Tata Motors, the folks that brought the $2500 Tata Nano to India, are applying their compact designs and petite price-tags to architecture. Tata Housing Development Company is developing affordable apartments between 213 and 465 square feet starting at $7800. The apartment community will include amenities such as a hospital, school, rainwater harvesting, vermiculture, landscaped gardens, playgrounds, a jogging track, and a market place. Located in a suburb of Boisar, this complex embodies community, affordability, and green development.Wow!

This week charity: water drilled another well in Ethiopia… this one with funds raised from an event called Twestival (Twitter plus festival). In just 2 months, the 100% volunteer effort raised funds from all over the world and has completed the first well for a northern Ethiopian village.

To watch the videos (there are 4) of the drilling visit charity: water, Twestival event site.

seen on eco-modernism

Almost 3 years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is still a major renovation zone, and many places have barely been able to begin, even though the trailers are supposedly no longer a living option.

Many areas of New Orleans sustained minor damage due to being on higher ground (like the French Quarter), and some neighborhoods which had only 2-3 feet of standing water (only??) have finally come into the completion phases of their reconstruction. And according to the numbers we heard from locals, close to 70% of the total population is back in one way or another.

The lower ground areas, however, are still struggling for their very survival, especially the neighborhoods of the Lower Ninth Ward. What was once a large and dense series of neighborhoods is now desolate fields.

This is a street in the Upper Ninth Ward, still under major reconstruction efforts. This picture is also an example of what the streets of the Lower Ninth used to look like.

This is what the Lower Ninth Ward looks like as of July 26, 2008.

There is hope! We DID see some new construction.

According to all the locals we talked to, churches, neighborhood groups and other non-profits soliciting volunteer help have been the key to any successful reconstruction efforts. People have come from all over the country to help, and volunteers from within New Orleans have organized, housed, fed and worked alongside these volunteers.

If you wish to help, there are many worthy efforts to donate time or money to. From our research (a few days in New Orleans and talking to lots of locals), we will name 2 we feel confident in recommending:

• Common Ground Relief - They’re not just taking money to help, they are literally stationed right there in the Lower Ninth. They are organizing rebuilding efforts, as well as providing short term relief for victims. Of course, I don’t know this, but my guess is that the moneys donated are actually used immediately to fund reconstruction, rather than sitting in a fund somewhere all wrapped up in red tape.
• Church of the Annunciation Mission – I’m sure there are many churches and missions to work with. We heard about this church in particular as being well organized, providing accommodations, food and volunteer team organizers for those who wish to join the rebuilding effort of New Orleans.

The City of Raleigh currently is updating its Comprehensive Plan for the first time since 1989. Over the next 20 years, the city is expected to grow by 70 percent and reach a population of 700,000. Kids City is one element of the City’s strategy to educate people on the issues and engage them in envisioning Raleigh’s future.

Emma Farquhar sees the future clearly, complete with flying cars, the river all Raleighites long for, and her house in the trees.

Kids have eco-visions too! Check out “The Solar Hotel!”

The Mudcats stadium moves downtown, and all the important people of Raleigh are there enjoying the game.

Industry moves downtown too. Shown here is a Gatorade factory…and right beside it, there’s a chocolate factory. Chocolate and Gatorade…new energy for the downtown core!

You can always count on kids for the big ideas, the creative avenues we all wish for but are afraid to develop. Kids Day 2030 brought a little fun into the idea of planning – and maybe to the future reality of Raleigh.

The first general meeting of SPARKcon got underway this week. This will be the third installment of working with a wide variety of people throughout the Triangle who want to help ignite the “Creative Hub of the South” with showcases and workshops. The focus is on local creative talent getting showcased through various venues (like a fashion show and breakdancing) and also giving people a chance to talk about community issues that converge for artists, technologists, independent business and those that focus on inclusivity.

With all the hoopla around the growing events, it was nice to look back at the original SPARKcon Comment on what’s important in developing a thriving creative scene. Put lots of creative people together in one room, give them a common mission, and the ideas fly fast and furiously. All told, the four workshops held in September of 2006 filled 60 big pages of flipchart paper. But in the end, some core ideas and common themes emerged as essential for the Triangle to earn the distinction “Creative Hub of the South.” This is some sort of a Triangle Manifesto. Here are the top 10 recommendations from our community on how to get there:

1. Foster a vibrant urban core featuring a diverse mix of interests, ethnicity, and ages
2. Increase focus on green spaces that allows people to enjoy the environment
3. Develop safer pedestrian and bicycle activity to encourage people to explore
4. Create dynamic public spaces where arts and technology can intermingle
5. Support collectives as incubators of creativity
6. Develop an information hub to publicly promote all creative activities from new patents to gallery shows
7. Encourage programs to foster emerging talent of all types—from small shops and restaurants to artists and inventors
8. Regularly exhibit and celebrate home grown talent of all kinds in public projects
9. Improve public transit infrastructure to bring people to public squares, urban cores, and green spaces
10. Promote tolerance and gain insight from our many different backgrounds

See more detailed workshop recommendation from our community on:

How do you make a thriving Art Scene?

How do you make a thriving Technology Scene?

How do you make a thriving scene of Inclusivity?

How do you make a scene that thrives with Independent Businesses?

or download the PDF of the SPARKcon Comment 2006 (3.5MB) as published in the Independent Weekly. More info at SPARKcon’s website.

Wandering this show requires comfy shoes or else wheels. So you must weave your way between booths, skateboards, and people bounding on the latest springy leg contraptions.

As a member of IDEAS, a design/trends collective subsidized by ISPO itself, we set up some simple displays, sell our color cards and let people rifle through our portfolios.

Though the more eager ones among us try to sell from their “book,” I prefer to wander the show during the day searching for new material and get insights to new trends in fabrications and design. Then at night, hang out with the IDEAS gang to discuss what we’re doing/thinking, and what we’ve seen from our various viewpoints. This can happen all over Munich, but tends to conclude at the famous Shiller (Boxing) Bar started by Andrea Lanweider and Hans Fretz.

I was folded into IDEAS by Nadine Cino who was recruiting more American designers at the lackluster Super Show to join a group of exceptionally talented designers from all over Europe, Japan, and even Iceland. Part of the benefits of being a member was to exhibit at ISPO and get involved in color trends with a diverse set of perspectives. The application process was pretty serious but the more I knew about the group the more eager I was to join this network and they welcomed me quite warmly.

In the early days we had color meetings during the ISPO show. My first meeting included the visionary Vittorio Giomo who successfully predicted the dominant trend of charcoal greys in apparel (years ago) by refocusing on the naked human body – and then building a pallet that complemented this perspective. It was an eye-opener to take a philosophical approach to color like this but I loved the process and could certainly appreciate the results. Each season has a group of IDEAS members selling their insight on coming trends. Unfortunately these trend meetings are done in between ISPO’s now, and I cannot swing the extra trip.

Eventually IDEAS helped inform us for the concept for Designbox. Like most associations of creative people, IDEAS has a “dynamic uncertainty” that plagues the group on who we are or what we will become next. For me I see that these times are usually accompanied by a drop in new applicants.

But when a new member shows up, the older ones have to help explain what the group is and the positive aspects of different members they might otherwise criticize. In the end it’s the new energy of a fresh member who makes a group gel. If in Africa, “it takes a village to raise a child,” I believe that in creative networks “it takes a newcomer to build the village.”

Woke up this morning and went to our neighbor’s to buy some eggs from their chicken coup, but got distracted by an amazing sight – an incredible, straight out of 1978, mega custom van. It woke me up like no cup of coffee ever could. I wanted to “breaker 1-9″ on a CB radio share the moment, but this blog is the closest I could get.

Seein’ that beauty made me wonder what 2007 has to offer in custom vannage. I don’t know what’s happening here in the U.S., but Japan’s all over it. Check out Pink Tentacle to see some truly imaginative vehicles like the one below.

Fellow Designbox member and Onionhead Monster creator, Paul Friedrich, along with Bojangle’s expert, Bryan Pack, are currently attempting one entire day at Bojangles – from the moment Bojangles opens (5:30am) until it closes (10pm) or they are asked to leave. They decided on the Western Blvd Bojangles (Raleigh) because of the awesome wireless reception. Check out the live blog here.

When asked why they are doing this, Paul mentioned that they often meet at Bojangles and the time just flies by. “I bet you could spend a whole day here,” Paul said they said. “Well, hey, let’s do it,” was the next thing that was said. And thus, it happened.

It’s 2pm now, and so far, Paul says about 40 people have come to visit them. He has watched the changing of the customer-guard as it were. He says that opening time til around 7am, the white-haired gentleman come in, all sitting at separate tables but still talking to each other or reading the paper. Round 7ish, the painting and landscaping crews come in. Bojangles is also getting a big crew from the workers of NC State Fair, which is in town this week (more on that later WOOHOO). About 10ish-am, the clientele changes to college students in between classes. Then comes the lunch crew. We’re now in the late lunch crew. We are here for the worker shift change…seems to be happening.

We’re thinkin you could also tell the audience change by the shoes people are wearing. Right now, we have an abnormally high ratio of clogs represented. Earlier, there were a lot of cowboy boots…

And just so you get a feel for the flavor, the song on the radio right now is “Never Be the Same,” by Christopher Cross. Yeah.