Since I posted on sustainable suburbs a couple of months ago, I’ve been alerted to the Forum for the Future’s seminar on the same subject. The main themes were about density and connectivity. The seminar report is a little bald; James Goodman’s blog post gives a more rounded flavour.
I contributed last week to an event in London which was designed to imagine how the notion of the museum might change. The current model, which is about 150 years old, basically consists of a building with some stuff in it, arranged according to some organising principle. It is changing already in the face of [...]
The ‘grand problematique’ is a phrase sometimes used in futures works to describe that coming collision of population increase, food supply issues, energy shortage, and climate change impact - which, it’s said, could be making our lives hell by 2030. (Colin Mason called it the ‘2030 Spike‘). There has been a wave of related [...]
The serious impact of noise on health outcomes is an emerging issue. I blogged last year about a World Health Organisation study on noise impact in Europe which suggested - among other things - that as many people died in the UK because of the effects of persistent traffic noise as in collisions. Now a [...]
I blogged a few months ago about Sao Paulo’s decision to ban billboards, in the context of the Culture Jammers’ campaign against what it calls the “mental pollution” of advertising. But it’s one thing to read about a different future, and another to see it. Now Advertising Lab has pointed me towards two videos - [...]
A report in today’s Times says that Poles are now leaving Britain faster than they are arriving - according to 3rd quarter data from the migrant workers’ register and more recent informal if informed assessments.
The reasons: the tightening UK economy; the weakening pound (and strong zloty); and a surge in the Polish economy, which has [...]
Michael Hutchinson makes an interesting point about world records and technology towards the end of The Hour, his wry account of his failed attempt to break the world one-hour cycling record. It’s that using technology to squeeze out fractional advantage is part of the record-breaking process. His argument has fresh relevance as French researchers suggest [...]
If you’re interested in how the future is portrayed in the past - or in transport - this is certainly worth nine minutes of your time. From 1958, a section of a Disney show on the future of transportati0n. Or, as it turns out, the future of highways and cars.
Obviously the winter outdoor ice skating rinks which increasingly crowd the UK’s public spaces are right on trend. Just tick them off: the shift from services to experiences, the rise of shared social meaning, and the commercialisation of parts of the public realm that would otherwise be commons. But - having just come back from [...]
A day when the so-called ‘Big Four’ of English football met on what Sky was promoting as ‘Grand Slam Sunday’ seems a good time to post on the declining competition in the English Premiership. Every fan knows it’s happening - I wanted to demonstrate it for a client for whom it was relevant.
