Journal: Ravintolapäivä, Restaurant Day, edible urbanism and civic opportunism
This screen grab of an iPhone app is interesting for a number of reasons. One reason is seemingly mundane, and concerns the procurement of such things, yet could unlock possibilities nonetheless. The other reason is genuinely inspirational, potentially transformational even, and this post describes why, through both journal entry and essay. The screen grab is […]
Journal: A walk in Schöneberg, Berlin: energy policy, gentrification, protest, and the humble joys of communal flower beds
I didn't think that a humble flower bed could have quite this effect. The verges – for they are numerous, every few metres – turned out to be the key feature of the streets of Schöneberg, Berlin, where I was walking with my colleagues on Friday morning. We were being given a tour by Dr […]
Journal: ‘Bullitt’, ‘Drive’ and walking the LA River
I’m in a hotel room in Adelaide watching Bullitt on Fox Classics. I flipped channel to find myself right at the start of the famous car chase scene. I must have seen this scene around 50 times. I had this movie on VHS, when one had such things, and used to know the exact time to […]
Journal: Alppila at Salmisaari, black soots in Ruoholahti
I swear I can still taste the coal dust in my mouth, nine hours later. Marco had noticed the soot in the snow first. Looking down from our vantage point on the 14th floor of our tower in Ruoholahti, we get a good view of the Finnish-registered coail carrier, the Alppila, unloading its cargo into […]
Journal: Of brains and cities; neuroscience and cultures of decision-making
From Emergence, by Steven Johnson A couple of weeks ago I was invited to take part in an event called the “North House Salon” (see previous entry: Passport Control to Pimlico). These salons are organised by Dr Sarah Caddick, neuroscience advisor to Lord David Sainsbury (ex-Minister for Science and Innovation in the UK government) and the […]
Journal: Passport Control to Pimlico
1500 Around John Islip Street, Pimlico, London, 30 November 2011. Notes written on Finnair. I arrived in London on the day of the national general strike, the scale of which no-one could seem to agree on: it was somehow both the largest strike since the 1970s “winter of discontent” as well being as “a damp […]
Journal: Darlinghurst morning
0830 14 November 2011, Kirketon Hotel, Darlinghurst Road, Sydney / 0930 Kings Cross & Darlinghurst / 1130 Kirketon Hotel Kings Cross and Darlinghurst is the most Sydney bit of Sydney, perhaps. The streets are small and tight, but busy with cars anyway. Cars are poured through this city as a kind of sealant, filling all […]
Journal: Festa 2010, Turin
Italy should be the best country in the world, it really should. It has abundant riches in terms of culture, history, food, weather, urbanism, architecture, industry, craft, design, literature, football, cinema, language, and almost impossible beauty in its landscape, terrain and people. But it isn’t the best country in the world. It’s far from it. […]
Journal: ‘In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change’ book, and Helsinki Design Lab
In short: Our team, the Strategic Design Unit at Sitra, has just published a new book, In Studio: Recipes for Strategic Design, written by my three colleagues. More here, context below. But now … “There arrived an invitation to the North Pole – at least, that was how he described it to himself and everyone […]
Journal: Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects, and designing for the occupation of space in contemporary Beijing
(Continuing to empty out my old Beijing notebook from October 2009.) Beijing was such a whirl that I didn’t even get to see much of the city’s archetypal and much-discussed urban form: the hutong. (Read Sorkin on hutongs and lilongs.) While that’s a regret, as they’ve been disappearing for years, recent reports indicate they are […]