collaborative consumption | The Idea Tree Consulting

Guide to starting a tool library in an apartment or condo building
The Idea Tree Consulting
December 10, 2014

Tool libraries are an increasingly popular form of collaborative consumption, a form of consumption where access and sharing is key, rather than individual ownership. Tools are a great candidate for this kind of sharing because you only need them once in a while and they have a long lifespan. Why should every individual in a neighbourhood or building have their own costly set of tools that they only use on rare occasions and take up limited space? Why not just have a communal set that people can sign out and use when they need them? It’s obvious why this trend is catching on; it just makes sense. Continue reading →

“Is it a quiet neighbourhood?”
Stephanie Ferguson, Thinking Partner, The Idea Tree Consulting
November 18, 2014

This was the question posed to me recently by someone asking about my new home in Victoria. Not really thinking, I said politely that it I supposed it was, except for the children who play in the complex adjacent to ours, but that was alright as it was good they were playing outside.

Later that day I wondered, why is it a good thing to live in a quiet neighbourhood? Presumably the phrase as people mean it well refers to low crime and few cars going up and down the street. But if you were to look out onto a the street of a “quiet neighbourhood” presumably there would be nobody walking up or down the street, few if any children playing, or people having conversations with their neighbors, checking in on the community regis garden, or reading a community noticeboard.

At our last place of residence, we were able to create a great deal of community between the 3 buildings that made up our apartment complex, known as St. Regis. Continue reading →