Designer Philip Hermes offers his futuristic design for connected city, albeit in a slightly more tangible way. Hermes envisions an underground delivery network that could transport packages as big as a shoe box across a city in as little as ten minutes. Think subway system meets pneumatic tube pipeline.
The conceptual project, named Urban Mole, calls for upgrading the preexisting infrastructure that runs beneath the streets – aka sewer tubes – with electrical rails that could power the Mole’s motors as it moves throughout the pipeline. Local hub stations would be created within a city to serve as pick-up and drop-off [...]

It’s approaching rush hour and Liverpool Street is fast becoming a crushing medley of limbs, briefcases and polished Italian shoes. Already late for a meeting you dart towards the Circle line in a vain attempt to arrive in some sort of concerted punctual state. Whisked off into London’s rat race you arrive at your destination station with perhaps enough time to conceivably make it, yet, as hundreds pile off of the train, you spy the exit at the furthest away point from your current position, blocked by a hundred steaming commuters and the hustle and bustle of the city’s underground [...]

 
Much like its American counterpart, Chinese Hip-Hop rose from the streets, giving a voice to disaffected youth whose message might not otherwise be heard. While this form of expression has been around in China since the 90’s, it failed to gain a widespread following until musicians started rapping in Chinese, a fairly recent development that brings greater relevancy and reach to the form. And though steadily growing in popularity, at its root rap is still vehicle of protest and as such, an underground phenomenon that a mainstream audience is not prepared to understand or face, particularly given the Chinese government’s [...]

We mentioned the bubbling of a re-emerging rave culture before – now the New York Times picks up on the UK scene.