Philadelphia Mural Arts Program transforms the city’s landscape.

TheMural Arts Program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began in 1984 as part of a campaign to eradicate graffiti citywide. The Anti-Graffiti Network hired muralist Jane Golden to reach out to graffiti writers and to redirect their energies from destructive graffiti writing to constructive mural painting. Since then, over 3.000 murals have been realized.

Mural painting they created instantly added color, beauty, and life to a tired, industrial city struggling with dozens of economic distress and population loss. The outcomes of the program were nothing less than magical! From the beginning, Golden witnessed how mural-making changed lives and how the murals themselves began to mend the urban aesthetic fabric, each has become a distinctive part of the city’s streetscapes.

The murals also provided a support structure for these young men and women to refine their artistic skills, empowering them to take an active role in beautifying their own neighborhoods. The program is currently one of Philadelphia's largest employers of artists, employing over 300 artists a year.

Public art programs provides a unique opportunity for local engagement. Over the years, Philadelphia’s Mural Art Program has brought artists and community members, schools, grassroots organizations together in a collaborative process that transforms public spaces and individual lives. A recent endeavor of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is The Porch Light Initiative.

The Porch Light Initiative is a three-year program that creates partnerships between health service providers, artists, residents, and individuals receiving treatment for behavioral health challenges. Together these partnerships create public art that raises awareness for community health. 

More info

www.muralarts.org

The Porch Light Initiative

photo credits Murals.org

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Bangs Shoes: a new model of corporate philanthropy

BangsShoes is a company that aims to demonstrate a new model of corporate philanthropy that sparks a new socially responsible edge for the future of retail. The Bangs method is to integrate fundraising for non-profit organizations into a for-profit business model.

The Bangs mission is to “Stand on issues to help others stand on their own”. Every aspect of Bangs, from the name (Bang-zhu in Mandarin means “to help”), to the revenue model, to even the design of the shoes emanates this mentality.

Hannah Davis, Founder and President of Bangs Shoes says: "We are in an era where combining philanthropy and business is not only accepted, but demanded by a socially conscious generation of consumers. I believe, along with many others today, that individuals are capable of affecting widespread positive change. With Bangs, wherever you stand you stand on issues. The Bangs mission is to raise awareness and funding for some of our world's most complex issues."

They have partnered with non-profit organizations that focus on self-reliability and empowerment through the empowerment of local communities. Each of the partners works to provide people with the tools they need to develop themselves, fueling long term positive change, turning away from handout methodology.

Each pair of Bangs has an icon stitched on the outside heel to help remind you which cause and nonprofit your Bangs support. 20% of net profits made from each pair of Bangs are invested in its nonprofit partner.

To find our more information about BANGS’s nonprofit partners, you can click on the links below!

Green BANGS partner with SOUL Foundation.

Red BANGS partner with Global DIRT.

Khaki BANGS partner with CHOICE Humanitarian.

Blue BANGS partner with Drop in the Bucket.

More info

www.bangsshoes.com

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Little Free Library

LittleFree Library is a nonprofit community movement in the United States and worldwide that offers free books housed in small containers to members of the local community.

It was founded in Hudson, Wisconsin. The idea was conceived by Todd Bol as a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and school teacher. He mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house on a post on his lawn, he put a dozen or more books and has invited its neighbors to borrow for free.

The idea spread rapidly. Today there are almost 2.600 library around the world, you can found them on the map.

Library owners can create their own library box (or buy one on the web-site) and receive a sign that reads "Little Free Library". Each library is uniquely built incorporating materials from the community it is located in. Each one is different, customizable, but all are based on a simple concept: "take a book, leave a book", which everyone is invited to borrow a book completely free of charge, to read it without having to meet precise deadlines and return it. You can also return a book different from that taken or fit ones that you have available.

Libraries may be registered and assigned a number at the organization's website. Your registration not only helps cover the cost of materials and postage. It also supports programs such as Little Free Libraries for Small Towns, outreach to isolated elderly adults, Celebrating Healthier Communities, and the international Books for All.

Share your books increases the sense of belonging to the community, to create new relationships with neighbors and spread the love of reading among those who do not have the resources to buy books. This is the potential of Little Free Library.

More info

www.littlefreelibrary.org

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Birdhouse Rooftiles, place for city birds

In urban areas nowadays birds are not welcome under roof tiles anymore, so they lost a beautiful place to make nests, and the bird population is shrinking rapidly, what are we doing with this?

The productdesigner Klaas Kuiken was struck with an idea. With his design for a special bird house he hopes to contribute to the solution of this problem.

By applying an archetype house on a rooftile he creates a striking new nesting place for city birds, which is not only a warm welcome for the birds but also more visible to us humans.

In consultation with the Vogelbescherming (Dutch bird association) the design is refined, so the Birdhouse Rooftile not just a pretty picture but also a responsible nesting place.

The birds find their new place under the tile in a specially designed basket. This allows the bird to use its original place under the tiles. Here the ventilation is good so the nest does not get too hot, and the bird is out of range of greedy cats.

The house contains a removable basket to aid in maintenance after mating season and is made with materials that can resist extreme cold in the winter.

First designed in 2009 the birdhouses have finally gone into production and 100 are now available for sale, they are produced at dijkstrakeliwaren in sneek, the Netherlands,

More info

www.klaaskuiken.nl

www.dakpannen.nl

photo credits: Klaas Kuiken

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Tricycle House and Tricyle Garden: innovative transportation

Designed by People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s IndustrialDesign Office (PIDO), the Tricycle House and Tricyle Garden was designed to address borderline situation of property laws in China, most of the city people have to accept that they will never be able to own even a small piece of land. Urban society is forced to find unconventional ways if they want to have some more private space. "The inability to own land is a fundamental condition in China unique from many western countries. The Tricycle House suggests a future where the temporary relationship and the public nature between people the the land they occupy is embraced."

They create a world where you can sleep, bathe, and eat food from your garden, all from the comforts of your own … tricycle. With this innovative concept, the architects surmise that, "Single homes can be affordable and sustainable, parking lots are not wasted at night, and traffic jams are acceptable."

The Tricycle House is relies on human power only, allowing people to live off the grid, with amenities that include a sink, stove, bathtub, water tank, and furniture. Made from a new, experimental form of folding plastic, the house can either open up to the outside, expand out like an accordion to increase space, or connect to other houses. The polypropylene material it’s resilient, easy to shape and fold without losing its strength and is translucent so the interior is always well lit whether by the sun during the day or street lamps at night.

The Tricycle Garden can be attached to the house or it can be combined with other gardens to form a large public green space. The front of the garden doubles as tricycle seating in order to maximize grown space, that can be planted with not only grass but plants and vegetables.

You'd just need a good spot to park it!

More info

www.peoples-architecture.com/pao

www.peoples-products.com/pido/

photo credits: People’s Architecture Office (PAO) + People’s Industrial Design Office (PIDO)

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Equotube, a responsibile way of travel

"Equotube" offers travel ideas, activities and culinary experiences to give alternatives to rediscover territories and cultures: "Experiences that become exchange between hosts and travelers." It is the first fully united and responsible of this kind.

A sustainable form of travel, where supply and demand meet in a project that tries to protect both. The idea is of the social cooperative "Sogno differente" that launched "Equotube", an alternative way to make and promote tourism in a responsible manner. A sort of Smart box, as the proposal is actually enclosed in a tube. He wants to be a gift idea innovative, useful, and fun experience to live or to give where is the approach to make a difference. The structures are selected on the basis of strict criteria (environmental sustainability, consumption and production techniques) favoring reality of a community and those who are inspired by the philosophy of "Km 0".

"Partners and facilities belonging respond to a specific card values of responsible tourism - explain the designers -. We are working on the ground so that the description is always in line with what was declared to ensure the satisfaction of customers critical and therefore very demanding. "The aim is to please the palates of travelers by putting them in contact with local realities to create a project based on the exchange: "We want to promote local culture and the rediscovery of the riches of the area for tourism that is a true sharing between host and travelers. "Because in the end what matters is not where to go and when to leave, but how to do it.

More info
www.equotube.it

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The second life of forniture, by Marc Sparfel

Over the past 15 years, Barcelona’s residents have come to expect MarcSparfel’s weekly visits to their rubbish heaps. In the begining he would search the streets during “furniture days” for material, but soon, neighbors began to leave the furniture in front of his studio.

The wood of the desks, armchairs, and hat stands fascinated him – soon, he found himself methodically taking apart each piece, bit by bit. The artist will first designs his piece, and then begin construction. Masterfully crafted, his collection of animal form and mask are a beautiful and inventive way to recycle.

"...this is my forest, my world where I walk with pleasure, and I hand pick the best pieces. Once in my workshop, my sanctuary, my laboratory, I start the process of transformation, sometimes slow and painful but always intuitive, searching for a certain elegance and poetry made from wood."

Marc Sparfel is from Bretagne, from a village on the coast of Finistère Nord. He moved to Barcelona in 1999, for him it means a place in the world where he feel good: for the quality of light, the sea, the possibility to live with little money; it’s very cosmopolitan... but to much touristic. What inspires him is absolutely everything, in a conscious or unconscious manner.

More info:
www.marcsparfel.com

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