Having been involved in a couple of schemes which looked at how technology (in the broadest possible sense) could be used to enhance the humble bus stop; "Smart" bus stops are something of a pet interest. 

Setting aside my current view (which is, perhaps unhelpfully, "It's complicated") I read with interest (in the Human Transit blog) a nice short piece about what I assume are plans to introduce a number of "bus stops of the future" in Paris. The intention is that the stops are "not just a place to wait for a bus. Covering an area of ​​80 m2, it was designed as a multi-purpose public space ... .  Here you can buy a bus ticket, get information about the neighborhood, have a coffee, borrow a book, play music, recharge a phone, buy a meal to take away, rent an electric bike, stay warm while eating a sandwich, or set up a bag on a shelf to do your makeup." Interesting, if not entirely radical.

Anyway, today I read a piece in the this big city blog in which the author asks how the sense of community that exists within the microcity can be scaled to work within the megacity. In the authors words "How can we bring back that community, that participation from microcities to megacities? Social media has certainly allowed us to do this more efficiently, but we can’t just participate online; we have to reconnect with people in the real world.  How do we make people passionate about their megacities, so they are moved to participate?"

Maybe (and it is perhaps a BIG maybe) using the not-so-humble bus stop as a platform (please excuse the terrible pun) is a decent place to start?

Interesting little piece by Julian Dobson in the Living with rats blog in which he provides some excellent examples of all that is wrong with our approach to the provision of street furniture. Most telling perhaps is his closing comment '...you can have parks for the people, as long as they aren’t encouraged to sit on the seating. And you can have public space, but public use of it is another thing altogether."

SVBTLE is a wonderful collection of blogs that aims to bring "...some of the best things from newspapers and magazines to a network of independent bloggers." The collection also benefits from truly beautiful presentation.

Another good interview from the from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's blog, this time with Kevin Palmer of Kin Design. Particularly interesting (for me anyway) are his comments on some of the challenges facinging museums - which start at about 2 minutes into the interview.

I was hunting for some "eye catching" numbers on mobile internet usage this week and came across this report from the Office for National Statistics. Most jaw-dropping was the following "The rate of growth in the use of this technology [mobile internet] was fastest among those aged 16 to 24, with Internet use over a mobile phone increasing from 44 per cent to 71 per cent over the previous 12 months." To put this into context, The Quarterly Access Update for Q4 2011 tells us that "The largest proportion of Internet users was in the youngest age group (those aged 16 to 24), at 98.7 per cent. This represents 7.18 million people."

This, perhaps totally irrationally, annoyed me enormously. Firstly, it is just additional "visual clutter" (someone needs to introduce these guys to the concept of "learned irrelevance"). Secondly, (sorry techcrunch) sticking a screen on a waste bin does not make it "smart". 

If, based on what I had just deposited, it could work out how many Polar Bears I had saved and thank me for my valiant efforts, THEN I might be slightly more impressed.

Interesting little article in The Economist which talks about  the shift in the balance of power between the car and the pedestrian. "For years urban planners have emphasised the needs of the motorist over those of the pedestrian. Thanks partly to greenery, partly to a greater understanding of how pedestrians behave, and partly to concerns about social cohesion, priorities are changing." Whilst the article is a good read (Tim Stoner and Space Syntax get a mention), as is frequently the case, comments are even better.

The next Arup Penguin Pool event is taking place in London on Thursday 2 February, 6.30pm-10.30pm. Exploring ideas around Data and Design, the night will feature:

Guest speaker Matt Webb, CEO and founder of BERG, talking about products and concepts produced from using data imaginatively.

Michael Johnson, introducing the johnson banks and Ravensbourne Arkitypo exhibit in our Phase 2 gallery.

MathsBusking, the interactive maths street performance will be entertaining us, and there will be music from Jamie Child and Jack Fletcher, along with their Orion audio-visual installation.

I know there a few places still available, and it promises to be a good event. If you wish to attend please email londonpenguinpool@arup.com.

This short piece of research from Pew Internet, conducted over the Christmas holiday period, clearly shows how mobile technology is changing the way we shop.

Amazingly:

• 38% of cell owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making.
• 24% of cell owners used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store.
• 25% of adult cell owners used their phones to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store, to see if they could get a better price somewhere else.

Basically, over half of the people surveyed used their phone in some way to support their decision-making!

A good little interview with Matt Webb (Berg), taken from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's blog. Just so you are prepared, he does get a little anthropomorphic over "Little Printer." Children, don't watch that bit, technology isn't meant to be cuddly - Barney the singing dinosaur is an excellent example of what happens when "good technology goes bad."