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9 SMART WAYS TO MAKE CITIES BETTER

Bloomberg Businessweek | August 30, 2023

Extractive Summary of the Article | Listen

A principle of urban life is that cities don’t stay fixed. Managing these complex municipal machines is a never-ending battle against entropy, the elements, human error and the unpredictable exigencies of life on Earth in 2023. But public officials, community leaders and experts in various fields can be remarkably creative at patching up, adapting and (occasionally) planning ahead. An innovation may take the form of a novel technology, a new policy approach or an architectural trend. It might be crafted for a local problem and might not hold forever. But cities everywhere are taking on pressing issues, and there’s much to learn from them.  Nine of these learning could be:

1. Convert Offices On The Cheap. But the cost and complication of converting an office into a usable residential space are real barriers, driving up the rents a developer would need to charge to break even.  Then there’s the question of whether you could persuade people to live in places that retain the distinctive feel of pre-pandemic office life. 
2. Build cemeteries as skyscrapers as did in Hongkong   
3. Design with local materials  
4. Dont play the stadium game
5. Create a sanctuary from war 
6. Use AI to keep building from collapsing 
7. Recycle water in apartment buildings
8. Make cities more absorbent 
9. Appoint a bike Mayor as did by Amsterdam

3 key takeaways from the article

1. A principle of urban life is that cities don’t stay fixed. Managing these complex municipal machines is a never-ending battle against entropy, the elements, human error and the unpredictable exigencies of life on Earth in 2023. But public officials, community leaders and experts in various fields can be remarkably creative at patching up, adapting and (occasionally) planning ahead. 
2. Cities everywhere are taking on pressing issues, and there’s much to learn from them.  
3. Nine of such learning could be:  convert offices on the cheap, build cemeteries as skyscrapers as did in Hongkong, design with local materials, dont play the stadium game, create a sanctuary from war, use AI to keep building from collapsing, recycle water in apartment buildings, make cities more absorbent and appoint a bike Mayor as did by Amsterdam.

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Topics:  Construction, Environment, Safety