For the citizen in at least some cities, US and elsewhere, this must be a good way of:
"How to identify nice spot-lit targets for muggers"?
After all, it's generally going to be used by people with expensive hardware on board. So why not sit down, have a rest and wait quietly for the next victim to just stroll along?
Call it a proverbial life-saver or just another tool to fuel cell phone addiction.
Either way, Street Charge is a sleek product design concept from PENSA that would let you charge up your small gagets throughout a city. The solar-powered charging station could be installed on existing street sign posts with two docking stations and a small table, creating a mini-public space. You could do it all without needing to pop into a coffee shop to buy an unwanted latte.
At Fast Company, Mark Wilson, puts the invention into an interesting perspective. It’s like a rest area for urbanites.
Think about it: The urban professional doesn’t need gas, Funyuns, ample parking or a patch of grass for their kids to run around like a typical vehicle commuter. The only thing most of them need is to top off is their mobile phone of choice. As of today, there’s a whole infrastructure of coffee shops and bakeries that fill this role in big cities–not so differently than gas stations fill the role of rest stops where public funding grows dry.
While it’s a bit of hyperbole to say that the only thing urbanites (at least the ones who live in walkable communities) need is a cell phone charge and don’t need gas (and who says they don’t need Funyuns?!), it’s still an apt comparison for certain urbanites. The product would serve a need while being easily integrated into a neighborhood, using infrastructure that you can find in any city.
Watch the video below to see how it works:
