Food-service operations were poised to surpass manufacturing in total employees—and then Covid hit. Now they’re transforming with smaller staffs and automation.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-16/restaurant-jobs-take-factory-like-turn-in-tight-labor-market
Category Archives: cities
Travel transitions from being destination-based to being interest + taste category driven (Airbnb)
The Invention of ‘Jaywalking’
In the 1920s, the public hated cars. So the auto industry fought back — with language.
If you travelled in time back to a big American city in, say, 1905 — just before the boom in car ownership — you’d see roadways utterly teeming with people. Vendors would stand in the street, selling food or goods. Couples would stroll along, and everywhere would be groups of children racing around, playing games. If a pedestrian were heading to a destination across town, they’d cross a street wherever and whenever they felt like it.
https://marker.medium.com/the-invention-of-jaywalking-afd48f994c05
This bird-shaped monitor drops dead when your indoor air is bad
Americans spend about 90% of their time indoors, where the air can be 5 to 10 times more polluted than the worst outdoor air. Bad indoor air, including high levels of CO2, has been linked with fatigue, headaches, and even respiratory diseases, all of which could be alleviated by airing out your home. That’s why two designers created Canairi: a minimalist monitor that nudges you to open the window without using blinking lights, warning sounds, or phone notifications. And no, there’s no app; just simple, intuitive design.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90747448/this-bird-shaped-monitor-drops-dead-when-your-indoor-air-is-bad
Elon Musk risks repeating history’s mistakes as he tries to reinvent transit
Through Tesla, Elon Musk has tried to transform individual vehicle ownership, while The Boring Company, his tunneling venture, is now taking aim at public transit. The company and Fort Lauderdale, Florida are close to agreeing to the first public Loop system, which will give people rides in Teslas through a new tunnel between downtown and the beach.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/23/cars/elon-musk-robert-moses/index.html
Robert Moses and the decline of the NYC subway system
New Yorkers now use a transit system in a state of emergency. The past few months have laid bare the enormity of the problems currently facing the century-old subways, from aging infrastructure to a lack of federal dollars available to help make things better.
https://ny.curbed.com/2017/7/27/15985648/nyc-subway-robert-moses-power-broker
Paris to build $145M cable car system
Scheduled to open in 2025, the “Cable 1” project will travel from the Parisian suburb of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges to the Pointe du Lac station in Creteil in the Île-de-France region within just 17 minutes, less than half the time the journey would take on a bus.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/paris-to-build-145m-cable-car-system/index.html
Cities and the Metaverse (National League of Cities)
Cities are the places where people come together, live, love, work and play. Human connection is one of the most critical components of day-to-day life. Much of the world quickly learned how to connect with one another and access services in virtual environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we lacked the ideal tools for connecting in this way. Zoom meetings, Google Chat and good old fashioned phone calls provide a poor simulation of the physical world. What if a true simulation of our physical world could be recreated in a virtual manner? What value would this bring to people’s lives, what challenges would it present, and would it ultimately prove to be a net positive for cities?
Homes Past, Present, Future (Deloitte)
There are many paths forward, and overlaps are likely. We map possible futures on a spectrum from those centered closely around the individual, to those encompassing the places and communities around us.
First-of-its-kind program invites remote workers to make a home at Purdue University
Work From Purdue, a first-of-its-kind program, invites and incentivizes remote workers to move to Discovery Park District at Purdue, a live/work community that unites the collaborative, invigorating energy of a campus with the flexibility of remote work. From cash stipends to $1,000 dining credit at the Atlas Family Marketplace in the newly renovated Purdue Memorial Union, Work From Purdue’s various relocation packages are designed to support new residents in making the most of their new home from day one.
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2022/Q2/first-of-its-kind-program-invites-remote-workers-to-make-a-home-at-purdue-university.html
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 