Floating public swimming pool on the Hudson River, New York.

Most interestingly, the funds for this project were raised via a crowdfunding campaign on KickStarter, which took just six days to raise the $41,000 needed for the construction.

It feels like 2012 could be a blue ribbon year for crowdfunding and also for socially-organised urban developments. Let’s hope we see more of these projects as the year unfolds.