City 2.0

The TED (Technology Entertainment Design) Prize is an annual award, usually given to an individual. This year, for the first time in history, it was won by an an idea after my own heart: "City 2.0". Ten projects that are improving city life will share a 1million US Dollar prize. Winners include the designers of an open-sourced "wiki-house" .  

Download plan for a DIY home or 'wiki-house'

The common thread of most of the projects is sustainable development. A more unusual one is Crowdsourcing the Quiet - a smartphone app to locate quiet spaces in a city, created by a self-proclaimed recluse. Its aim is "sonic health" in the city for introverts or people with disabilities like autism and schizophrenia that crave less sensory stimuli. 

What is City 2.0?

TED calls this 'the idea that will change the world'. Urban growth is the story of our century. Just over half of the world's 7bn population now live in cities. This is due to rise to 5bn by 2030. 

I've taken the list below from the TED Prize website:

The City 2.0 is the city of the future… a future in which more than ten billion people on planet Earth must somehow live sustainably.
The City 2.0 is not a sterile utopian dream, but a real-world upgrade tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom.
The City 2.0 promotes innovation, education, culture and economic opportunity.
The City 2.0 reduces the carbon footprint of its occupants, facilitates smaller families and eases the environmental pressure on the world’s rural areas.
The City 2.0 is a place of beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.
The City 2.0 is the city that works.