Perfect article while the Life and Death of Cities is in mind. Apple could be a better citizen, and contribute a lot more than money to the city around it. If

Perfect article while the Life and Death of Cities is in mind. Apple could be a better citizen, and contribute a lot more than money to the city around it. If the company fully subscribes to shareholder theory, they will contribute only what the law requires. But Apple seems to stand for higher things such as design excellence and human dignity. The company can contribute to making Cupertino a functional and wonderful "city". It is neither of those things now with its car-centric configuration and lack of enough housing construction. The actions taken by Cook regarding issues such as protecting privacy indicate that he stands for values beyond serving the shareholders. Those values could be developed for the community immediately outside the campus. Apple's ability to design such great things and manufacture them in vast numbers indicates that it has the ability to address very difficult problems. Those skills could be applied to the problems 25 feet away from their windows. The people at Apple might think of Cupertino as a source of design challenges, and start by understanding the shape of the city and the people who interact with it. Take a look at the aggregate data coming in from the watch, or hang out by one of the main stroads. Try to take a walk to various useful places some time, or get three things done in a morning without a car. All of us have the capacity to be more than a minimal tax payer. Being more starts with noticing.