Creativity

We’ve heard so much lately about the importance of maintaining healthy colonies of bees. That’s why it’s so nice to be able to say that the unlikely locale of Vancouver’s downtown eastside is home to one of the most productive hives around. But that’s not the sweetest part of this story.  Julia Common, a hobbyist beekeeper introduced the hive to the Hastings Urban Farm with the hope that tending to the bees would prove cathartic and inspiring for members of this perceived 'marginalized' community.

We’ve heard so much lately about the importance of maintaining healthy colonies of bees. That’s why it’s so nice to be able to say that the unlikely locale of Vancouver’s downtown eastside is home to one of the most productive hives around. But that’s not the sweetest part of this story.  Julia Common, a hobbyist beekeeper introduced the hive to the Hastings Urban Farm with the hope that tending to the bees would prove cathartic and inspiring for members of this perceived 'marginalized' community.

Bas Van Abel heads up Fairphone, a Dutch company who have succeeded in making an interesting impact in the smartphone market. After becoming concerned over the dilemma owning a smartphone can cause for many sustainably minded individuals, he decided to re-think the way the materials were sourced. He built relationships with mineral suppliers who he was able to count on to have more eco-friendly practices in place.

Why do we get used to everyday things, they become habits, often unconscious. Habituation can be both positive and negative. Some habits help us develop routines, as we can’t pay full attention all the time. It can also stop us from noticing and fixing the problems around us if we don’t ‘see’ them.  This video talks about how design can help us fix the problems. The first secret of design is to notice—try to see the world the way it is and not what we think it is. Perhaps there are important clues here for responding to the need for more climate innovations.

Makerspaces are a new form of community engagement. A makerspace, sometimes also referred to as hackerspaces, hackspaces, and fablabs are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn.

Another good news story comes from the world of sustainable housing solutions. A company called ArchiBlox  working out of Australia has unveiled the country’s first carbon-positive pre-fab home. This addresses two issues:  firstly, its genius design is supporting not only itself, but is capable of giving energy back to the grid. Secondly, it provides an elegant housing solution for those who are weary of more labour intensive and desire non-conventional smaller housing solutions.

In a previous blog, I talked about the importance of multi-functional space. This article describes how libraries are curating e-books for subway riders in Beijing.

In one of our research projects, we explored the concept of multifunctional places, that is, buildings that have more than one purpose.

I don't often write personally on my academic blog, but on a cold wintery day in the East, when I am suffering from writer's block, seems appropriate. Robin Williams was one of my heros, and this clip is from a 1978 performance at the Roxy in which the phrase, you're only given a little spark of madness, you musn' lose it, is taken.

Nowadays, everyone has a cell phone. Charging the batteries of over a billion cell phones is only one of many strains on our energy production, but is significant none the less. Cell phone use had all but eliminated the need for phone booths, until Harold Craston and Kristy Kenny had a vision. The iconic red phone booths in London had fallen into disrepair, so they gave them a coat of green paint, installed a solar panel, and Solarbox was born.