by Bennat Berger | Jun 22, 2017 | Culture, Current Events, Urban Planning
More than 20 Years After the “Bigger is Better” Building Trend Began, are These Odd Monuments to Excess on their Way Out? It began—like parachute pants, shoulder pads and “supersized” fast food meals—in the 1980s and became full-blown in the early 90s: McMansions....
by Bennat Berger | May 16, 2017 | Culture, Technology, Urban Planning
Virtually, Amazon is as daunting as the river it shares a name with: by total sales and market capitalization, it’s the largest Internet retailer in the world. Having begun its run in 1994 as a modest online bookstore, the tech giant has expanded rapidly to offer...
by Bennat Berger | May 16, 2017 | Culture, Urban Planning
It’s not completely a convenience store, not completely a deli, you know one when you see one, but they’re not a total cinch to define. Uniquely of and representative of New York City, the bodega is a place every New Yorker regularly visits for their day to day needs....
by Bennat Berger | May 1, 2017 | Culture, Current Events, Technology, Urban Planning
There’s a reason young people love Minecraft. Called a “sandbox” video game, Minecraft is a blank slate that enables players to build brand new worlds using only building blocks and the contents of their imagination, then take on three-dimensional adventures from...
by Bennat Berger | Apr 10, 2017 | Culture, Current Events
When the Obama administration vetoed continuation of the Keystone Pipeline after months of passionate protests, it looked like American oil and natural gas pipeline builders were in trouble. The victory of the Dakota tribes and their supporters was unquestionably a...
by Bennat Berger | Apr 5, 2017 | Technology, Urban Planning
Odds are, you’ve pondered off-hand the nature of our shared and individual reality. Am I real? Is anything real? To most mature, sober adults, the consideration seems absurd. But there are some that think this a possibility not only worth pondering, but investigating....
by Bennat Berger | Apr 5, 2017 | Culture, Urban Planning
You may not know the term tactical urbanism, but you have probably seen evidence of this recent movement if you live in or near a city. Tactical urbanism can look like a parking space converted into a mini park; handmade pedestrian signs; manmade public spaces,...
by Bennat Berger | Apr 5, 2017 | Culture, Technology
What does it take to tell a story? And more importantly, what does it matter? These days, a string of tweets suffices as a story. Try telling Hemingway or Proust that a “tweetstorm” of 140-character blurbs, prefaced with THREAD (1/13), is a good story, and they’d...
by Bennat Berger | Mar 21, 2017 | Culture, Technology, Urban Planning
In New York City, the goal to merge innovation with government is apparent on various fronts. This objective has been about a decade in the making, and while we’re only scratching the service of its potential, NYC has made great strides. For various reasons, the...
by Bennat Berger | Mar 13, 2017 | Culture, Philanthropy, Technology
Smartphones have become a crutch–a portable hub–for many users in our permanently plugged-in society. Although they can make our lives infinitely easier, the control and influence they exert over our habits can be alarming. The limitations of current technology...
