South Korean startup Farm 8 Co. is among a proliferation of indoor urban growers that saw sales jump during Covid-19. It’s looking to increase sales by almost 50% to 90 billion won ($79 million) this year, partly by boosting production of medical and cosmetic-based plants such as ginseng, centella asiatica and artemisia campestris, Chief Executive Officer Kang Dae Hyun said. In August, the company joined the country’s first regulation-free zone for medical cannabis, growing and processing hemp for cannabidiol (CBD). Read more (Bloomberg)
Category Archives: cities
The pandemic has changed the shape of global happiness
The old have become happier and the young more miserable Read more (Economist – Paywall)
The Movie Industry Holds Its Breath As New York Reopens Theaters
“Movie theaters act as a curator,” he says. “If it’s good enough to be in a movie theater, you have to pay attention. Whereas you put on your streaming platform and you spend half-an-hour going through the screen going ‘what do I want to watch.’ The movies are not there in the culture in the same way when they’re just on your TV.” Read more
Comparing Luxury Investment Around the World
Unlike traditional investments in financial assets, luxury goods can be difficult to value if one does not have an appreciation for their form. A rare painting, for example, does not generate cash flows, meaning its value is truly in the eye of the beholder.
To gain some insight into the market for luxury goods, this infographic takes data from Knight Frank’s 2021 Wealth Report to compare the preferences of nine global regions. Read more (Visual Capitalist)
The Responsible Object: A History of Design Ideology for the Future
Within the design discipline, calls for sustainability and social responsibility have become some of the most common rallying cries of the past decade, generating countless new products, materials and technologies―all designed to change the course of our future. Adjectives like “sustainable,” “green” and “eco” describe this new wave of socially committed design. But though today’s conditions are urgent and particular, the ideologies behind these new products are often not totally new, but rather a part of design history. Contemporary sustainable design is just the newest chapter of a story that stretches back throughout the previous centuries. The Responsible Object presents a selected history of socially committed design strategies within the Western design tradition of roughly the last 150 years, from William Morris to Victor Papanek, and from VKhUTEMAS to FabLab. It includes about 20 interstitial mini-posters with slogans from the text, printed on different colored papers. Learn more (Amazon.com)
The millennial wealth gap is growing as some flock to buy houses and others give up on homeownership entirely
One only has to compare millennials’ homes to see just how big the intragenerational wealth gap is. More millennials bought homes in 2020 than any other generation did that year, according to Apartment List’s Homeownership report. But at the same time, more millennials also now believe they’ll never be able to own a home — 18% said they plan to rent forever, up by 9% percentage points from the previous year. Read more (Business Insider)
The cinemas now hiring out their screens to gamers
“When thinking about how to make use of empty cinema spaces, I noticed that games nowadays boast excellent graphics and well structured stories just like movies,” he says. “Both have a storytelling aspect to them, so if someone can enjoy watching a film in the cinema, I thought they would also enjoy playing computer games in one.” Read more (BBC)
The Rise of the Private City-State: In Nevada desert, a technology firm aims to be a government
He wants Nevada to change its laws to allow “innovation zones,” where companies would have powers like those of a county government, including creating court systems, imposing taxes and building infrastructure while making land and water management decisions. The prospect has been met with intrigue and skepticism from Nevada lawmakers, though the legislation has yet to be formally filed or discussed in public hearings. Most in the Democratic-controlled Legislature are eager to diversify Nevada’s tourism-dependent economy, but many fear backlash against business incentives as they struggle to fund health care and education. Read more (Las Vegas Sun)
McDonald’s Opens First Net-Zero Restaurant at Disney World
Eight decades after McDonald’s restaurant revolutionized a speedier way to prepare and serve meals, the fast-food giant is once again setting new standards in the industry, laying the groundwork for a more ecologically responsible place to dine. Read more (3BL Media)
