Linguistic Underpinnings

1. Socialize healthcare in a city. Show the US it can be done! Start small and grow out… cities with shrinking populations might give this a shot. (eh hem… Pittsburgh!)

2.  Be the first city to build a Vertical Garden!

3. Be the first to place oxygen-rich plants in public schools (like Kamal Meattle did in Delhi buildings) and study the affects.

4. Build fountains that serve as sources for drinking water. Serbia did it… we can do it too! It creates an instant social space and sense of security and well being in the community.

5. Legalize street vending or make it easier to get a vending liscense. This easy entry into business will make room for small time entripenuers to get their foot in the door. It can also add free security to city streets, act as quick solution to workers on lunch break looking for a meal or a coffee, and add extra flavor to other wise monotone sections of cityscape.

6. Be the first city to paint all the rooftops white! Save on energy and become a green tourism location!

7. Make more streets walking streets. It’s something that is so rare in the US, as most cities are tripping over themselves to clear the way for cars. Imagine the downtown of any US cities with more open air restaurants and a safe place to walk and relax? Imagine Times Square without cars! Put the walking streets right in there with the public drinking fountains.

8. Include safe bike lanes in city planning. As cities in the US fret over obesity related health issues and pollution from cars, issues with congestion and traffic, “ye olde bicycle” remains a viable solution all around. Bikes put more eyes on the streets (safer streets) takes cars off the road, provide a means of free transport and exercise, and hey-–it’s fun!

9.  Add Green roofs to any building!

10.  Encourage dynamic educational and artistic programming in communities of all sizes.

I haven’t felt compelled to post very much in a while.

Is it possible to reach a point where you are too analytical to appreciate? To be surprised? To even enjoy the world around you?

I can’t buy a watch because I can’t find a watch I like. It’s not that there aren’t “good watches” out there it’s that literally, the watch I want doesn’t exist as far as I can tell. (oh how I have looked.)

The nice thing is, that if the thing you need doesn’t exist, you are not trapped as a consumer- well some are- but I am a maker of things. Maeda was a nice reminder of what that means.

It was nice to find John Maeda toying with the world. Thanks John Maeda. For being downright playful with that stodgy, clumsy, learning curved thing called technology that defines so much of what  we need and how we come to it.

Maeda: “… I actually don’t like technology very much… but it’s not about how to make the world more technological…it’s about how to make it more humane…” Right. Technology can help that happen.

Now I’m back on track.

I’ve been nosing around in the world of design lately and came across several tools that are worth talking about, both thanks to LifeClever.

The first is a design for dummies style book called the Non-Designer’s Design Book.

Next, a list of quick-look plug in tools (some of which are free) for Leopard that allows designers to check out doc.s in Illustrator, InDesign, Freehand, Quark, and Flash documents at a glance.