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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? Read the challenge brief

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Vibrancy Fuel Pack: A Starter Boost

To empower small scale, small party innovation and efforts provide a "starter pack": Use one or all kits (1) education and inspiration through gaming, (2) tools for creative entrepreneurship, (3) local currency kit for merchants and towns.
By Starting with Education and Empathy through fun and games.
By putting practical tools and methods in the hands of individuals to re-invision income generating activities (entrepreneurship)

What resources (money, time, people, technology, etc) will your concept need to be successful?

+ A prototype kit (this can be online solely with print out options and audio/video files).
+ Prototyping it in various areas to see what parts are useful and desired.
+ Partnering with sponsors: local organizations/faith-based groups, merchants (with placement ads), big companies (corp responsibility), banks (i know), and cities.
Individual drive.
+ Some design work for initial templates
+ Some research for some of the how to guides

What steps could you take to implement this idea today?

Pick one of the kits (like game the city kit or local currency kit), which requires design work to start off the process. Then to make those templates printable. Then to test it out with a small group (perhaps approach a church, school, or chamber of commerce) for prototyping.

How can your idea be scaled so that it's implemented in cities around the world?

The kit, once produced, can be mass produced. Can be downloaded anywhere. Can some of them can simply be made by hand through online instructions or posters that are placed. Translation of material and cultural relevancy can be ensured by keeping the kits as "template" and "open to content" as possible.

1

How well does this concept restore vibrancy to cities and regions facing economic decline?

This concept will definitely restore vibrancy to struggling cities
This concept has potential to restore vibrancy to struggling cities
This concept will not restore vibrancy to struggling cities
2

How scalable is this concept across struggling cities and regions worldwide?

This concept could be scaled for impact across multiple locations
This concept will take a fair bit of work to build and scale
This concept is not particularly scalable
3

Does this concept require a lot of resources (time, money, people, etc) to achieve impact?

Not really – few resources would be needed to get results
Somewhat – significant resources would be needed to get results
Yes – considerable resources would be needed to get results
4

How easy would it be for our community to design an early prototype of this concept?

Easy – we could start prototyping this today
A bit tricky – but we could figure it out
Not at all easy – we'd need help from outside experts on this
5

Overall, how do you feel about this concept?

It rocked my world
I liked it but preferred others
It didn't get me overly excited
1

How well does this concept restore vibrancy to cities and regions facing economic decline?

2

How scalable is this concept across struggling cities and regions worldwide?

3

Does this concept require a lot of resources (time, money, people, etc) to achieve impact?

4

How easy would it be for our community to design an early prototype of this concept?

5

Overall, how do you feel about this concept?

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Comments

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Lim Roy

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January 14, 2012, 10:31AM
This concept us the way to go. the "Junior" graphic style makes it less itimidating to the young ones, which is where the entreprunual seed can be planted. Its is timely too as the global economics tries to recover from frequent reccessions. These regions of economic decline needs better ways to restart it and early entreprenual education is definitely one of the ways.
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Meena Kadri

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December 11, 2011, 11:48PM
Great fusion of multiple idea threads, Sina. I wonder if folks might be encouraged to send in stories and videos of their successes and learnings from using the kits? That could motivate others to get involved?
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T. Annie Nguyen's reply to Lim Roy's comment

T. Annie Nguyen

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January 09, 2012, 07:30AM
Hi Sina! Love the sketches. It would also be great if people could upload their finished ideas and get feedback from others as well as see the amount of interest people have from the kits. This would allow people to iterate and ask for resources they make need or lack.
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OpenIDEO

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January 05, 2012, 09:36PM
Cheers on this idea making it into our Top 20 Sina! We loved the unique sketches that accompanied your concept and we encourage you to think about building out the details and the specifics of this concept during Refinement. How might each starter kit reach its intended audience and get used for revitalisation efforts?
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Meena Kadri's reply to Lim Roy's comment

Meena Kadri

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January 05, 2012, 10:42PM
Way to go Sina! You might want to also think about how to incentivise (or you might prefer to incentivize ;^)) & motivate local businesses + orgs to get involved. Given that they could each help amplify the initiative, would be great to think about what will get them onboard.
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Sarah Fathallah

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January 02, 2012, 06:40PM
Great thoughts Sina! As much as I understand the need for the 2 first kits (Game the city + Entrepreneurs' kit), I wonder what's the logic behind the local currency one? (I might not have understood it right)
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rosemary dudley

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December 14, 2011, 12:34AM
I really like this idea of part game for city dwellers and part tool kit for businesses and municipalities. I think the game can help people think about how their actions shape their city in a fun way. It's way more likely to resonate with them in a game environment and then they *want* to share it later, as opposed to being told the same information in another format that goes right in and out without sinking in. The impact of the toolkit will depend on how creative and organized the municipalities are, and could aid in getting resources to small businesses more efficiently/effectively.
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