Another one of those “it existed before, but the pandemic accelerated it” stories (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The concept of “bike buses” has been around for years, but the slower or even closed streets that various cities implemented in the last couple of years provided new opportunities.
New materials can be quite fascinating. Although some of them are not completely new but re-invented, which is often done by integrating things nature does by itself. Dezeen has a great list of ten future materials that could change the way we build. Favourites in this list: 3D-printed mycelium, hemp rebar, and carbon-sequestering Carbicrete (ok, the last one might be in part because it's from a Montréal company).
At first glance, it might still be unintuitive for some but the evidence is mounting that living in cities is actually more sustainable than in the countryside. Hélène Chartier goes further, arguing that sustainable living is “not viable outside cities.” Interviewed after the release of the most recent IPCC report, she says that “cities are the only sustainable way to house Earth’s growing population–but the importance of protecting them from climate risks has been totally underrated.”
Repair cafés are nothing new, but the post is quite useful for all the details the authors provide and the great idea of holding it at a University with tables from different disciplines, offering repairs for different kinds of products.
We’ve covered this topic before, but how online shopping might reshape cities is definitely worth revisiting both for the phenomenon itself, and as an example of “software eating the world.” Digital companies, or simply the use of new technologies by incumbents, not only disrupt their competitors but often have much broader impacts.
