Conceptual design by LandProp Services
You can get furnishing for your home from IKEA. Heck, you can get an entire house from IKEA, but the giant Swedish company ain't done yet: it wants to build an entire neighborhood!
The people who run the Swedish home-furnishings behemoth are launching a bold push into the business of designing, building and operating entire urban neighbourhoods. Where once they placed a couch in a living room, the Swedes now want to place you and 6,000 neighbours into a neglected corner of your city, design an entire urban world around you, and Ikea-ize your lives. Their bold, high-concept notion of an urban ’hood could be an important solution to the housing-supply shortages that plague many large cities – but it could take some getting used to.
Doug Saunders wrote the article in The Globe and Mail: Link - via Design Taxi
So Neatoramanauts, would you live in IKEA-land?
Previously on Neatorama: 10 Things You Didn't Know About IKEA
11. They export a lot of jobs to...the United States! Why? Because US workers start at $8/hour vs. $19/hour in Sweden and US workers get 12 paid days off (including holidays) vs. 5 weeks in Sweden.
While IKEA stuff isn't what anyone would consider "fine furniture", it's very utilitarian and elegant in its minimalist Euro simplicity. Okay, maybe it's a bit bland, but that's fine. There are more important things in life than to think about home furnishings, and there's no heartbreak when IKEA furniture gets damaged with use, as might come if a beautiful and irreplaceable antique gets worn or receives accidental damage.
Add to that, building your inexpensive flatpack Swedish furniture side-by-side with your neighbors builds your community. Or something to that effect.