Tag Archives: cities

Anyone Hear of UberPool?

On August 15th, 2014, Uber announced a Beta version of it’s newest product – UberPool. The startup location app has been widely popular across the United States in recent months. Users are picked up in a private car and can request a car before stepping out of the house. The service uses the GPS on your phone to accurately hail a cab. The taxi-company of the 21st century is a perfect example of how technology is making life easier. There have been a few issues with the service, but I am extremely pleased with Uber’s customer service and believe in the product they are selling.

One of the biggest drawbacks of Uber was price. Often more expensive than a regular cab, I found myself not wanting to pay for $50 Uber ride when I could spend $15 in a regular yellow cab. UberX presented a price solution, offering rides at or below taxi prices. The service is not to the level of a full scale Uber SUV, but it is also cheaper than a yellow cab, not to mention a newer, nicer, cleaner car.

Now, UberPool is here to offer an even cheaper offer. Basically UberPool turns your trip into a ride share program where passengers with similar routes are picked up and dropped off together. I am not sure how successful this will ultimately end up being for Uber. The thought of sharing a cab ride with someone else does not sound to appealing right off of the bat. Ultimately, I do think that this will help Uber continue to reach more consumers. If Uber can make this work, the company will have captured market share from the very top to the very bottom. The program has been up and running for slightly over a month. Maybe one day we will see it here in New York.

Isoscope is an analytics firm that takes the study of human traffic flows to a next level. The interactive map lets you see how far you can travel depending on the time of day. The map is incredibly detailed, breaking down travel times depending on time of day, day of the week, and mode of transportation. I used the New York map, however the information was available across the United States and Europe.

If you have some free time today and are always wondering about traffic flows, take a look!

Green Roofs From Across The World (via BuzzBuzzHome)

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President Obama is starting to get serious about climate change. In recent talks, he has mentioned the need for massive increases in green living. Anyone who lives in an urban core can tell you how hot and unbearable the summers can get. A great way to combat both air quality and spikes in urban core temperature readings comes in the form of green roofs.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a leader in bringing green roofs to one of the largest cities in the world. The city even announced the rise of rooftop agriculture with the largest urban farm in the US currently under construction on a Brooklyn rooftop. Bloomberg, Obama, and politicians across the world are leading the way in reclaiming urban space for non-industrial use.

These green roofs serve a variety of purposes that are both helpful to those in the building, and everyone around. First and foremost, green roofs lower the temperature of the buildings roof by considerable amounts. Rather than having black tar or reflective tin roofs that can sizzle in with surface temperatures upwards of 130 degrees, green roofs rarely get hotter than the actual air temperature. Roof or rain gardens also help with rain water run off, something that is a major issue in coastal cities. Rain gardens filter excess water, and some can even store water to be used by the building tenants later on. A third attribute green roofs provide is fresh, clean air. Trees, plants, and other shrubs help clean the air and lessen ozone levels that so often spiral out of control in urban cities.

The super cool pictures below show how urban architecture can be infused with green design. Most of the pictures are taken from abroad, let’s incorporate them into US design!