able to consider the possibilities of how things might be, they tend to be idealists. However, they are simultaneously able to see that the world is falling short of how it might be. Because they are intense, gifted children feel keenly the disappointment and frustration which occurs when ideals are not [...]
Thomas Purves
is a technology designer, futurist and sometimes entrepreneur living in the great city of Toronto. Thomas not currently available for hire (though you are always welcome to try).
