Future Factory

#futureofurbanliving think-tank investigating #access & #ownership of information. Promoting #opensource #data as a #tool, led by Prof @W_W_F

[Future Factory @FutureFactoryNY]

Our contribution is part of 'DATA MATTER DESIGN: Strategies in Computational Design', edited by Frank Melendez, Nancy Diniz, and Marcella del Signore. #biodatamatter

Grab a copy at @routledgebooks today.
Amazing lineup of projects and authors.

[Bloomberg CityLab @CityLab]

In New Jersey, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has worked to redesign city intersections, install bike lanes and slow traffic. The result? Six-plus years of no pedestrian fatalities https://t.co/6Bd39IwKK2

[Bloomberg CityLab @CityLab]

More Japanese cities are using technologically enabled trash cans as the number of tourists surges, in a country where such receptacles are almost impossible to find on streets https://t.co/O6ykASbfvJ

[WENDY W FOK | 霍渭瑜 @W_W_F]

Thank you @MacDowell1907 for the continued support of sharing my work #digitalstructures with the rest of the community. My research and publication would not have been possible without your support @oroeditions #MadeatMacdowell and many others. #AR #Architecture #technology

[WENDY W FOK | 霍渭瑜 @W_W_F]

Design for Disaster is here to stay with the current climate crisis upon us. Architects, Designers, and Urban policy makers need to take action and care to our built environment. https://t.co/yj1ZLDyi4c via @dezeen

[Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society @BKCHarvard]

A first-of-a-kind toolkit launched today for educators looking to engage critically and creatively with AI: The AI Pedagogy Project includes assignments, intro to LLMs -- all codesigned with students https://t.co/LCf9e4GQpj Thanks to the work of @jaytiesse @sarahwnewman @metalabharvard @mariadikcis

[Places Journal @PlacesJournal]

Opposed to top-down solutions, John F. C. Turner believed architects & planners of housing should empower the people who will live in it. His idea of housing as a process rather than product remains startlingly radical today.

"Housing Agency" from @cshep: https://t.co/rsVLLHjpjk

[Beirut Urban Lab @BeirutUrbanLab]

Timeline and Map of Escalation along Lebanon’s souther Border (Oct. 7 - Nov. 9)

[Future Factory @FutureFactoryNY]

Revenue at companies with flexible work-from-home policies grew four times faster than those with in-person requirements, according to a new study by Scoop Technologies and Boston Consulting Group.
https://t.co/wSf7xekr4f

[Architectural Humanities Research Association @ArchHumanities]

#Publication Check out our featured publication. (https://t.co/NGQXIdovqs) “Parliament Buildings: The architecture of politics in Europe,” edited by @SophiaPsarra, @ukstaiger, and Claudia Sternberg published now Open Access at @UCLpress. #OpenAccess See: https://t.co/OyoeaUaKks

[Harvard Business Review @HarvardBiz]

Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout. https://t.co/Fdf9tZuYt4

[McKinsey Global Institute @McKinsey_MGI]

Hybrid work is here to stay, but office attendance varies by industry. In large firms in the knowledge economy—like professional services, information, and finance industries—employees tend to go to the office fewer days per week.

Explore ➡ https://t.co/oK4RXft24M

[Bloomberg CityLab @CityLab]

The new exhibit “Urban Archaeology” shows off architectural relics salvaged from buildings destroyed during the urban renewal era in St. Louis https://t.co/MMq6XmeTta

[DesignApplause @DesignApplause]

.@SOM_design's Bio-Block Spiral, constructed from @prometheusmats #zerocarbon Bio-Blocks, is now open to the public! 🌀

On view daily 8AM-8PM through the fall at The Mews, in Chicago’s Fulton Market District, as part of the @chicagobiennial (#CAB5): https://t.co/uewetV6KCh

[Transportation Alternatives @TransAlt]

Can you imagine if we still had the Washington Square Park(ing Lot)?

65 years ago today, the city banned cars from the park in a pilot that later became permanent.

Parks are for people, not cars.

[@jason @Jason]

Pre-seed rounds are back to $500k at 5-10m, seed rounds 1-2m (10-15m)

Which is ~2009-2014 era

Founders are getting it done with less, and teams of 2-3 builder founders are running the show now.

“Idea” founders outsourcing tech not getting funded any more.

[Sterling Crispin 🕊️ @sterlingcrispin]

This is an incredibly bold move, they're taking ten thousand GPUs into international waters to avoid the regulatory framework Biden and the EU have adopted.

The fallout of a corporation trying to establish itself as a nation state is going to be wild.

[Bloomberg CityLab @CityLab]

To make it easier to convert empty offices into apartments, the Biden administration has a new plan unlocking significant resources for these projects https://t.co/940mK8dYN4

[ABC News @ABC]

Installation underway of 15 acres of 3D-printed artificial reefs in coastal North Carolina https://t.co/q0RpICVIqH

[Marcel van Oost @oost_marcel]

Starbucks' hugely popular rewards program held $1.8bn in customer cash as of April 2. If Starbucks was a bank, that would make it bigger than 90 percent of institutions covered by the US FDIC by deposit size.

Contrary to banks, which must maintain cash reserves to prepare for potential mass withdrawals, the coffeehouse chain only needs to stock up on coffee and snacks.

Could Starbucks be a hidden FinTech?

The Starbucks app boasts an impressive 31 million active users.

Customers can add funds to their accounts using Starbucks gift cards, or by connecting Apple Pay or payment cards to the app.

Each purchase made through the app earns users loyalty points (known as Stars), redeemable for benefits like free refills, beverages, or sandwiches.

A clever aspect of this strategy is that customers paying with funds deposited on the Starbucks app receive additional loyalty points.

Within the customer loyalty space, Starbucks has consistently been credited with having one of the best rewards programs with a loyal customer following.

Because of the company’s reputation, customers are not afraid to keep money in their Starbucks account, knowing that they can use it anytime.

The numbers speak for themselves:

The "stored value card liability and current portion of deferred revenue" – unspent money that coffee lovers have loaded onto the app – amounted to $1.8 billion in the previous quarter.

This unused cash has been compared to interest-free capital for Starbucks.

Furthermore, some gift card funds are never redeemed by customers, allowing Starbucks to retain the entire amount.

In its latest fiscal year, the company reported approximately $196 million in such "breakage revenue." Although it accounts for less than 1% of Starbucks' annual net revenue, it is essentially free money.

There is another benefit of encouraging users to pay for their purchases using the funds stored in their Starbucks accounts: fewer payment processing fees.

I highly recommend reading my complete source article for more info, stats and figures: https://t.co/LsZJ0XyhFE

Starbucks' rewards program is an innovative example of a non-banking entity using loyalty and trust to amass significant customer deposits. Is Starbucks a hidden FinTech giant? Their impressive numbers might suggest so.

❓What do you think?

Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ]
Anything to add about this subject? [ 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ]
Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ ❤️ ]

#fintech #embeddedfinance #embeddedbanking #embeddedfintech #bankingtech #financialtechnology #financialservices #starbucks #fintechindustry #bankingapp #banking #bankingindustry #digitalbanking #payments #paytech #digitalpayments

[WENDY W FOK | 霍渭瑜 @W_W_F]

@oroeditions Cannot get enough of Kate Crawford @katecrawford and team's "Anatomy of an AI System". Have been using her book as a teaching tool for my @USCArchitecture thesis and design courses, since it was first published. Hugely cited in my own #digitalSTRUCTURES book.