The world around us seems as turbulent as it has ever been. Tremors across industry, across culture, across the environment, are profoundly reshaping everything we know. We started The Alpine Review as an attempt to understand those tremors from a long-term point of view — to look at how our immediate moment is shaped by the past and will shape us in the future.
What are the real solutions to climate change? Here we explore the substantial risks of geoengineering technologies in a context where underlying behaviours remain unchanged.
A collection of ideas and curiosities about science and technology.
We’ve been told to watch our weight, count our calories and time our runs for quite a while now; but never before have we had the technology to measure all of our behavior so seamlessly, sensitively, automatically and intelligently.
Tracking interesting signals, new and old ideas in the field of economics and business — Indie capitalism
Where do you go to find innovative solutions to complex problems? Charles Leadbeater argues that sometimes the most game-changing ideas come from the most unlikely places.
Tracking interesting signals, ideas and questions in the innovation and tech space.
There are only three towns on Alaska’s Dalton Highway, or the North Slope Haul Road, the northernmost road in America.
Lewis Lapham argues that there’s a reason good writing is hard to find on the internet. What is good writing, anyway?
A good read can be hard to find; we present our list of books and magazines that are worth making time for.
“Defensive architecture” is a term used to describe design features that are intended to restrict the use of space to a narrow set of activities that are approved by the owner.
Tracking interesting signals, ideas and questions that make society move.
On the design and fabrication of ephemeral textile architecture and living environments — Loop.
What makes Barca so good? Three great lessons that apply beyond the immediate confines of the sport.
As a doctor, Rob Gorski’s training and livelihood is intervention. But when it comes to his island, he’s decided to let nature run its course.
Where do you go when you’re haunted by a big question? Enter The School of Life, a 21st century forum that is part university, part library and even part church.
The field of psychological trauma is evolving to recognize that adversity may actually be good for you.
We keep the grand monuments and the recognizable symbols as warnings. But there’s a lost story in the stuff that gets thrown out.
Alchemy is either the foundation of modern science or a grand mystic delusion induced by mercury fumes. Can new understandings of ancient ways show us how interconnectedness can exist in harmony with scientific mastery?
What was the role of digital tools in the evolution of the architectural design process? Archaeology of the Digital, a transdisciplinary exhibition at Montreal’s CCA (2012) attempted to craft an answer.
The driverless car is more than just a passive mode of transport. It entails a new form of city life. As we make the shift from drivers to supervisors and from owners to users, we can expect a variety of transformations to take place.
As we know, the iPhone is ‘designed in California, made in China,’ but maybe it needs a new label: ‘Made in China—and a few other places.’ How traditional ways of measuring global trade fail to reflect underlying complexities.
David Cox interviews Bruce Sterling on the so-called ‘New Aesthetic’ to examine ideas such as 'processuality'; identifying patterns that connect machine sensor vision, aerial imaging, beauty in digital 'mistakes' and a general folding in of the digital into the real.
Creative city branding is a popular game, but raises questions about who the winners are.
Irish brothers Jonathan and Mark Legge, who grew up in a family of architects, have built an online “Shed” in which they carry a curation of simple, beautiful and occasionally odd locally crafted "objects of integrity".
As people are realizing that design can become a valuable differentiator, designers are pulling more weight, leading the charge, and even breaking out on their own.
Unfinished business with some dreamers of the red planet dream
Ideas, thoughts and signals shaping the world of media.
Magazines are artefacts; a presence in one’s home, library, cafe, hotel or meeting place. Increasingly, magazines have been using this power to expand their reach into the real world, communicating identity and acting as a platform.
Sizing the dynamics of the post-normal world, and identify the key sites and tipping points for action — the gonzo futurist.
Christian Sandvig studies how the details of such algorithmic operations are selectively disclosed to shape the public’s relationship to these services.
Guy Fawkes, Friedrich Nietzsche and now, Anonymous. The shape-shifting cyber vigilantes are ever-present wherever there is a stir in the people, thriving amidst chaos, evading classification and baffling their opponents with their coded logic.
To maintain any semblance of happiness, the skill most of us will require in the future is sensemaking, the ability to connect discrete insights and synthesize large quantities of often incomplete or conflicting information.
In 2011, Lufa Farms built the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse. Through innovation and technology, the Montreal-based initiative has been working on changing the way cities eat.
Patrick Pittman, co-editor on Issue 3 of The Alpine Review, sat down with the pair to chat about digital transformation, making organizations more agile, and creative risk.
