PLATFORM:
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
http://www.icic.orgThe Initiative for a Competitive Inner City is a nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there. Founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ICIC strengthens inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities.
MESH Cities
http://www.meshcities.comMESH Cities explores the wireless systems empowered, 21st Century city through the eyes of its super-users. These are the people who are embracing the new communications and infrastructure tools that will determine the ultimate livability of the modern city. The growing ubiquity of high-speed wireless connections allows people to experience the city in ways never before possible. More than that, they can contribute their ideas about how to make our cities more accommodating and responsive .
CNU
http://www.cnu.org/The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading organization promoting walkable, mixed-use neighborhood development, sustainable communities and healthier living conditions.
Creative Mornings
http://www.creativemornings.com/CreativeMornings is a monthly breakfast lecture series for creative types held in major cities internationally. Each event is free of charge, and includes a 20 minute talk, plus coffee!
Beacon Food Forest
http://www.beaconfoodforest.orgA Food Forest is a gardening technique or land management system that mimics a woodland ecosystem but substitutes in edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Fruit and nut trees are the upper level, while below are berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals. Companions or beneficial plants are included to attract insects for natural pest management while some plants are soil amenders providing nitrogen and mulch. Together they create relationships to form a forest garden ecosystem able to produce high yields of food with less maintenance.
Farming the City
http://farmingthecity.netCITIES' Farming the City pilot project has been running in Amsterdam since November 2010, bringing city dwellers to explore inspirational ways of producing, storing, cooking, preserving, distributing and sharing food.
Gidsy
http://gidsy.comGidsy is a marketplace for authentic experiences. Besides booking fun stuff to do, the site allows anyone host activities. Think unique walking tours guided by locals, nature hikes with wild cavemen and exclusive pop-up restaurants hosted by top chefs.
Truck Farm
http://www.truckfarm.orgTruck Farm is a mobile garden education project founded in Brooklyn, NY. Director Ian Cheney's other projects include King Corn, The Greening of Southie, and The City Dark.
Walk Your City
http://www.walkyourcity.orgAn open-sourced online resource for anyone to auto-magically create their own guerrilla wayfinding sign to export, print and install.
The Urban Etiquette Project
http://urbanetiquetteproject.blogspot.caThe Urban Etiquette Project is set of downloadable, printable cards designed to start a conversation about manners, civility and public etiquette in the urban sphere. The project offers cards to point out unfavourable behaviour, as well as citations for acknowledging random acts of kindness.
Citizinvestor
http://www.citizinvestor.comCitizinvestor allows citizens to invest in the local government projects they care about most.
Local governments submit pre-approved projects to citizinvestor.com. The cost of the project has already been set and department approved, the only thing lacking is the funding. Citizens then find the projects they care about most and invest financially in those projects. Once a project is 100% pledged, the project is built! Citizens don’t pay a dime unless the project is funded in full. This ensures that there’s little risk to the local government entity and little risk to the citizen.
Earth Policy Institute
http://www.earth-policy.orgEPI’s goals are (1) to provide a global plan (Plan B) for moving the world onto an environmentally and economically sustainable path, (2) to provide examples demonstrating how the plan would work, and (3) to keep the media, policymakers, academics, environmentalists, and other decision-makers focused on the process of building a Plan B economy.
Synergos
http://www.synergos.orgWe inspire, lead, and support sustainable and systems-changing collaboration to address poverty, equity, and social justice. Bringing together civil society leaders, social innovators, philanthropists, foundations, corporations, government agencies, and global institutions with poor and marginalized communities, we help these diverse actors work together to create sustainable systems change.
Polaris Project
http://www.polarisproject.orgOur vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002.
Ushahidi
http://ushahidi.comWe are a non-profit tech company that specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. We build tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories.
