“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re reading about ways to improve urban living.
1.) Meet the innovators who want to improve your urban life. At the Global Innovation Series, a range of topics are touched upon — from new forms of transportation to re-imagined architecture, as well as technology innovations that improve quality of life in cities around the world.
2.) 5 innovative ways to reinvent the strip mall. The strip mall is a ubiquitous but largely unloved featured of the modern city. In a trailblazing design competition, urban design’s brightest minds explore ways to make strip malls work better — and look good doing so.
3.) A city faces its ‘Berlin Wall’: An interstate highway. N.Y. City officials and residents are debating what to do about an aging stretch of the highway that cuts through the city.
4.) Want to make a creative city? Build out, not up. [audio] Urban density spurs innovation. But it turns out that some kinds of density are better than others. Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited, explains how going vertical can mute creativity, and spreading out can enhance it.
5.) Urban farming in New York City is on the up, thanks to groups like Brooklyn Grange. If you’re interested in the future of the city, you could do worse than to look to New York City. Established as a trading post way back in 1624, it’s an urban center that’s been around awhile, and, as a consequence, has had some time to develop some familiar issues — including food deserts in low-income neighborhoods.
Bonus: U.S. leads in building innovation, KPMG says.
Image credit: Flickr
