A classic kit-of-parts solution with modular twist, this conceptual bicycle is designed to be disassembled on the spot for maximum mobility, able to be shipped with ease, carried onto public transit or taken indoors rather than locked up outside.

Lucid Design envisions this full-sized bike as something you learn to break down into its 21 constituent parts and pack to go with ease.

The frame is composed of hollow aluminum components that twist and lock together with a unique key making the completed cycle harder for a would-be thief to take apart. Aside from an aluminum frame, the bicycle features cork handles for easier grips and steel wheels for a sturdier ride.

The design is not yet at a point where it has been prototyped and potential critics have already pointed out some of the difficulties it might face in terms of balancing robustness with portability. Still, as an idea and the beginning of a design investigation, the product is certainly compelling.

From an interview with Dezeen, “Conventional bikes are awkward in every way except when you ride them,” says the company’s creative director Amit Mirchandani. “The Kit Bike was designed to make problems of shipping, traveling with and commuting with a bike, a thing of the past.”

The Washington Metro Transit Authority has quietly rolled out a simple but ingenious wayfinding solution: colored escalator railings to guide passengers to their trains. Graphic designer Jen Scharl spotted the new colored rails Fort Totten. There’s no word yet on other stations — for now this is a test, but it is relatively cost-neutral so it might also be ohe beginning of a new WMATA design strategy. The ones so far deployed appear robust — the colors are embedded, not just painted on.

Of course, using colors, symbols and numbers to guide people through stations is nothing new, but anyone who has rushed between levels to transfer trains knows that these aren’t always easy to spot. Plus, color systems are helpful to people who can’t read the text signage for whateve reasons.

Sometimes, finding a sign takes a few seconds, leaving one looking around at the top (or bottom) of an escalator — now, transit users can simply follow the colors. Colorblind passengers will, of course, still have to rely on conventional signage, but perhaps there is a future iteration of this strategy (yet to be designed or deployed) involving symbols as well as colors.

Systems that have been in place for a long time often get overlooked when it comes to wayfinding innovations — aside from periodic guerrilla interventions, locals know what to do and expect others to figure it out on the fly, so it’s nice to see a proactive new solution playing out in an old context.

Anyplace can be an Airbnb – including vans, sheds, housing that should rightfully be for rent to the city’s residents, and cozy rooms ‘by the metro’ that turn out to actually be in the metro station. In fact, the latter example is on display in the metro station Wibautstraat in Amsterdam’s city center right now, walled off with glass to put guests on full display of commuters in a commentary on how misleading and harmful listings on the travel accommodations website can be.

Created by Dutch artist Boudewijn Rückert, the installation could be read in a variety of ways without context. If you didn’t know the artist’s intentions, you might think this was an advertisement, or an unconventional room made available by Airbnb as a promotional stunt. But lean in and take a close look at the placard accompanying the exhibition.

The text reads, “This unique location is an ideal base for your Amsterdam exploring. Spacious room with artificial lighting. It is really cosy and comfortable. Very close to the city center, ideal for conference goers. Very safe environment. Open and big windows. Public transport is very nearby.”

@AmsterdamNL #airbnb in metrostation Wibautstraat pic.twitter.com/GbjbUKNugi

— Boudewijn Rückert (@Boudo1963) May 1, 2017

As Rücker notes on his website, roughly 15,000 homes are currently offered “as a permanent holiday” in the city, excluding them from housing and contributing to gentrification. Plus, the way these accommodations are typically styled makes them exceedingly generic in the sterile Silicon Valley aesthetic increasingly referred to as ‘Airspace.’

Nu ook airbnb in metrostation wibautstraat pic.twitter.com/uMuloidhWM

— Boudewijn Rückert (@Boudo1963) April 30, 2017

The artist outfitted the room in furniture and decor you could find in any city around the world thanks to Ikea, along with “a butt-ugly vase with plastic flowers,” with nothing but a photo of an Amsterdam ferry on the wall to hint at the room’s geographic location.

While he’s aware that the installation is bound to press the buttons of Airbnb fans and perhaps the company itself, he hopes it will stimulate conversation around how renting out all these rooms is affecting the lives of people who live in the host cities – a controversy that’s definitely not limited to the city of Amsterdam.

The myriad abandoned subway stations of Paris are full of hidden potential – and one current candidate for mayor is working with architects to show the city just how much these semi-secret and long-neglected subterranean spaces can hold.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, together with designers Manal Rachdi and Nicolas Laisné, pictures fresh uses ranging from restaurants, theaters and night clubs to green parks and swimming pools.

Given their positions around the city, it only makes sense to reactivate these ready-made voids: after all, metro stops are planned around hubs of activity and along lines of transportation.

Imagine for a moment the acoustics of a auditorium in such a setting, or the echoes of splashing water, all aside from the immersion in historical structures below the city.

Many of these stations have been deserted and boarded up for decades – some for nearly a century, and others (attached to since-abandoned lines) were never opened to the public in the first place. Over time, some have been used to shoot commercials or scenes from films, and others have had wartime uses as shelters or for stockpiles.

There are eight stops in total that have been deemed suitable for revival, including Champ de Mars, Arsenal, Porte Molitor, Haxo, Croix Rouge, Porte des Lilas, Saint Martin et Martin Nadaudso. More on the mayoral candidate’s proposal can be found here, via Messy Nessy.