A renewed interest in all things urban is running coast to coast. New York is spending $150 million to create its High Line park. According to a conference transcript from NYC Future, about 20 major development projects are underway along the High Line or in the High Line district, a number of which are now calling themselves the “High Line Building” or the “High Line something, something.” Meanwhile, notable architects at the recent AIA conference including cofounder of Morphosis, Thom Mayne, discussed the current state of LA and how to get passed its opacity--reversing Dorothy Parker’s quip of Los Angeles: “Seventy-two suburbs in search of a city.”

Why the trend? In 2007, for the first time, more than half of the world’s population will live in cities, reports Marilyn Taylor, partner-in-charge of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. “Urban living may be the best way to save the planet,” explains an article from New Scientist.
what's hot
open source, using wireless technology collaboratively

what's not
getting all proprietary, hording ideas and technology

what to watch for
collaborative efforts involving urban planners, artists, technologists
many forces at work
• retro influences
• futurism
• need for human contact
• creative class


JOURNAL OF NEW URBAN STUDIES

City is the journal of the new urban studies. It looks at cities and their futures from many perspectives including those of the information revolution, the environment, the local, global and multi-cultural. City is multi-disciplinary with contributions from academics in geography, the social sciences, planning, cultural studies and the humanities.



CONFLUX 2006 FESTIVAL

Brooklyn-based arts lab Glowlab announces Conflux 2006, a festival where international artists, technologists, urban adventurers and the public put investigations of everyday urban life into practice on the streets. Highlights include an urban tourism “mash-up” recreating Baghdad in New York; a PDA mapping project visualizing the wireless urban landscape; roadside memorials to toxic spots on the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront; a large-scale urban game of Othello; a multimedia lecture connecting street art with online social networking; a walk through Brooklyn guided by smell; electronic clothing allowing wearers to experience vibrations calculated by urban conditions; a bike tour of the edges of the five boroughs; ecologically-oriented projects featuring gardens both electronic and organic; and an audio tour of the city subways.


ROOFTOP FILMS

Rooftop Films is one of the premiere venues, in New York City and beyond, for new, underground and independent short films and underexposed feature films. The artists presented include first-time filmmakers, long-time outsider artists and seasoned film professionals. They don't screen in theaters, they screen in communities. From the roof of The Old American Can Factory, an artists' complex in Park Slope / Gowanus, to Automotive High School, in the heart of Williamsburg, Rooftop Films collaborates with venues and neighborhoods.

 

FUTURESONIC 2006 FESTIVAL

The Futuresonic 2006 festival will explore the theme of Independence, looking at collaborative cultures and independence movements in art, technology and culture. Futuresonic was formed 10 years ago at a time when there was an emergent musical and digital culture that was outside the mainstream, collaborative and peer-to-peer. Today a centre of gravity has shifted towards the world of hackers, bloggers, free networks, open source, social software and civic technologies. What has remained constant has been the emphasis on social autonomy and independence of creative practice.


SCUBA SOUND-BLOCKING DEVICE

The Scuba was designed to allow the redefinition of one’s private space by increasing the existing inner sound to the dominant on one’s mind. Squeezing the device (soft and plush) enhances the physical reaction in stressful situations and provides sense of control and dynamic sound experience. The gesture can be very discreet as the device can be hidden in your pocket, and therefore is not limited by the presence of people around you. The Scuba doesn't totally isolate you but provides a progressive experience. The action of pressing and squeezing let indeed the energy out and gives in the same time a very protective feeling, as in the child security blanket.



SMALL PLANET'S CROWDSURFER

CrowdSurfer allows users to make the invisible connections that they may have to those around them. They store their own profiles on their phones, and choose to see or be seen by other users who may have similar interests, gone to the same school, worked at the same company, etc. This is accomplished by periodic "pinging" by Bluetooth signal typically in a 30-50 foot radius. If another user is detected, the phone can search the database at SmallPlanet.net via GPRS connection to discover if they have friends in common. If they are connected by up to 4 degrees contact relations, the profiles of those friends connecting them are displayed.



SYNTHETIC STAR

Urban Lodestar is a light-emitting five-pointed star designed to float serenely above a city center and pulse gently at the same rate as a resting heart to calm the city folk below. Lodestar hovers with the aid of helium-filled polymer balloons; propellant tanks and directional boosters attached to a GPS-equipped positioning system keep it from going AWOL. During the day, photovoltaic film panels harness energy from the Sun and store it in batteries; at night, electroluminescent strips in the shape of a star glow with that stored energy. Graphite composite struts provide stability, and a battery-powered xenon strobe creates the pulsing effect. Intermittent green flashes differentiate the Urban Lodestar from natural celestial bodies.

 


NISSAN PIVO CONCEPT

The Pivo was built as a showcase for Nissan's new electric-car technologies. With a drive-by-wire system that requires no mechanical connection between the driver inputs and drive system, its spherical cabin is able to rotate 360 degrees. The Pivo's compact, powerful motor and high-capacity lithium-ion battery will probably find their way into Nissan's future electric- and hybrid-car endeavors.



DROP SPOTS

Facilitating creative exchange at a street level, DropSpots encourages people to use the nooks and crannies of their physical environment as places to exchange gifts with others. Participants leave virtual markers on a website to map where they have concealed an item. Once a dropspot has been created, it exists almost like a physical mailbox, where people can leave handwritten messages, mix cds, drawings, raw materials - gifts of no financial value that bring their own personality out from behind the walls of their house and into the shared space of the street. DropSpots integrates the virtual space of the web with the real space of our living environment, and (unlike the web) is specific to a local community. Participants can share what they found, and how they modified it by uploading photos to the website. Participants are updated via email or text message when a new item has been left for them to find.


LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL GRANTS

Collaborative Marketing Grants for up to $40,000 will be awarded to non-profit cultural organizations working in partnership with at least two other non-profit organizations for the purpose of conducting a joint marketing campaign for their events and/or programs. The grant program also includes technical assistance workshops and ongoing technical assistance to help grantees realize their goals and fulfill the terms of the grant.


MEGALOPOLIS

In collaboration with renowned architect Paolo Soleri of Arcosanti fame, film director Francis Coppola has been working on a screenplay that deals with a visionary architect who wants to rebuild New York City. The working title of the film is 'Megalopolis'.