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April 18, 2008

With real estate running scarce and increasingly expensive in cities around the world, here's a way to still live in an urban environment - albeit in a very, very small space!  Its all about the backpack apartment which consists of a cube-made element.  The backpack apartment is constructed with a welded steel cage and a light birch veneered plywood interior cladding. The height of the top floor of the cube element is approximately eleven feet and the total weight of the sculpture is about two tons.

Bp_2

What do you think - is this something you would like to see in your city and would you consider living in a backpack apartment?  Note to City Zoning-by-law inspectors: Beware!

Aleem Kanji

March 26, 2008

Aleem : Urban Digs

Who's Your "Ship" ?

Freedom Ship International has created the layout for the world's first city floating on water.  The ship's design would be home to 40,000 full time residents, 30,000 daily visitors, 10,000 nightly hotel guests, and 20,000 full time crew. This population of 100,000 people will provide a wealth of talent and diversity for the private businesses aboard the ship and to those they visit daily on their adventures ashore.  Over 200 acres of open area are planned for recreation and relaxation.  Freedom Ship also plans the biggest duty free retail shopping mall in the world along with the best education and health care facilities available.

The cost - anywhere from $180,000 to $2.5 million as well as a small number of premium suites currently priced up to (hold your breath!) $44 million.  Check out the on board subway in the second picture.

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Popmech_cutaway

This truly blends urban planning and cruising in a way we have never really seen.  Price aside, what do you think of the concept? 

Aleem Kanji

March 18, 2008

With "Who's Your City?" due any day now, this seems most appropriate.

So, a colleague asks:

I'm working on my dissertation proposal and I'm thinking about what brings people to places versus what happens once they are there.

My work will focus on this latter part, not on the "moving" part. It's always hard to have large scale data on "moving decisions", you know.

But I was thiking: how many people actually move in or out a city every year? Do you have at hand average numbers about this mobility?

Even rough estimates? I'd be very very curious to see them.

My point is: we are always so obsessed by what "moves" people to one place to another, but after all most people (don't look at us!) never even leave or if they do, they do very few times in a lifetime. Isn't that the case?

Response after break.

Continue reading "How Many People Actually Move?" ยป