QoL Human Movement

Saved by the light: Quality of Life: Fysical Wellbeing - mobility / persenal safety. Material Wellbeing - Possesions

Dit blog gaat over een spray-paint gemaakt door Volvo die de veiligheid van fietsers in het verkeer verhoogd doordat ze veel zichtbaarder worden met de opgloeiende verf. Dit product verhoogt de veiligheid van de gebruikers en zal zorgen voor minder ongelukken in het verkeer. Ook is het een leuk hebbedingetje. 

Driven out of space: Fysical Wellbeing - Mobility, persenal safety / Material Wellbeing - Transport / Emotional Wellbeing - Status/respect

Dit blog gaat over de auto van de toekomst waarin je niet alleen maar kunt rijden maar eigenlijk ook kunt 'leven'. De auto geeft nieuwe opties voor activiteiten tijdens het rijden. Ook zullen er minder ongelukken worden veroorzaakt omdat deze auto geheel automatisch rijdt en zelf de weg weet en communiceert met andere voertuigen. De mensen die als eerste in deze auto's zullen gaan rijden zullen veel geld hebben en hierdoor is het ook een statussymbool.

Trees made of steel, still green: Development and Activity - hobbies/leisure

Dit blog gaat over bomen die gemaakt zijn van staal maar zorgen voor duurzame energie en daarbij een goede bijdragen hebben voor het milieu. Omdat de bomen geplaatst zijn op een toeristen bezienswaardigheid past het goed in deze sector van het QoL-model van Felce & Perry.

I want to ride my bicycle: Fysical Wellbeing - mobily / Material Wellbeing - finance/income

Dit is een clusterblog over het stallen van fietsen in steden. In Nederland, Japan en Philadelphia zijn verschillende oplossing voor het fietsen-overschot. In dit blog heb ik vergeleken welke idee het meeste groei potentiaal heeft voor in de toekomst.

Lightning footprints: Fysical Wellbeing - mobily

Dit blog gaat over duurzame energie dat opgewekt word in drukke gebieden door de mensen die er lopen. Het product is een tegel waarbij energie word opgewekt zodra er iemand op deze tegel staat. 

Lightning footprints

The average human takes 150 million steps in their lifetime. Most steps are made in our train stations, offices, city centres and many more places. Why not use this power? Pavegon did use it!

 What

Laurence Kambell-Cook the CEO of the technology company Pavegon came up with a new tile which can convert energy from people’s footsteps into electrical power. The first permanent installation of the Pavegon tiles were placed outside the busy train station in France. With this tiles the station has a sustainable energy source. The product is made from recycled polymer and the surface is made of recycled truck tires. When someone steps on one of the tiles the power is generated due the footfall compress which is only about 5 mm thick.  Each footfall generates up to 7 watts at 12 volts, this is enough power for a street lamp but only for 30 seconds. On their website Pavegon says their exact technology is a big secret, but it is a sustainable way to convert electrical power.

 Why

Laurence Kambell-Cook made it possible to use the energy we produce with in our daily life. With this it does not cost much to produce it and it will not harm the environment. Would it not be great if we had this in our own homes? Just by walking around, cleaning your house or any other activity you do inside can provide you from lights, television and maybe it will even be able to charge your mobile phone. It is good for the environment because it converts your movement to power and for this reason it will fit perfectly in the trend ‘sustainable cities’. I would love to have it in my house, so I can provide my own home from own-produced-power.

Would you have it in your own or would you even recognize it when you see it on the streets? In the video below you can see how it works, watch and enjoy.

Researches:

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/16/ten-quirky-ideas-for-making-our-cities-more-sustainable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaveGen

http://pavegen.com/technology/mk18

http://www.pavegen.com/blog/pavegen-appoint-world-leader-clean-tech-cto

http://www.pavegen.com/projects/saint-omer-train-station-northern-france

I want to ride my bicycle!

Before reading: press play to get in the mood.

Have you ever seen the amount of bicycles in The Netherlands? In many cities, like Amsterdam, there a numerous bikes. All these bikes are not good for the view and more importantly they take a lot of space occupied. I found a few interesting signals about this matter, with each their own solution.

What did Metro say?

On the 22th of April an article was placed in the newspaper Metro. It was about paying to ‘park’ your bike. The purpose is to reduce the surplus of cycling in cities. CROW, a research institute, has conducted a research which shows that cities will get clogged by the growing number of bicycles. They consider paid bicycle-parking as a serious possibility for the future. Many responses poured in, “it should not get any crazier” is one of the responses. Most people already feel obligated to take the bike instead of their car because the parking costs are often very high. Would you pay for parking your bike?

What happens in Japan?

You can close a cheap subscription in Japan that allows you to an underground parking space for your bike. This would allow the city to filter the old, disused bicycles out and remove them. This does not only make the streets look a lot better, but it also means you will find your bike much quicker. It works due a chip on your bike and in your subscription card, it is fully automatized.

What is the solution in Philly?

There is a new concept in Philadelphia, also referred to as the new streetwise street cruiser. It is a cyan-blue bike. It is very similar to the OV bicycle as we know in the Netherlands. The concept is based on point-to-point journeys and it needs to end in a Indego-location. The concept starts at 60 stations, but Indego does not know how many bike they need yet.

When you park your blue Indego bike somewhere else as in the Indego-location and I gets stolen or damaged, you are the luck owner of a fine of at least $1,000. I personally would not dare to risk getting a fine.

Why

We probably all know about the problem cities have with bikes parked everywhere. But the solution from The Netherlands, Japan and Philadelphia do not have much in common except for the fact it costs money. I personally think the solution from Japan is the best, it may costs some money but I will have the least risks for the user. Even though it might take some time and money to build it, but eventually it will give the  best results. No more bikes in our street view and it is also easy and quick to use for everyone (with an subscription ofcourse). The risks of paid parking and the borrow-cycle-concept is that bikes can be stolen and old unused bikes will still continue to clog the streets. The concept from Japan will only allow you to get your own bike. You not only pay for the storage but also for the security of your bike for being stolen and from bad weather. The ideas from Philadelphia and The Netherlands does not erase there negative points and for this reason I think the underground parking spaces for your bike will be THE solution for the problem about bikes all over the world.

From these three ideas I think with underground parking the problem can be solved. How do you think about it? Would you pay for storing your bike or maybe would you rather take your car, since you have to pay for both your car of your bike. If you got curious about how these signals, they can be found bellow in the researches. I would love to hear which solution you prefer.

Researches:

http://www.metronieuws.nl/binnenland/2015/04/ook-betaald-parkeren-voor-fietsen

http://www.metronieuws.nl/binnenland/2015/04/betalen-voor-fietsparkeren-echt-niet

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/16/ten-quirky-ideas-for-making-our-cities-more-sustainable

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386880/Tokyos-underground-cycle-rack-holds-200-bikes-streets.html

http://weburbanist.com/2015/03/26/invisible-bicycles-tokyos-high-tech-underground-bike-parking/

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150419_Bike_sharing_will_fill_city_with_sturdy_cycles.html

http://www.rideindego.com/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210539515000127

Trees made from steel, still green.

‘Green’ in the city is decreasing. Although urban-farming is a trend, ‘green’ still disappears in the city and in the surrounding area. It had to happen eventually, man is capable of many things even making trees. An example is in the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ in Singapore. What do these man-made trees mean and what will it add to our lives?

What

The park ‘Gardens by the Bay’ In Singapore has a small bunch of man-made-trees, they are up to 50 metres high. These super trees are steel-framed, this does not really remind me of something called sustainable. But it really is sustainable! The trees have flowers and ferns growing on them. The steel frame ensures not only the shape of it, but it also disseminates and absorbs heat. Also the tree can harvest rainwater and provide two types of air ventilation. But that is not all, of the 18 trees in the  park there are 11 trees which have solar panels along their ‘arms’. Therefore they can generate their own energy. The trees harvest solar energy and converts it to a wonderful light show in the evening. This means the steel-casing of the trees is not only a vertical ‘forest’ but also has ecological and sustainable features.

Why

Have you ever seen something as beautiful as these trees? They look gorgeous in the picture, imagine how they look like in real life. It is wonderful to see how these trees function as vertical gardens, which are even very easy to maintain because of the chosen plants. The ‘Gardens by the Bay’ is ranked number 4 out of the 311 attractions in Singapore and hereby one of the most popular attraction for tourist whom travel all over the world to visit it. It would be amazing to see these super trees all over the world to provide us with solar energy. In my opinion it would look much more beautiful instead of the solar panels on the roofs of our homes and  maybe it even gives the opportunity to harvest our own food of it. But would it even be possible to place them everywhere? Just for an example, how would it look in The Netherlands? Would the flowers and ferns even survive the winter? If it does not we will be stuck with just huge steel-trees without ‘green’ on it, but even than it has a sustainable function. But because of the looks without the flowers and plants I do not think these trees will even be built in The Netherlands or any other countries with the singular climate. But in Singapore it may have a future, over there it has the right climate and temperature. It would be great if there would be smaller version on the market and if they can be placed in home-gardens. This even means people could get their own solar energy and collect water with ‘a tree’.

Even though it may not have a great future in The Netherlands and other counties but it certainly looks beautiful and I would love to visit it once in my life. Take a look at the video below to see a part of the light show.

Researches:

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/16/ten-quirky-ideas-for-making-our-cities-more-sustainable

http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/browse/see-and-do/nature-and-wildlife/stroll-among-trees/gardens-by-the-bay.html

http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2015/02/gardens-by-the-bay-singapore.html

http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/attractions/supertree-grove.html#!/facts-figures

Driven out of space

When you think about green and eco-friendly, you probably do not think about cars or any other vehicle. But what would the world look like with a car which will not have a bad effect on mother earth? Mercedes presented a car which generates its own electric energy .

What

The German car company Mercedes presented the car of the future, the concept is called F 015. It kind of sounds like an airplane model. They have introduced it in Las Vegas and the car is able to move without external propulsion or agency. But besides the technology to drive on its own it is also eco-friendly because it can generate electric energy with a fuel cell in order to feed two electric motors. The car can drive 900 kilometres on hydrogen and 200 kilometres on electric energy. It may take a while before it will be produced but there it has been tested already in Las Vegas. It will not be just a car to travel from location to location, but you can even stay in it. In this way you can live everywhere in the world!

Why

the interior of the car consists of beautiful finishes, wood and even rotating chairs. Also a very cool detail about the interior is the digital hang-out. In this hang-out you can add your own playlist which you can change by time, depending on your current mood and you can manage your social media accounts. Even the way you can operate on it is innovative. Say goodbye to touchscreen and meet the new way of handling with your hang-out. You can use the device with eye-tracking and it even notices when you move your hand towards it, this kind of looks like you are using magic.

When you drive you should not be multitasking, for example posting messages on Facebook. But in this car you can because it drives automatically. For this reason there will no longer be traffic accidents or victims. This means there are no longer safety issues and we will not need our seatbelts. This will be very interesting for the market and economy. In the future we might even take a bath in our car while driving somewhere. There will be endless possibilities for the market with regard to this sort of car. With this car on the road there will no longer be traffic-deaths or any kind of accidents involving cars. And besides the fact that there will be more traffic-safety, it is also a more pleasant way of travelling.

If this will be the car everyone will ride in the future there will be more safety on the road, which mean there will come many more options for the interior. This be have a positive effect on the market, because companies can design more various concepts for the inside. 

Researches:

http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/buitenland/dit-m-dan-de-auto-van-de-toekomst

http://www.telegraaf.nl/autovisie/autovisie_nieuws/mercedesbenz/23561558/__Detroit_2015__Mercedes__auto_van_de_toekomst__.html

http://futurecars.mercedes-benz.co.uk/#!/car/mercedes-f-015#header

Meat without cruelties #her

Recently I have written a Trendrapport for my study International Lifestyle. When written this rapport I found out the world population is increasing fast and by 2050 there will be 9 billion people walking around on this planet. But what does our food look like by this time? A very innovative cookbook will show us an example of our potential future food.

What

The In Vitro Cookbook is not an ordinary cookbook as you might know now. This book has recipes in it for the future. Because the population is growing we need more place to build houses, but because of this matter we do not have enough place for animals to live and to produce meat. This cookbook is  based on meat that was grown in the lab, this is also a very friendly way to produce meat without any animal cruelty. Could you imagine eating dodo wings or steaks knitted like scarfs in about 40 years? It certainly sounds very cool and maybe even vegetarians could eat this because it does not involve animal cruelty.

Why

As said before this is not an ordinary cookbook, it is spectacularly innovative and inspiring. Not so long ago the first hamburger came out of the lab. But after this In Vitro Burger the chicken is next. I personally hope this solution can prevent the world hunger that is expected in 2050 because of the dubble demand for meat. This way of producing food is a good method for raising livestock for the future. On the follow website: http://www.bistro-invitro.com/, you can even resevate for diner in the first meat-grown restaurant lab to try out this lab-meat. Would you not like to try as one of the first what food will be like over 40 years? I certainly would! Maybe we will eat ourselves by using our own bodycells in a lab. It might sounds very delusional but maybe in the far away future you will cook yourself instead of a cow or chicken. 

So by 2050 the meat-demand will dubble and 9 billion people have to be fed. How could this be possible? By eating lab-meat, this can even be a dinosaurus-leg instead of what we are now used to for example a chicken leg.

Researches:

http://www.nextnature.net/book/

http://www.bistro-invitro.com/

http://www.nextnature.net/2015/03/after-in-vitro-burger-chicken-is-the-next/

http://www.nextnature.net/2013/08/worlds-first-in-vitro-hamburger-arrives/

Saved by the light

As they say in foreign countries about the Dutch people, “A Dutchman is born on a bicycle”. The average Dutchman cycles over eight hundred kilometer per year. Compared to other countries relatively few accidents happen in The Netherlands. A bicycle is quickly overlook by other drivers, Volvo had an innovative respond to this issue.

What

Volvo Presents Lifepaint. They came up with the product to improve road safety for everyone, both for car divers as for the people who prefer to ride two wheels. The main reason for introducing the LifePaint is the fact that every year 19.000 cyclist in the United Kingdom are involved in an accident. At the moment a few bike-shops in the UK are handing out the stuff for free. Once the product demand catches on Volvo will introduce the LifePaint to the market.

The LifePaint is invisible by daylight, but I glow up brightly in the blaze of the headlights of a car. This means when the sun goes down and the sky will colour dark the invisible becomes visible. My first thought about this spray-paint was: “When I spill it on my clothes, will I brighten up every time in the dark? This will just ruin my wardrobe”. But the fact is, it won’t ruin anything! The paint washes off and will not even affect he colour or the material of anything it touches. The LifePaint will remain for about one week after application.

I cycle almost every day, but when it gets dark I often find out my light does not work because of the low batteries. Changing batteries is the one thing I really hate. It is difficult to remove the cover and I am always out of batteries. But this LifePaint would make it a lot of fun to cycle at night and it does not even look difficult or time consuming.

Why

The LifePaint initiative from Volvo has a good safety effect on both cyclist and car-drivers. They fave fun twist to the idea of security and what is especially important: they make the weaker part of drivers on the, cyclist, more noticeable. Once cyclist will use this spray during their nightly bike rides they will be many accidents prevented.

We already know that in 2050 75% of humanity will live in a city, but how do we make it livable for ourselves? In 2050 people still have obligations and do not want to arrive late for meetings or any other appointments they have. If everyone will travel by car this will cause major traffic jams an blockages and it also had an bad affect on the environment and our health. It will be very convenient to travel by bicycle, especially a bike sprayed with LifePaint for safety. Because of this future overcrowding in the city LifePaint would be a safe addition to urban. Maybe when this time arrives there will  arise five-lane paths for bicycle instead of five-lane highways we know now.

Where will most of the people life by 2050? In the cities! So what do we need? Safety and quality of life for these people. But not only for in 2050, it is also necessary now, in 2015. Volvo will improve safety and will even be fun to use and to see. LifePaint might even save several lives and prevent accidents.

As said before, this spray is handed out for free. To see where you can pick up your free item, click here. 

Researches:

https://www.facebook.com/saved/ 

http://www.want.nl/met-deze-afwasbare-lifespray-van-volvo-is-iedere-fietser-een-baken-van-licht/

http://www.volvolifepaint.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=zOis_PjBx8SQ.knJFCpcYY61k