People living in today’s digital world are well aware of the many different ways the Internet has connected citizens from across the globe. Two of the most popular Internet activities, search engine use and email, are able to connect people from hundreds of thousands of miles away with the simple click of a button.
This level of connectivity is no doubt an amazing feat, but what about entire cities being managed with the click of a button from a single centralized location? This is a question many urban planners and tech-savvy engineers have been contemplating for years, and the recent Meeting of the Minds in Detroit, MI brought this idea one step closer to reality.
The annual Meeting of the Minds brings together global leaders in urban sustainability and technology to discuss advanced possibilities like the “smart cities” mentioned above. This year’s event was held at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and included 375 leaders of innovation from all over the world.
During the meeting, leaders from the Netherlands shared their experiences with smart cities, using the city of Eindhoven as an example. They stressed the importance of participatory innovation and the organic growth of ideas. Successful innovation cannot only be the result of municipal leaders, they argued, but should be a collaborative effort including all creative types.
While Eindhoven provides one of the best (and most successful) examples of a smart city, cities on the east and west coasts of the United States have also adopted this innovative approach to city planning.
Data on air quality, pollution and traffic is constantly collected throughout the city of San Jose, CA, thanks to a sponsorship by Intel, that allows city officials to stay on top of traffic issues and health hazards. For example, data regarding traffic jams can easily allow officials to reroute drivers around congested areas to keep things running smoothly.
Likewise, New York City uses innovative technology throughout its public housing units to save on energy costs, ultimately saving the city a great deal of money.
If there was one note to take away from this year’s Meeting of the Minds, it is that progress and innovation are a collaborative effort. “Innovation cannot rest on any one individual or chief. It is about the collective spread of knowledge and information, and the iteration of it so that it becomes better, and eventually mainstream,” stated Pittsburgh’s new chief of innovation and performance Debra Lam, according to Model D.
Following its recent split from parent company Compuware, B2B cloud computing provider Covisint has been scouting out potential new locations in and around Detroit.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Covisint’s planned move could require 280 employees to relocate. Its current lease for its headquarters, on the seventh floor of the the Compuware building, is set to expire on March 31.
Covisint, which provides multi-platform, multi-device business-to-business cloud computing services to primarily the auto and healthcare industries, became completely independent of Compuware on October 31. The Detroit Free Press reports that Compuware is in the process of selling itself to Thomas Bravo, a private-equity firm.
Covisint’s cloud services, which can be used on both desktop computers and mobile devices, are intended to give its clients the widest range of options possible with a reduced upfront cost and improved defense against the costs associated with obsolescence.
Representatives from Covisint declined to discuss specific locations being considered for the company’s relocation, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“We have been conducting an extensive search of both Detroit and the surrounding area. We are looking for both what is economically best for our company, as well as what could be most central for our employee base here in the Detroit-area,” Covisint spokesman Brad Schechter said in a statement.
Covisint was originally founded in 2000 as an auction site for auto parts and supplies similar to eBay, and was purchased by Compuware in 2004, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Wherever Covisint’s new location ends up being, the company’s executives seem to believe the move is best for the company’s approximately 480 workers around the world.
What are your thoughts on Covisint’s possible relocation? Share with us in the comments below.
Commercial home renovation can help with home sales. The home renovation basics will be the same at most properties. A home renovation team can substantially change the appearance of any house. Some people might just be interested in improving the structures of the house that currently exist. Other individuals might want to add to the house in a more substantial way. They can get ideas from different house addition designs.
It’s common to add another bedroom to a house. Adding another bedroom is easier than adding another bathroom. People won’t usually have to change the house’s plumbing to make that addition possible. Another bedroom can also make a house dramatically more valuable. Potential buyers often specifically search for homes based on the number of rooms that they have. People might be able to make numerous compromises regarding the homes that they purchase, but they usually won’t be able to choose a house with fewer rooms.
Bedrooms can have several very different layouts, which makes it easier to add them to an existing house. Living rooms usually have to have a particular shape and size, but this isn’t true for bedrooms. House makeover companies can help people successfully add to the houses that are being renovated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXaHIbaYXg
Roseville’s Macomb Mall has recently entered the next stage of its multi-million dollar renovation project, with construction crews continuing their work on both the interior and exterior of the mall, while expanding construction to begin renovations on the mall’s main sign, which CBS Detroit reporter Edward Cardenas calls “iconic” and “space-age.”
The 50-year-old mall, which spans approximately 930,000 square feet, was a bubbling center of activity in the Detroit suburb when it was built during the 1960s; the huge $8 million project is meant to bring life back into the shopping center, and the fact that renovations seem to be following the initial project timeline is giving hope to developers and city officials. If everything continues as planned, the entire mall renovation will be completed mid-2015, and developers have already secured spots for high-profile stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods and L.A. Fitness.
Although The Detroit News originally stated that the mall’s famous sign, reportedly nicknamed “The Iconic,” would not be part of the renovations, CBS Detroit published an article just days afterward saying that minor changes would be made to the beloved landmark; it appears that the developers are well aware of the community’s attachment to the Macomb Mall sign, and they are “respectfully” updating the sign’s store plates.
A representative for Lormax Stern, the new company that owns the mall, has stated that concern about the sign appears to have taken center stage in community discussions regarding the renovations. While some view the sign as “old and tired,” hindering the development of a modern mall, others believe that the sign is “iconic and important.”
It isn’t uncommon for communities to struggle to find a balance between modern and traditional designs for large projects, but luckily, it appears that the developers have been able to find a middle ground for this particular project. Many construction products have been developed in recent years in response to this struggle, and something like a UV-protective coating on the Macomb Mall sign will be able to provide maximum weather protection without altering the aesthetic qualities of the sign.
Hopefully, the developers’ success with the town’s beloved sign will be indicative of the new mall’s entire success — it certainly seems like the community of Roseville is more than ready for a renewed interest in its retail industry.
Lots of people are currently planning home renovation projects. Creating home renovation drawings during the planning stage can help improve the entire house remodeling process. While people may be able to imagine what they want their homes to look like once the home revamp procedure has been completed, they need to make sure that they have realistic goals.
Even the people who follow through with their home restoration and design plans may not be satisfied with their work, in spite of the fact that nothing went wrong. They may have just imagined everything working out slightly differently. People may be able to avoid that situation by creating drawings.
The finished room or rooms might not perfectly match the drawings, of course. However, people will at least have an idea of how the home improvement project will turn out when everything is finished. As long as they plan everything carefully, the drawings can at least help them stay organized.
When these sorts of projects become complicated enough, people can also sometimes find it difficult to stay motivated. Looking at detailed drawings of home improvement projects can help people stay focused. Their finished homes will seem more real to them when they have those drawings.
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The New York Times has published a new interactive database compiled from data from the center of Detroit’s ongoing financial crisis. The interactive report allows Americans to get a real look at just how bad things have become in the once proud Motor City. More than 43,000 properties are shown to be on the brink of foreclosure, with owners of those properties owing Wayne County tax collectors upwards of $328 million in back property taxes. If and when these properties are finally foreclosed upon, they will join an estimated 800,000 properties, both residential and commercial, within the city limits of Detroit that are abandoned, left to become derelicts and proof of ever increasing urban blight.
Low Income, Broken Cities, Businesses Cause Vicious Cycle The situation in the Motor City has become increasingly dire following the city falling into insolvency in late summer 2013. The city government is said to be in more than $18 billion worth of debt, collected after years of bloated government pensions, failed under the table dealings, and an auto industry that found itself unable to compete with the forces of globalization.
Of course, the real victims here are not the government fat cats that played a crucial role in the city’s decline, but the citizenry. According to the most recently available statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 40% of Detroit residents live below the federal poverty line, making it nearly impossible to buy groceries and otherwise support a family, let alone hold onto a home.
Many have turned to real estate lawyers to at least help them avoid adding to the foreclosure statistics. Once retained, home real estate lawyers will send a cease and desist letter to lending institutions, ordering them to cease all direct contact with homeowners. By having all communications forwarded directly to their offices, lawyers are at least able to reduce the stress that builds on the shoulders of homeowners from lender harassment. During this lull, many of these firms are able to come to some arrangement with lenders to keep Detroit residents in their homes.
Unfortunately, with such a huge segment of the population pulling in less than $11,670 per year, the federally mandated poverty level for an individual, there is often little anyone can do to pull a home back from the brink of foreclosure.
