College Think Tank Boston 2013

Brainstorming ideas and resources

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I Wish This Was

Many cities are full of vacant storefronts and people who need things. Made by , these stickers are an easy tool to voice what you want, where you want it. Just fill them out and put them on abandoned buildings and beyond. The stickers are custom vinyl and they can be easily removed without damaging property. It's a fun, low-barrier tool to provide civic input on-site, and the responses reflect the hopes, dreams, and colorful imaginations of different neighborhoods.

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Redesigning Abandoned Storefronts To Keep Neighborhoods Vibrant

Abandoned storefronts are bad for business, and bad for the soul of a place. There’s something about empty space that just kills downtown.But, actually, there’s no need for stores to be empty. During the recession, towns and cities have found plenty of alternative uses that at least keep streets lively. We wrote recently about an "Airbnb For Storefronts," which links up property owners and people with good ideas (ZipSpaces is a similar concept). Oakland has a multiple-storefront approach called Popuphood (which we wrote about here).

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Chinatown Storefront Library

Boston’s Chinatown has been without a library since 1956. Boston Street Lab transformed a vacant storefront into a temporary, community-based library. This is a great example of making good use of a vacant commercial space...

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Urbanized, a documentary film by Gary Hustwit

"...Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanizedframes a global discussion on the future of cities."

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Pop-up shop on Newbury Street will showcase products from startups

You don't often find Harvard Business School students toiling at retail jobs on Newbury Street, but that'll change — for a weekend, at least — later this month, with the launch of a temporary "pop-up shop" called POPStart.

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Savor every last bite at these pop-up restaurants; they’ll disappear before you know it!

Ever since supper club Love + Butter opened its secret -- and likely illegal -- restaurant in 2007, pop-up restaurants have been entrenched in Boston’s foodie culture. Here are the details on a few of these blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em eateries.

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Emily Pilloton: Teaching design for a change

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Tim Brown Urges Designers to Think Big