What we can learn from creative city initiatives, from Sydney to Paris.
What makes a city great? Whether you’re living in Durban, South Africa, or Medellín, Colombia, perhaps no two people living in one place will have the same answer. But ask residents across different cultures and regions about challenges facing their own cities, and common issues will emerge, like the need for more affordable housing, better public transportation and access to resources and services.
Meet Eric Stackpole and David Lang, the guys who invented an underwater robot that's helping everybody from hardcore marine biologists and aquaculturists and students to ... anybody, really, see what's going on under the deep. Their company, OpenROV, is a good example of how the maker culture helps bridge the world between professional scientists and hobbyists.
Rick Stafford, inventor, outdoorsman and former oil-field worker on Alaska’s North Slope—the kind of guy “who will take three hours to build a tool to turn a two-hour job into 30 minutes”—wanted to create a potentially lifesaving (and easy-to-pack) way for snowmobilers to walk away after a backwoods breakdown. His solution? Airlite inflatable snowshoes.
Meet the couple behind Philly's Three Potato Four, a retro-hip company that's putting a modern spin on the antiques game. Also in the issue, read all about Thrive, the service that helped Newfoundland's House to Home keep the lights on (and the front doors open for business).
I couldn't tell exactly what the noise was or where it was coming from: There was the ping ping ping of xylophones, a beating drum, and the shaking rattling noises of...something. Pursing the sounds across the grounds of the New York Hall of Science, I expected to find a small band of people using a clearing as a practice space. Instead I found a guy in a plaid shirt standing behind a folding table loaded with small player-pianoesque musical instruments (aka, Nick Yulman and his Bone Conductor Mechanical Orchestra).
My brain-swirling day at World Maker Faire NY was officially underway.
Twenty years ago, when Connie Brown decided to become an art mapmaker (sans formal cartographic training), she didn't have an inkling of how difficult it would be to put "places on a two-dimensional plane and deliver clarity without chaos. Making it beautiful is the easiest part." Despite her "profound ignorance," Brown's maps are some of the most interesting--and beautiful--I've ever come across. They blend art, science, and storytelling.
Does it seem as though your loved one owns every CD and DVD known to man? Follow our easy-to-use guide to find the perfect present for the entertainment buff in your life.
It's not unusual to see visitors to New York City--or even a local or two, when they remember to stop and smell the cement--looking up, taking in all the architectural sights the city has to offer. But on October 6 and 7, the fifth annual Open House New York Weekend will offer some relief for the neck strain: Instead of having to look up, architectural aficionados will be able to take a look deep inside hundreds of buildings and sites around the city.
Read the full piece on the American Way site.