The act of creation does not create something out of nothing; it reshuffles, combines, synthesizes already existing facts, ideas, frames of reference, cognitive skills.
Amazon Inc. announced last week that using new drone technologies they will be able deliver packages up to five pounds in weight ten kilometres in thirty minutes within the next few years. If so, the system will remove thousands of trucks—not to mention tons of CO2—from our cities.
Every day the people behind the MESH Cities initiative are surprised, delighted, inspired, in awe of, overwhelmed, or just plain blown away by how rapidly new, city-changing technologies appear. We literally can’t keep up with the ways  these innovations can replace traditional urban infrastructure and management systems. Amazon’s Quad Copter delivery service is just one example of the changes afoot. There are similar systems that when deployed will also reduce the need for cities to build new roads to keep up with economic growth. And that is just the start.
Everywhere we look there are opportunities to do more with less. In fact, the new-way-of-doing-things fruit is hanging so low that even seventeen year olds are changing the world—from their bedrooms. Watch this TED Talk video to see how one bright young teen used the Internet, 3d printing, and some coding to radically reduce the cost of artificial limbs. MESH-driven change is happening at an incredible pace.
Because of that speed of change, and thanks to the strong support the MESH Cities initiative has received from a global audience, we are entering taking the next step in our evolution. We are building the MESH Cities Lab. The Lab is research and development focused. The plan is to take the most promising emerging technologies and use them to create product and services for the world’s cities.
Over the next months we will start building out the Lab. Our first steps will be small ones: we will look at ways MESHed solutions can make a difference with the non dramatic but none-the-less important details of the modern city OS.
Stay in touch for more details and how you can help create the cities of tomorrow, today.
