Doug Saunders described Ikea’s latest business initiative: a push into urban community planning.

• The business best known for furniture is building a centrally planned neighbourhood in East London called Strand East.
• Strand East will have a sophisticated public transport system and most of the main streets will be free of cars to encourage people to walk. Garages hidden underneath the neighbourhood’s buildings will hold most of the automobiles.
• The neighbourhood will contain 1,200 homes and apartments, and 40% of them will be family sized. This will give it a higher proportion of children than most urban centers.
• There will be no Ikea store in the neighbourhood.
• Strand East will be fully owned by Ikea and residents will only be able to rent their apartments. Ikea is doing this because they see this as a long-term investment and a way to build upon their cash reserves. However they will maintain a tight grip on “undesirable activity.”
• Ikea is hoping to build a community and will deliver an events calendar to the residents to let them know of things such as farmer’s markets.

To read more about how being in the city would feel like being in an Ikea store, how this could help Britain’s dire housing shortages, the benefits and drawbacks of living in a neighbourhood where everybody is a renter, and how this deals with a problem common in East London, click here.

Source: Doug Sanders

Via: Chris Blattman