There are 614,387 bridges in the United States and 55,707 of them are thought to be structurally deficient according to the US Department of Transportation (2016). About 188 million people cross “a deficient bridge” every day in the US (also a 2016 figure). Inspections are… Read More
All posts tagged “crowdsourcing”
Urban change through rapid prototyping
The Market Street Prototyping Festival is just finishing up in San Francisco. The festival, which is now in its 3rd year, is centered around urban interventions that can be rapidly prototyped and tested. The goal is to discover new ideas that could be used to transform… Read More
Crowdsourcing unsafe cycling conditions with a small yellow handlebar button
Hövding – a Swedish company best known for its radical airbag cycling helmets (definitely check these out) – is currently crowdsourcing unsafe conditions and cyclist frustration in London. Working with the London Cyclist Campaign, they distributed 500 yellow handlebar buttons. Cyclists were then instructed to… Read More
Towards decentralized city building
One of the most profound shifts taking place today – because of new technologies – is that of decentralization. I’ve written about this before, but I keep coming back to it because I find it so fascinating. It’s happening to varying degrees, but as a… Read More
#BuildHereNow — Crowdsourced city building
This week Strong Towns has been running a great social media campaign called #BuildHereNow. The way it works is very simple. They asked people to get outside and take photos of vacant and/or underutilized properties in their town or city and post them to Twitter… Read More
Toronto housing — where we came from and where we’re probably headed
This morning I’m working on a presentation that I’m going to be giving one evening next week to a delegation coming in from the US. The title of the presentation is the title of this blog post: Toronto housing – where we came from and… Read More
When the crowd builds a city
I’ve been following and checking out Kickstarter pretty much since the beginning. But it wasn’t until last night that I backed my first project. After doing that, I immediately started thinking about urban projects that might be able to also get crowdfunded using Kickstarter. How… Read More
#ATHISCITY
One of the things that makes cities so exciting is the fact that they’re always changing. New restaurants open up. New buildings are built. Old buildings (with no heritage value, of course) are demolished. Bike lanes are added. New infill homes pop up in quiet… Read More
Could a decentralized sales model work?
Since I started blogging last year, I’ve been getting regular emails from both people I know and from readers I don’t know (but hope to one day meet) asking for advice on buying real estate. Usually somebody sends me the link to a place they’re thinking… Read More
Hole @ Queen & Dufferin for Q-Lofts