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12 votes
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Sweden's secret to wellbeing? Known as koloniträdgårdar, tiny urban gardens provide city dwellers access to nature, fresh produce and community.
18 votes -
Copenhagen is adapting to a warmer world with rain tunnels and sponge parks
21 votes -
How close should you live to a park?
21 votes -
Lost gardens of New York City
8 votes -
Minecraft is the world's best-selling computer game – the psychology behind why children are hooked on the game
12 votes -
Stoop coffee: How a simple idea transformed my neighborhood
48 votes -
The Airbnb/Hotel Gap: Private common spaces
Once or twice a year, my friends and I do a "Friend Getaway" where we rent an Airbnb and all communally nerd out. Magic, D&D, videogames, tabletop stuff, etc. It's a great time. We look forward to...
Once or twice a year, my friends and I do a "Friend Getaway" where we rent an Airbnb and all communally nerd out. Magic, D&D, videogames, tabletop stuff, etc. It's a great time. We look forward to it every year.
Unfortunately, our experience with Airbnbs has progressively gotten worse over time (not that it was ever great), with this past weekend being our worst ever. We ended up leaving early and escalated a complaint with the platform (not that I actually think that will do anything, which is one of the problems with Airbnb in the first place).
Unfortunately, we're kind of stuck with going with an Airbnb (or similar, like VRBO) if we want to keep doing this because they're the only thing that give us what we want: private common spaces.
The reason we get an Airbnb in the first place isn't for the destination or the attractions around it. It's so we can all hang out together in the living room and dining room, and cook group meals in the kitchen. We retire to the beds to sleep, but 90% of our waking time is spent grouping ourselves up in the common areas by interest.
If we could stay at a hotel and rent out a living room, dining room, and kitchen for the group, we absolutely would. Ever since Airbnbs became a thing, I was hoping hotels would move a little bit in the direction of offering similar setups, but it feels like at most you can simply get a regular hotel room with a kitchenette. They're not really conducive to groups at all.
To me, there's currently a huge gap between what hotels offer and what Airbnb offers, and if you want the latter, you have to put up with a lot of awfulness that's just sort of embedded into their business model.
I don't really have a point in posting this other than to highlight that and hope that it starts some discussion. I'm also hoping that someone tells me that I'm completely wrong and that there are hotels out there that actually do offer Airbnb-like stays/facilities and I just don't know about them.
41 votes -
Horror in impossible places: liminal spaces and the backrooms
20 votes -
Helsinki landmark Finlandia Hall reopens – architectural icon, designed by Alvar Aalto, is now more accessible than ever to the public after an extensive renovation
7 votes -
While ambitious urban planners try to make fifteen-minute cities a reality, the Nordhavn district of Copenhagen has gone one better – what's life like when everything you need is a stroll away?
36 votes -
Copenhagen's once-industrial port has been planned to make everything, from schools and play areas to businesses and recreational spaces, accessible within five minutes
4 votes -
The world's most feminist city – how Umeå in Sweden became an idyll for women
7 votes -
Sweden's libraries caught in a political row about drag story hour – far right have tried to block events from taking place, with varied levels of success
16 votes -
Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is set to take over some of the world's biggest public spaces in his most impressive installation piece yet
5 votes -
Atlanta Beltline Partnership receives $8 million gift for Westside Bike Park
11 votes -
How to get the most out of urban gardens
6 votes -
Where do you find community?
Where do you find support and friendship? Who are the folks who encourage you and add positivity to your life? It can be anything from a local gym to a sewing group to an online forum. I'd love to...
Where do you find support and friendship? Who are the folks who encourage you and add positivity to your life? It can be anything from a local gym to a sewing group to an online forum. I'd love to hear about every's little supportive corners and community networks!
- this was kicked off by the Bro summer waits for us all thread.
40 votes -
The methodical plan to erase Chicago
5 votes -
Green corridors - How a Colombian city cooled dramatically in just three years
17 votes -
Copenhagen is just one city among many around the world taking a novel approach to prevent repeated flooding. It is becoming a sponge.
8 votes -
The battle for Central Park
3 votes -
Third places, Stanley cup mania, and the epidemic of loneliness
11 votes -
SolarPunk vs CyberPunk: Our cities' last hope?
14 votes -
Melbourne plant diversity in urban green spaces led to sevenfold increase in insect species, study finds
19 votes -
New York City announces major public space and transit improvements for Downtown Brooklyn
17 votes -
I (basically) stopped weeding thanks to this game-changing gardening method; Tilling is out. ‘No dig’ is in.
27 votes -
Radical pop art sculptor Claes Oldenburg dies at 93 – many of his sculptures adorn public spaces in the US and around the world
7 votes -
Spaces launch in Element
9 votes -
The Matrix Spaces beta
14 votes -
Transparent public toilets unveiled in Tokyo parks — but they also offer privacy
8 votes -
LA, other SoCal cities cracking down on crowds at parks, beaches to stem spread of COVID-19
5 votes -
Smartphones have blurred the distinction between different spaces by turning anywhere into a place you can work, watch TV/videos, talk with friends, and more
10 votes -
How Helsinki built book heaven – Finland's most ambitious library is a kind of monument to the Nordic model of civic engagement
7 votes -
Denver is capturing geese from city parks to be killed and given to hungry families
16 votes -
Paris will create the city's largest gardens around the Eiffel Tower
9 votes -
"Brian Eno's ideas have unexpected resonance for architecture"
5 votes