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To put public space at the heart of public discourse where it belongs

tying culture change to economics

“We can shift the paradigm of how we build our cities; thinking about economics is a great way to do that because it cuts through the political divide.”

I realized the Internet does a great job at connecting us with our friends and family, but a terrible job at introducing us to new people and getting us offline.

It’s incredibly difficult and frustrating trying to find like-minded people nearby.

When you look at what people are searching for, they’re searching for people close by who share their interests.

Thus, Patagonia’s audience trusts the brand, admires its values, and aspires to live by the same principles. Very few brands can compete on quality and price alone. Your brand doesn’t necessarily need to invest in the environment or take such risky maneuvers. However, it can’t be built exclusively through great products and great advertisements. That model is antiquated. Consumers have too much information and too few dollars. They want to invest in brands that have similar values to their own. Perhaps that simply means your product has more advanced engineering, is more user-friendly, or has better customer service. Those are all viable brand elements that create a powerfully rational connection with consumers. Ideally, your brand would also embody behaviors that elicit an emotional connection, such as investing in social, educational, or environmental responsibility. Building a brand platform like Patagonia’s is difficult, expensive, and somewhat risky. But, when brands reduce the amount they spend on paid media, they can invest in building a brand which will help their paid media work significantly better, and more importantly, create brand evangelists.

There’s a new era of social networking that’s taking shape around charitable giving. Younger people are rapidly adopting these new tools, and learning to use them in more and more substantive ways, to go beyond mere socializing and make these tools extremely productive. We’re seeing the sphere of social networking mature in a way that’s very exciting. People who continue to dismiss these social platforms as "a waste of time" or "just social chatter" are missing the boat. This is how people interact with each other and get things done. They share their personal and professional lives online. It should be no different when it comes to their philanthropic lives. More and more, we’re seeing the Crowdrise community share their charitable efforts with their social networks, both as a way to highlight their own commitment to a cause and as a very efficient way to turn their friends and family into new supporters.

They say “time is money,” but time is also an irreplaceable and personal connection to a cause.

says he has never been to an official networking event. Instead, he advises, join organizations that focus on the events and activities you love.

While Facebook helps users connect with people they already know, At the Pool wants people to connect with strangers who have shared interests.

The new approach showcases bold photos, so if you want to buy a sponsored story for your own business, make sure you have an eye-catching image to go with it

To date, however, the industry has yet todevelop standards to evaluate ESG datathat compare to its traditional evaluation o portolio perormance.

  5 Responsible Property Investment [RPI] is anemerging investment strategy and disciplineconcerned with integrating environmental,social, and governance [ESG] data intoinvestment decision-making

Real estate investment plays a undamentalrole in determining how society usesresources, how the built environmentshapes social lie, how economic activitycan be sustainable over time. As an assetclass, real estate oers especially tangibledemonstrations o the importance o ESGanalysis in creating value or investors andsociety alike. We believe that a robustmetrics system can help shape the marketto better create sustainable outcomes or allstakeholders

The WBCSD's Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) brings together a diverse group of companies: ACCIONA, AECOM, AGC, CEMEX, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Honda, Nissan, Philips, Siemens, TNT, Toyota and UTC. The UII Co-chairs are CEMEX, GDF SUEZ, Schneider Electric and Siemens; WBCSD is also actively involved as Co-chair. These companies from sectors including energy, buildings, materials, transport, engineering, water, equipment, and support services are collaborating to help urban authorities develop realistic, practical and cost-effective sustainability action plans. The project draws on the expertise of individual companies who already work with urban planners and engineers to provide services and solutions to sustainability challenges in cities.

For cities, the case for action is compelling: A sustainable city is more competitive and offers its citizens better lives. It uses resources more efficiently, thrives economically, and creates an inclusive community. For companies, the case for action is also compelling:  the urban market offers companies the opportunity to provide systems solutions, products and services in support of sustainable development in cities (buildings, energy, infrastructure, waste collection and recycling, etc.)

Each city faces different challenges. Tailor-made solutions are required, as challenges and opportunities vary from country to country and city to city. Some cities can capitalize on expanding populations. Others need to deal with aging and declining numbers. City governments must therefore find systemic solutions to address the interlinked social and environmental challenges and create the right framework conditions to make them competitive in order to attract investments.

Establish common language.

Ask a handful of people in various ranks and roles to share five adjectives they'd use to describe the company and two aspects of the business that are unique or valuable. Look for themes or especially strong responses, and synthesize them into a clearly defined description

That clarity leads to a real and relatable persona that helps you build a loyal customer base. "The brands that have been most successful in the social space have humanized their business"

That big issue caused Mr. Caldbeck to leave his job to start CircleUp, a company that aims to connect up-and-coming consumer products companies with investors.

crowdfunding is a way for capital-starved entrepreneurs to receive financing that neither big investors nor lenders are willing or able to provide. To others, it represents a potential minefield that could help bad businesses get off the ground before they eventually fail, and in some cases could even ensnare unsophisticated investors in outright fraud.

SoMoLend, which lends money to small, Main Street-type businesses that typically wouldn’t interest private investors.

connected to many other movements - like new urbanism, slow city, slow food, and eco-cities.

it is genuine engagement and connectedness with individual community members - to a point where they themselves become place-makers of their own making.

It is about creating a culture of participatory and grassroots democracy where the community has direct ownership of the processes and outcomes. This is a huge difference from our current engagement and planning framework, which does the opposite.

Place Capital can be defined as the shared wealth (built and natural) of the public realm – and it is increasingly becoming society’s most important means of generating sustainable economic growth for communities.

Where Place Capital is strongest people actually compete to contribute to this shared wealth, often changing their behavior in ways that ultimately support the value the place gives to others.

Public markets, town commons, and communal wells are early examples of human efforts to create these ‘shared value generators’ in physical places. Today, public places receive relatively little focus and investment above the necessary infrastructure and facilities to support production and distribution.