Global Issues in Design

Climate is Culture - Four months of cultural engagement visioning the challenge and the possible future, a unique and powerful narrative engagement with what is one of the most pressing issues of our time, climate change.

ONLINE gaming fans are to be recruited by Scotland's national museum to harness their technical skills to help piece together more than 3,000 recently discovered fragments depicting the Cross on a Pictish slab. The project, the first of its kind in the archaeological world, will see participants use a unique 3D programme developed by a Scottish technology firm to try to solve the mystery of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone. Computer experts believe people who play computer games are more adept at manipulating objects on screen. Nasa has already made use of citizen astronomers who use home computers to sift through time-lapsed data from the Kepler space telescope to search for habitable exo-planets, planets outside the solar system. The stone, which stood on a chapel site in Tain in Easter Ross was carved around 800AD, after the Picts converted to Christianity, in order to celebrate their new religion.

Loyiso Mkize is an artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. "creating visual art is a talent and gift i have enjoyed all my life. it has evolved into a tool that i use to express my views and ideas. I paint people and paint about people. our complex nature fascinates me and therefore compels me to expressively tell our story. My work is African and celebrates the beauty and wealth running in the veins of her people. its in the subjects eyes, lips, skin tone/texture, dress, hair, that i draw inspiration from. the experience and stories we carry with us are the corner stones from which we mold a new identity. it is the human spirit that i aim to share in my art."

Cultural appropriation is a term that isn't often heard in daily conversation, which means it's inevitably misunderstood by those who feel attacked by feminists, sociologically-informed bloggers, and others who use the term.

When fashion does "subversive," it tends to faux-subvert industry norms within a very unoriginal arena, while mostly upholding industry (very thin, mostly white) norms. "Subversive" fashion is ugly clothing and ugly makeup on very thin, mostly white models; "subversive" fashion is making some kind of bizarre gender commentary on very thin, mostly white models.

Man has been using concrete as a building material since the rise of the earliest civilizations. The Romans refined its use for construction, laying a concrete foundation for the Colosseum. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the mix of cement, sand, water and rocks fell out of use before being...

In 1992, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries took a staid, century-old sporting apparel store, injected it with teenage hormones and grew the rejuvenated company into a multi-billion dollar retail chain. He has also personally discouraged unattractive, unpopular and overweight customers from shopping at Abercrombie, and during Jeffries' tenure as chief executive, the company has faced numerous discrimination lawsuits.

The high-design, low-cost boutique hotel is now an established phenomenon, thanks to properties like the Philippe Starck-designed Mama Shelter mini-chain in France, NYC's Jane, Singapore's Wanderlust or Berlin's Michelberger.

Ever try to get from Brooklyn to Queens, two of the most populated boroughs of New York City? Without a car, it's nearly impossible, as most subway lines require one to go through Manhattan first.

It's been five years now since it was reported that, for the first time ever, more than half of the world's population live in urban areas. Such a dramatic demographic shift comes with inevitable consequences - some predictable, like rising housing prices and greater economic disparity, and some less so, like the rise in urban honeybee population. With growing interest in sustainability and local food production combined with news stories and documentaries about honeybee colony collapse disorder, recent changes in laws, and the growing urban population, urban beekeeping is a full-blown trend. But it's not just about the honey. The humble honeybee is starting to play a greater role in the design of urban living.

Travel back in time with this interactive map of New York, which lets you take a spyglass to any part of the city and uncover what that circle of space looked like in 1836.

The Osborne Association's 100-year-old Osborne Green Career Center in South Bronx, N.Y., will soon be outfitted with a blue and green roof. The new roof will become part of the center's green jobs training program for the formerly incarcerated. Trainees will learn how to maintain the roof and monitor its effectiveness. The roof will be paid for in part by the Osborne Association and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's Green Infrastructure Grant Program (see the winners). Each year, the roof should manage more than 908,000 L (240,000 gal) of stormwater with the goal of reducing combined sewer overflows to the East River.

These last few summer months brought good sales for many as the sun shone on retailers as well as holidaymakers. As today's rise in retail sales offers futher good news, Retail Week takes a look at how each sector is performing.