GOOD Series: Ideas For Cities

Ideas for Cities: Ped Shed over Drive Shed

GOOD — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:22 +0000

Ped Shed over Drive Shed
Cities could close and re-purpose or retrofit parking garages to create incentives for walking or riding bikes, mixed with unique spaces for work, play, art, learning, farming, and other sustainable, entertaining, and productive experiences.

This is part 19 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Monday’s idea: Google Analytics for Government.

Ideas for Cities: Citizen Recruiters

GOOD — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:21 +0000

Citizen Recruiters
Every single citizen should be engaged in the city, valued, and respected. Citizen Recruiters are analogous to military recruiters who go out and get people “in the game.” They would issue a personal invitation to be involved, and help the recruits navigate the system to find the right opportunities to “play.” They could get involved in city services, learning, or apprenticeships. Supported by a technology infrastructure, CRs would invite citizens both in person and via social media technology. In addition every citizen (not only CRs) could and should be an honorary CR in some capacity. Citizen Recruiters would be part of city service corps, conducting outreach and providing tools and training that enable every citizen to connect with the people, things, and activities to be successful.

This is part 18 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Ped Shed over Drive Shed.

Ideas for Cities: Prosper.org

GOOD — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:28 +0000

Prosper.org
The Ingenuity Ringmaster (blessed and supported by the city) would commit to a problem worth solving, and citizen innovators would submit ideas, and then the city would create a portfolio of projects with design criteria and guidance. Leveraging a micro-financing engine, citizens could vote with their dollars to decide which problems were solved. Personal investment would also drive involvement and contribution (anyone can volunteer to mentor the team, etc.). People would share, learn, and improve upon the idea. The Ringmaster would also ensure that the right courses were available online by cause or project, and would determine a curriculum and library for those innovators. The final concept would be reported across multiple platforms and key stakeholders in the solution would be consulted throughout to implement it properly. All the implementations are considered experiments to learn from, making additional “best practices” and learning content. Failures and successes would also be celebrated equally and openly.

This is part 17 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Citizen Recruiters.

Ideas for Cities: Ingenuity Ringmaster

GOOD — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:50 +0000

Ingenuity Ringmaster
This official would set the tone for inhabitants through open leadership and a malleable infrastructure, encouraging opportunities for risk-taking, seeding innovation, suggesting process and projects, and rewarding innovators by supporting imagination and invention. This is the coach that blows burning embers of ideas into rising flames of success.

This is part 16 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Prosper.org.

Ideas for Cities: Free-agent Portfolio

GOOD — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:06 +0000

Free-agent Portfolio
Every citizen should be an entrepreneur and a free-agent. From the time you graduate junior high school, citizens would collect learning credits and acquired skills in a portfolio for every kind of demonstrable learning—from engineering and skateboarding to car sales negotiation and waitress skills. All learning would be applicable and a value-add to employers. The city would operate more like a talent agency, providing citizens with the infrastructure and resources to leverage and market those skills with the core belief that everyone has something unique to offer, and those nuances are often what make job performance great instead of just good. This would also be supported by a technology infrastructure to visualize progress, and create an open-source talent network for every type of trade and skill (like Etsy, CreateHere, and Threadless). Companies would also be coached to translate skills like waitress service into something like customer service, operation management, or negotiation skills.

This is part 15 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Ingenuity Ringmaster.

Ideas for Cities: Talent Districts

GOOD — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:42:32 +0000

Talent Districts
Cities could convert some neighborhoods into learning districts for personal, professional, and entrepreneurial development. They could provide a curriculum for development supported by the infrastructure (buildings, technology, services, mentoring, and community) within the district, and further provide certain non-financial “commitments” that families in these districts must meet to stay there. People would “win” or be granted a location in the district for 2 to 7 years depending on the development challenge and goal (DUMBO did this to get started). They would be provided things like office and meeting spaces, field trips, advisory boards, mentors, courses, market research resources (if applicable), etc. in exchange for showing metrics of growth and a percentage of return in new services for the districts (come back and mentor/be a professor), or a percentage of profit.

This is part 14 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the CEOs for Cities Velocity conference in September, 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Monday’s idea: Free-agent Portfolio.

Ideas for Cities: Decentralized Design Hubs and Work Centers

GOOD — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:43:42 +0000

Decentralized Design Hubs and Work Centers
Neighborhoods could function as local “offices” by creating workplaces for citizens. Employers would therefore support and encourage employees to work in these hubs rather than driving or commuting to an employer-owned workspace. The employer instead “subscribes” to the pool of design hubs or work centers to enable employees to work there, much like a fitness studio membership. There are larger spaces for company and team meetings on occasion (weekly or monthly). There is also training for effective distributed working.

This is part 13 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the Velocity conference in September 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Talent Districts.

Ideas for Cities: Pedicab Infrastructure

GOOD — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:37:56 +0000

Pedicab infrastructure
Some streets could be zoned for pedicabs (and bicycles) only. Themed pedicabs would make alternate transportation more fun, and would make this method of commuting a “destination” instead of simply a mode. It would also provide healthy work for the employees. Pedicab themes could be anything from music, to luxury, to branded experience, to learning lessons (TED Peds).

This is part 12 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the Velocity conference in September 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Decentralized Design Hubs and Work Centers.

Ideas for Cities: Wide-walks

GOOD — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:22:50 +0000

Wide-walks
Cities should narrow streets to make room for wider sidewalks, which would provide spill-out space for businesses and restaurants; green space for landscaping, urban farming, and picnicking; jogging and bike paths; and noise reduction through elimination of “noise canyons.” Cities could also create a walking rewards program that would provide tax credits for those streets with the highest walkability, and offer citizen reward vouchers for food, entertainment, and public transit as calculated by the citizen pedometer (the more people walk, the more they earn). Wide-walks would also be learning opportunities if location-aware technology alerted walkers to fun facts, lessons, or historical tid-bits as they passed by various points of interest.

This is part 11 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the Velocity conference in September 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Pedicab Infrastructure.

Ideas for Cities: Street Activity Stimulation

GOOD — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:10:48 +0000

Street Activity Stimulation
Cities could mandate street-level space that was open to the public. Every building would dedicate their ground floors to retail or activities that invite citizens in, which would avoid activity vacuums along city streets. This would foster greater opportunity for small businesses through greater availability of retail stores, dining rooms, studios and working space, and community and learning centers. The goal is highly walkable districts with rampant “boredom snuffers” and magnets for happy accidents.

This is part 10 of a continuing brainstorm on the future of cities, inaugurated at the Velocity conference in September 2009. We’ll post a new idea each day until we run out, at which point we’re counting on you to come up with something smart. Do you have a good idea for improving your city? Add it in the comments below, or tweet it to @GOOD with hashtag #cityideas—we’ll publish the best ones. Tomorrow’s idea: Wide-walks.