Over the next two weeks, Next City will unroll short profiles of 77 people, places and ideas that have changed cities this year. Together, they make up our 2012 Disruption Index. Forefront subscribers can download the Index in full as a PDF, complete with beautiful designs and graphics by Danni Sinisi. Readers who make a $75 donation to Next City will have a full-color printed copy of the Index mailed to them.
The design forces that shape our world are 99 percent invisible, according to Roman Mars. So it sorta makes sense that Mars has taken the subject of design to the 100 percent invisible medium of radio. He’s the producer and host of 99% Invisible, a “tiny radio show about design” that’s become one of the freshest and most engaging projects to explore the impact of design, architecture and the built environment. From the shapes and colors of camouflage to airport design to pneumatic tubes, 99% Invisible explores the stories behind some of the most ubiquitous but under-considered elements of the physical world. Stylistically, 99% Invisible is a close analogue to the science-focused Radiolab, and excels at explanatory storytelling that’s both fun and intriguing.
This past summer, Mars continued to challenge convention by running the most successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign for a journalism project, rallying more than 5,600 of the show’s fans to kick in $170,000 for the third season of the show. It’s a strong counterpoint to the traditional fund drives and grant writing that fuels most public radio. Perhaps more importantly, the widespread support for 99% Invisible shows that architecture and design has a growing audience that doesn’t need to see it to be interested.
Nate Berg is a writer and journalist covering cities, architecture and urban planning. Nate’s work has been published in a wide variety of publications, including the New York Times, NPR, Wired, Metropolis, Fast Company, Dwell, Architect, the Christian Science Monitor, LA Weekly and many others. He is a former staff writer at The Atlantic Cities and was previously an assistant editor at Planetizen.
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