The Sunday Diigo Links Post (weekly)
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Blame Yourself For The Recession – Forbes.com
Belt-tightening 101 includes public policy (like cracking down on super-frigid air-conditioning and free toss-away plastic bags at will)…
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Our consumption is out of control. Did you know there is a mass of bottles, plastic bags and other garbage the size of Texas–almost as large as LeBron James’ ego–floating between California and Hawaii? My brother-in-law and I recently went to a Bed Bath and Beyond in the middle of the day. We were the only two customers in the entire massive store, and we were shivering from the frigid air being blasted from the air conditioners.We could learn a lesson or two from China, where the Shanghai government caps the temperature at 79 degrees in malls and office buildings in summer to save energy. It’s illegal there to get a free plastic bag at the grocery store (you have to pay a nickel or bring your own bag), helping reduce waste and petrochemical use. We should also increase the money paid for recycling aluminum cans from a nickel to a quarter, even if Pepsi and Coke object, as they most likely will. Maybe if we made simple changes to how we consume we could rein in waste, decrease pollution and reduce our dependence on oil, a commodity that has wrought so many problems.
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Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices | Video on TED.com
Great TED talk by Ethan Zuckerman about sharing atoms and bits (it’s easier to get water bottled in Fiji – atoms – than it is to see a film from Fiji or to get news about the political scene in Fiji – bits) and about how we’re creating “flocking” communities online which we should really be mixing up with some outside sources.
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Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves. Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide world. He talks about clever strategies to open up your Twitter world and read the news in languages you don’t even know.
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Zing! The monoculture of big-box retail produces less economic benefit than mixed-use (urban) development. Gee, Jane Jacobs must be smiling: diversity (real eco-diversity) is what produces profit/ development/ sustainability – *not* mono-culture, which may produce a relatively short-term benefit, but cannot sustain economic benefit over the longer haul.
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Here comes surprise No. 1.: Big box stores such as WalMart and Sam’s Club, when analyzed for county property tax revenue per acre, produce barely more than a single family house; maybe $150 to $200 more a year, Katz said. (Think of all those acres of parking lots.) “That hardly seems worth all the heat that elected officials take when they approve such development,” he noted in a related, written presentation.
Among retail properties, the biggest per-acre property tax revenue in his county, almost $22,000 per acre, comes from Southgate Mall, the county’s highest-end commercial property with Macy’s, Dillards and Saks Fifth Avenue department stores. That’s not so surprising.
But here’s the shocker: On a horizontal bar chart Katz showed, you see that zooming to the far right side, outpacing all the retail offerings, even the regional shopping mall, is the revenue from a high-rise mixed-use project in downtown Sarasota. It sits on less than an acre and contributes a hefty $800,000 in tax per acre. (Add in city property taxes and it’s $1.2 million.) “It takes a lot of WalMarts to equal the contribution of that one mixed-use building,” Katz noted.
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urban_development malls municipal_funding retail citistates mary_newsom
Liked this article by Umair Haque. Excerpt:
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Prosperians believe the economy’s central problem isn’t a lack of demand, or a lack of supply – but a lack of purpose. Prosperianism’s foundation can be summed up in a single sentence: 21st century economies can, should, and must have a higher purpose than product.
Prosperians believe that the real challenge of the 21st century isn’t kickstarting “growth” and churning out more “product” – but reconceiving what is growing, how it grows, and why it grows. The prosperian agenda is redefining prosperity, so it’s more meaningful, authentic, and durable. It’s not about just restarting the same old industrial-age engine of GDP, but building a better one.
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umair_haque harvard_business prosperity economic_development
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Unlocking creativity in placemaking doesn’t need to depend on huge budgets or complex megaplans. Successful places inspire, engage and surprise. Urban environments that make the most of existing place assets and ‘energise’ or activate our places and spaces is what most of us are looking for.
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rudi architecture urbanplanning urbanism creative_spaces
Lots to think about in this article by Michel Mossessian. Excerpt:
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It is necessary to create models that encourage public ownership and public authorship. One such model is public art – but not public art which creates purely decorative objects (the model of “the statue in the square”). Aesthetic values can be harnessed to communicate social and environmental concerns. A model such as the “New Patrons”, developed in France, in which community members are directly involved in the commissioning of art works for public spaces – be they public squares or hospital waiting rooms – act to meditate between different members of a community and encourage shared ownership.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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