urban lifestyles
« Previous EntriesThe coming blurred boundaries between work and home
Monday, February 8th, 2010Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the intersection of workplace trends and urban living trends. It’s becoming probable that the urban knowledge economy will require many workers to supply their own private workspace. Employers — or the city milieu itself — will be responsible for supplying the space for collaboration. […]
Your most outragious examples of “urbany”
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Urbany — Trendwatching.com’s new word for the urban experience lifestyle.
100 years ago, less than 5 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today over 50% call urban areas home and that number could reach 70% within a few decades.
What’s the significance? Urban culture is taking over. As explained by Trendwatcher:
A forever-growing number of more […]
H1N1 manufactured panic inconsistent with urban living
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Back in the late spring when the “swine flu” migrated out of Mexico, public health officials and the media quickly told the story of how it was proving to be a widespread, yet reasonably mild influenza virus. Other than people with certain pre-existing conditions, most who contracted it only had mild-to-moderate flu symptoms.
Flash forward to […]
Does suburbia reinforce 1950s gender roles?
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009Over at Creative Class today I blogged about how women have become the majority in Canada’s labour force.
The shift toward a majority female workforce is probably also further evidence that the current economic downturn has accelerated the shift toward a creative economy.
After all, jobs that have traditionally employed women are creative, or have become so […]
Are hip cities leveling economic disparity?
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009Many large cities have enclaves of depressing poverty and some of immense wealth. But getting past the extremes, there is some evidence that in expensive cities, the difference is diminishing between what people in typically higher paying professions (such as doctors) are earning and those in normally lower paying occupations (such as retail clerks).
From a […]
Automotive advertising and newspaper struggles
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009Many city newspapers in North America are struggling. A few months back in a post I suggested it was because they were not covering local topics, instead picking up on non-analytical wire copy and propaganda media releases rather than reporting actual events.
The Global Urbanist has another theory, suggesting in a recent e-mail that newspaper declines […]
Will there be corporate resistance to smaller homes
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009Since World War II, the North American landscape has been remade to suit the automobile. Urban spaces often languished (with notable exceptions) in favour of suburban spaces, spread out such that driving and automobile ownership became necessities.
A tremendous automotive-industry lobby contributed to this phenomenon. Government built roads provided a massive subsidy to the motor vehicle […]
Social media and community engagement
Friday, May 15th, 2009Many popular culture analysts noted the decline of community in the later decades of the 20th century. People seemed to “tune out” and become uninterested in world events, local politics and issues that affected their daily lives. Some blamed television, others the double-income family combined with longer commutes that left little time to connect with […]
Will economic patriotism improve cities
Friday, April 24th, 2009In the United States there is notable talk about how people should be buying American, with some trying to have this enshrined in official policy. Economix this week pondered whether this economic patriotism was uniquely American (I doubt it).
Meanwhile, Richard Florida comments on a “home base” effect that certain brands have. Starbucks peforms best in […]
Enough doomsday talk, focus on livability
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009Almost everyday in the newspaper or the blogosphere some group attempts to make headlines forecasting what we could call “eco-doom” for cities. Whether the prediction is rising sea levels, fires, plagues of locusts (or killer bees) the result is misplaced attention.
Here’s an example via Planetizen: Sea Levels are Rising: It’s Time to Decide Which Cities […]