I think we're going to start to see a new model of civic advocacy where people get together once in a while to protest, but it's more about an ongoing, sustained engagement in issues, networks and communities about which people care.
Alex SteffenSaying the Tech Bloom is not commercially driven is like saying Mother Teresa had an interest in the poor.
Alex SteffenIn almost all city governments in America, the small group of people who don't want change are able to block change.
Alex SteffenIf mass media, social isolation in the suburbs, alienating workplaces and long car commutes create a bunker mentality, the Internet does the opposite.
Alex SteffenUrban retrofitting: creating different sorts of spaces and uses out of places that are already there.
Alex SteffenCities are responsible for the vast majority of the creation of the economy. They're also places into which we pour the vast majority of resources, the vast majority of energy and the places where a huge percentage of the decisions about how systems are built and how products designed, etc., happen.
Alex Steffen