Despite the two tiered system of british governemt and the increasing power of local authorites, local newspapers are rearley seen as a primary source of information. This results in people being disconnected to what is happening immedeately around them, usually the issues that they would have the most say over.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/oct/12/guardian-local-news-bloggers-emily-bell

• Emergent Urbanism – This website explores urban planning and design in a new light, that of complexity science and the phenomenon of emergence. It attempts to show how great cities are the result of individuals building something that is unique to themselves and combine with other individual acts to form a pattern that exists in a greater dimension. With this knowledge we can plan cities that share the complexity of nature and life, and all their qualities.

• Creative Class » Blog Archive » Soul of the City – Creative Class – What determines the level of attachment people have with their communities? And how does that level of attachment and community satisfaction affect local economies?

Here is a collection of logos and marketing videos for the next Olympic applicant cities.  It’s quite interesting to use these to study how these cities  communicate their sense of place and identity.

Our vending machine explores social responsibility by changing the quantity of sweets you get in response to the amount of money previous people have paid. This shop in japan takes this concept to an extreme by giving you what the person before you ordered and passing your order to the next customer.  Amazing!