Creative Strategies Archives

Plumbers Made the Terracotta Army Possible – The Power of Repurposing Skills

There is tremendous power in the cross-pollination of skills and their application. Mastering a skill or craft is a great achievement, but the full potential of a skill is often unrealized when it is not applied outside a specific discipline. History is full of repurposed skill sets resulting in exceptional achievements when applied to areas …

Adopt a Creative Strategy from Baseball: “Make the adjustment before the pitcher does.”

Yesterday I was thinking about a line I read in the book Chipper Jones, BallPlayer: “Make the adjustment before the pitcher does.” It’s powerful advice that applies far beyond baseball. Making an adjustment to respond to what is going to come your way before it arrives. It’s a lesson I’ve applied to my creative practice …

The Power of “This Could Be…”

During recent talks in Oslo and Malmö, I’ve been showing how a simple shift in thinking can open awareness and generate new possibilities. My goal in that specific part of the presentation is to get audiences to expand their thinking about how existing urban assets could be used in different ways, but the “conditional thinking” approach is an …

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Scott Burnham delivering the keynote on maximizing available urban resources at MIPIM Global Mayors Think Tank, Cannes, France

“Nations talk. Cities act.” Five Insights from the MIPIM Mayor’s Think Tank in Cannes

For those who wonder what is on the mind of the world’s mayors, last week’s MIPIM Mayor’s Think Tank in Cannes, France was a rare opportunity to discover just that. In the Salon Royale of the Cannes Majestic Hotel, mayors and officials from cities around the world gathered to talk about what their cities were …

Reprogramming the City:
Opportunities for Urban Infrastructure

Now that the media and blogging community has had first dibs on covering my latest project, it’s time to talk about it here. Reprogramming The City: Opportunities for Urban Infrastructure is a global overview of ways in which existing urban infrastructure is being re-imagined, re-purposed and re-invented to do more in the city. It’s a …

The Potential of Platforms

I’m often asked for my opinion or direct assistance to increase engagement in cities and their spaces or services, or even across a company’s existing offering. Frequently, the thing being discussed is quantified as a “product”, a fixed end result of the effort. There’s nothing wrong with the word in itself – shipping product is …

Reuse and Repurposing of Existing City Materials for New Use: Jesolo, Italy

Can you recycle a city? In an age of limited resources, I explored the notion of recycling existing urban materials for new design use in Jesolo, Greater Venice, Italy. The language of limitation has been shaping our dialogue for several years. This is not a bad thing. While there is certain and saddening pain felt …