Guerrilla Gardening and more.

http://www.designundersky.com/dus/2010/2/25/ludic-guerrilla-gardening-drone-warfare.html

“Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.”

Read more on Urban Downsizing – will it happen?…

How have I missed this?

“What is “Seasteading”? Seasteading is creating permanent dwellings on the ocean – homesteading the high seas. A seastead, like in the picture to the right, is a structure meant for permanent occupation on the ocean.”

Read more on A Brief Introduction to the Seasteading Institute | Seasteading Institute…

While this piece has a somewhat odd tone to me, in terms of catching the lessons I think it’s a win. There are far more lessons, of course – about building refugee camps, and disaster relief, and the limits of isolation – but it’s good as far as it goes.  I would like the narrator to try and navigate without the “symbolic” streetlights on a duststorm night, but nevermind.

Read more on 5 Things Cities Can Learn from Burning Man…

This is an important book on an important topic. While one may disagree with some of his conclusions as to “why”, the data and overall picture is  bleak. And as both natural disasters and warfare continue to displace millions of people every year, it will continue to get worse. Already over one billion people live in slums – and that figure will double over the next decade. And although we in the US have a relatively small (under 6 percent of the urban population) percentage in urban slums, in absolute terms it is still more than many of the poorer countries have.

Read more on Planet of Slums…