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News update – August 9th, 2018

In our new weekly News Filter, we share our thoughts on the most interesting news articles, blogs, videos and events relating to the future of cities, buildings and interiors.

In a piece on smartcitiesdive.com, Pamela DeLoatch highlights the effect of green spaces on employee performance. DeLoatch goes into depth by taking from a recent study from the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, showing that office workers in a green environment score 97% higher for crisis response, 172% higher for information usage and 183% higher for strategy than in a conventional environment. Companies that want to make their office green spaces can easily start by adding a plant to desks, or looking at LEED best practices for ideas.

Want to know more about certification programs for healthy offices? Read this recently published The New York Times piece, referencing the Fitwel and WELL certificate: How Healthy Is Your Office?

As all-inclusive co-living becomes a hot topic in the media, this week we’re taking a look into smarter living alternatives that are tapping into the housing needs of young tenants in big U.S. cities.

The New York based start-up Rooms rents fully furnished smart apartments for students and young professionals. The company is collaborating with a smart mattress company and smart home technology developer, and offers smart locks, outlets, and shades that are controllable via Amazon Echo.

“Our tenants will be able to get reports on how long they sleep, how long it takes them to get to sleep, what time they slept at night, and how they can improve their sleeping patterns. The goal is to make their whole living in the actual apartment better from every point of view, so we can provide more services like ‘smart stuff’ that our demographic really finds appealing.”  Or Goldschmidt – CEO Rooms

Business Insider and Digital Trends Read the full story at businessinsider.com; 

At UNSense we love podcasts! This week, we listened to ‘Planning Ideas that Matter’ series by MIT’s department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP). In episodes 8 and 9 the central question is whether data can lead to more equitable, just, fair and happy cities. DUSP’s Ceasar Mcdowell (Professor of Civic Design) and Justin Steil (Assistant Professor of Law and Urban Planning) provide their perspective on how big data and urban science will impact the social structures layered over the physical spaces of cities.

Listen to the Planning Ideas that Matter podcast here

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