put down your 59-cent Färgrik coffee mug

"IKEA passes as the anti-Wal-Mart: a company where value and good values coexist. It uses design as a proxy for quality, and its brand—embodied by all those smiling, white-teethed Scandinavians standing next to smooth, shiny modular furniture with unpronounceable names—as a passport to a guilt-free world of low prices.

But put down your 59-cent Färgrik coffee mug and ask yourself: Can we afford to keep shopping at places where an item’s price reflects only a fraction of its societal costs?"

Ellen Ruppel Shell for the Atlantic

exhibition view cities

Taiji Matsue: Landscapes/ Cities

http://lagallery-frankfurt.de/taiji1.html

up in the air

so naïve and so instinctual while building such elaborate structures.

Plunging temperatures, gray skies and long nights...

"Creative Placemaking"

Winter Cities is a concept for communities in northern latitudes that encourages them to plan their transportation systems, buildings, and recreation project around the idea of using their infrastructure during all four seasons, rather than just two seasons (summer and autumn).
The Livable Winter Cities Association was formed in 1982 by a group of people from across North America and once had chapters in Minneapolis, Ottawa and Anchorage.

Anchorage Citizens Coalition -- Your Voice for Responsible Growth

www.accalaska.org

Smart thoughts:

• http://www.pps.org/info/bulletin/winter_cities
• http://www.wintercities.com/