Can open source play a role in urban planning? Launched on Kickstarter, the proposal to erect a monument to RoboCop has received support from thousands of people worldwide.
The Internet's very local demand for RoboCop
Strange things can happen when the nerdy niches of the Internet mobilise. In less than a week, the wacky-yet-kindaclever idea of building a statue in Detroit of the title character from the Detroit-based 1987 film RoboCop surpassed its $50,000 goal through donations on the fundraising website Kickstarter.
It all started this February, when a flippant remark on Twitter about the city needing a statue of the android police character spurred a response from the city's mayor Dave Bing, who stated that the city had no such plans. But almost instantly, those plans organically emerged. A Facebook page gathered more than 9,000 fans within a day, and that overwhelming interest inspired a few locals to start the fundraising campaign. After its 45-day run, the "Detroit Needs a Statue of Robocop!" campaign raised $67,436 from more than 2,700 people, including one $25,000 donation from an especially interested fan. Thus a crowd of Internet philanthrodorks from all over the world—most of them from nowhere near Detroit—have effectively bankrolled this idea into reality.
The Internet's very local demand for RoboCop
Strange things can happen when the nerdy niches of the Internet mobilise. In less than a week, the wacky-yet-kindaclever idea of building a statue in Detroit of the title character from the Detroit-based 1987 film RoboCop surpassed its $50,000 goal through donations on the fundraising website Kickstarter.
It all started this February, when a flippant remark on Twitter about the city needing a statue of the android police character spurred a response from the city's mayor Dave Bing, who stated that the city had no such plans. But almost instantly, those plans organically emerged. A Facebook page gathered more than 9,000 fans within a day, and that overwhelming interest inspired a few locals to start the fundraising campaign. After its 45-day run, the "Detroit Needs a Statue of Robocop!" campaign raised $67,436 from more than 2,700 people, including one $25,000 donation from an especially interested fan. Thus a crowd of Internet philanthrodorks from all over the world—most of them from nowhere near Detroit—have effectively bankrolled this idea into reality.