A friend of mine recently told me about a documentary that he thought I’d like. It’s called Highrise. And it’s an exploration of vertical living around the world.

But it’s not your typical documentary. It’s a multi-year, multi-media documentary that I’m still in the midst of exploring. There’s videos, interactive web documentaries, blog posts and other stuff planned.

If you’re interested in highrise buildings and cities, you can start here and here on the New York Times’ website.

Imagine this sequence of events (and don’t peak by clicking on any of the links).

The year is 1994.

You notice that the internet is starting to become a big deal and that more and more products are being sold online. As a result of this trend, you decide to start an online business.

You write up the business plan and begin operations out of your garage. You then get lucky (or you’re just smart and talented). Within 2 months, sales reach $20,000/week. That’s over a million dollars a year.

Business continues to grow and within 3 years you’re able to take your company public, raising $54 million at a $438 million valuation. Over the subsequent two years, you’re then able to raise an additional $2.2 billion in debt to fund your continued growth. 

The year is now 2000.

You were just named Time magazine Man of the Year. And traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are really taking notice (i.e. suing you). That’s pretty impressive after only 6 years of operation. 

This company is called Amazon. And that “you” is Jeff Bezos.

I was reading up about how much of an asshole Jeff Bezos is, and then became interested in the Amazon story. I thought I would share a bit of it with you all here.

I was browsing through Vishaan Chakrabarti’s new book, A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for Urban America, and I was struck by a diagram outlining the annual US Federal infrastructure budget. Here it is:

It comes as no surprise, but it’s still a good reminder of how heavily subsidized roads and sprawl are. So the next time somebody argues that suburban sprawl is a natural market outcome, remind them of how much government encouragement it took.