Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 38 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • These Citywide Behavioral Science Experiments Are Paying Off

    Ideas42, a nonprofit behavioral design firm, has advised cities such as New York and Chicago on creative ways to use behavioral design to improve the quality of city life. From helping students sign up for financial aid to decreasing traffic after a sporting event, these creative design tweaks are inexpensive and have clear benefits. If the cities can continue to improve their design successes, other cities will soon follow their lead.

    Read More

  • The chewing gum you don't mind stuck to your shoe Audio icon

    Did you know that the main ingredient in most chewing gum is a synthetic rubber, which resembles a close relationship to plastic? "It's called polyisobutylene," explains Anna Bullus, a British designer, "the same stuff you find in the inner tube of bicycle wheels." After realizing this, Anna decided to embark on a mission to recycle used chewing gum as a means of cleaning up the streets. What resulted was a way to create everyday products that include at least 20% gum, while simultaneously saving institutions money on what otherwise would have gone toward cleanup efforts.

    Read More

  • Thousands of poor young people are using Minecraft to redesign their cities

    Too often, poor community members are not included in public discourse over how public spaces should look-- rather, the urban planning is more top-down. To change that, the UN’s Block by Block project is using the computer game Minecraft to include locals in shaping the physical spaces in their own communities by teaching them digital design skills. The UN program has engaged over 17,000 people, and 20 crowdsourced designs have already been built in cities around the world.

    Read More

  • The world is poorly designed. But copying nature helps.

    In 1989, when Japan’s bullet train debuted, it reached nearly 170 miles per hour, but was also exceptionally loud as it left any tunnel. To remedy this, engineers and designers turned to nature – mimicking different bird features in their redesign of the train. Known as biomimicry, the practice of looking at nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems and incorporating them into human-made designs has gained in popularity in the last three decades.

    Read More

  • Learning to defuse Islamophobia

    Most bus stops have an array of ads, but in Boston one sign reads “What to do if you are witnessing Islamophobic harassment.” The message is part of a part of a public awareness campaign rolled out by the city, which illustrates “how bystanders could help a victim of anti-Muslim behavior.”

    Read More

  • Designing an Active, Healthier City

    Obesity is at an all-time high in the United States, and is hard to combat. But urban obesity can be countered with inviting streets to stroll, dramatic staircases to climb, parks to exercise in - it’s called “active design.”

    Read More

  • Architects Deploy Traffic Barrels to Make U.S.-Mexico Connection

    Art installations create spaces that can bring together members of diverse communities. Using the motif of urban design on the US-Mexico border, professors at Texas Tech in El Paso created an installation that also served as a community event. The “Flash Installation” existed for only a day, but in that time the project brought together student volunteers, community partners, nonprofits, and local businesses.

    Read More

  • The Perfect Classroom, According to Science

    The physical classroom environment can have profound effects on a student’s academic performance, sense of belonging, and self-esteem. What would the Platonic ideal classroom look like, illustrated? It might include more greenery, fewer visual distractions on classroom walls, and some tweaks to light sources.

    Read More