Give me informality or give me death

Nation’s Building News:  Vanilla Not a Favorite Flavor of Generation X Home Buyers

What else does the report say, in addition to yesterday’s blog?

A lot of it comes down to affordability and being informality, both of which are related as well.

Informality: Xers are attracted to places where spontaneous, casual conversation occurs.  These are the well-designed parks, squares, plazas and third places.  The dining table as the communal table is

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“Vanilla Not a Flavor of Gen Xers”

Nation’s Building News:  Vanilla Not a Favorite Flavor of Generation X Home Buyers

Marketing service consultants and architects summarize their research on what Gen X is looking for in their communities.

Family: “Family” includes close friends, a commitment to fewer divorces and more participation in raising their kids.  Neighborhood-oriented playgrounds, schools and daycare are prioritized.

Neighbors: Friends, not foes.  Sense of community, but

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How many national chains make a successful town center?  AFAP

As Few As Possible. The following evidence is from Kennedy Smith, former director of the National Main Street Center and CoolTown Studios associate partner:

“I’ve been surveying the main street management organizations in hot (or cool) historic commercial districts over the past few days to find out what percentage of retail businesses are national retailers. Here’s what I’ve found:”

Manayunk (Philadelphia): 5%
South Street

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Silicorn Valley - What makes Fairfield, Iowa so cool for entrepreneurs?

They know entrepreneurs.  Period.  Here’s proof:

A true economic gardening environment
- 20% State Tax Credits for Iowa Investments
- $60 million available locally; $1.3 billion statewide
- State of Iowa and City of Fairfield - Pro-Economic Development
- Over $200 Million Invested in Fairfield Companies since 1990
- Headquarters City for 50 Companies

Culture and Amenities - CoolTown Entertainment
- Lively

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The top entrepreneurial small city in the U.S. in 2003 is...

Fairfield, Iowa.

Fairfield is the 2003 winner of the Grassroots Entrepreneurship Award by the National Center for Small Communities.  Why?  Fairfield businesses have created 2000 jobs in the past 15 years - pretty impressive when your population is just over 9000.

In 1989, the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce sponsored the Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association (FEA) to focus on economic gardening.  In a nutshell, the FEA not only

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What makes a cool pharmacy?

Yep, cool neon sign, great customer service, familiar faces and local charm.  But what about low prices?  Don’t the national chains, RiteAid/CVS/Walgreens have a lock on this?  Kennedy Smith, former long-time executive director of and current consultant to the National Main Street Center, demystifies the myth:

“RiteAid/CVS/Walgreens are a different story. Independent pharmacies can actually operate more efficiently than these guys - their national association

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Beautiful apartments? Look overseas

This is at least true if you google ‘beautiful apartments’ - four of the top five results at the time of this publishing are in other countries, namely Europe.

Now, since the point made yesterday is that the most effective way to provide affordable housing is via multi-family, it would seem rather inspiring to find the most beautiful multi-family housing in the world.

What makes them beautiful?  It’s important to understand this from the tenant’s

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Affordable housing - really

First of all, there are people with low incomes, and people with decent incomes who can’t afford homes.  The former deals with government policy/subsidy, the
latter deals with what the private sector produces.

The reality: If you want to live in a great neighborhood, but can’t afford a 1500 sf home, what to do?  Move somewhere else.  That’s the smallest home you’re going to find in places like Silicon Valley.  If not, move into an ugly garden apartment.

The

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Last night at a presentation by renowned town planner Andres Duany for a new urban neighborhood in Rockville MD, a creative class group of visionary, future home buyers took it upon themselves to independently form a beta community.

Perhaps this community is the first of its kind, especially since it will take two years before they could move into the proposed project, if it is even approved by the city council.  Brandon, Jenny, Hyojung, Kart, Stu, Kamile, Charles, Brian, Hilary, Manny &

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We are evolving into a customer-driven economy, where customers are so well-informed that they’re actually often the best suited to design and develop their own products and services.

Linux, the computer operating system that has all but ended Microsoft’s dominance in the server market, when founder Linus Torvalds sought an alternative to closed, proprietary operating systems and began writing a new one for free, inspiring others to join him via collective volunteering, or crowdsourcing,

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Is your town a lovemark?

If you think it’s hard enough for a place to have brand status, becoming a lovemark is the stuff legends are made of.

From the web site based on the popular book, Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands:

“Lovemarks transcend brands. They deliver beyond your expectations of great performance. Like great brands, they sit on top of high levels of respect - but there the similarities end.

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Is your town a good brand?

You’ve heard of the iPod and Oprah and Las Vegas.  But what about your town?  How does it rate as a brand?  Fast Company magazine, the unofficial monthly of the creative class, takes a look at the six trends influencing current brands as we evolve into the experience economy.  Does your town rate?

1. Brands will be authentic: Does your town stand for something meaningful without selling out?  Wilmington, NC has a prolific and highly respected film industry.

2.

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CNN: Unfashionable cities trying to create cool

CNN July 14, 2004 home page link: Cities, states try to lure young professionals

The article focuses on programs in four cities actively seeking a younger, more creative, entrepreneurial population:

Michigan leads with its to attract the creative class.

Philadelphia has a civic leadership and jobs program to retain its graduating students.

Memphis is investing in its citywide fiber optic network and music scene

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The “age of I”

What is the “age of I”?  Individualism with a sense of community.

The movement from mass production to mass customization is becoming standard practice.  How does this relate to us as individuals and our psyche?  As quoted by one Fortune 500 executive* in BusinessWeek:

“I think this “age of I” is our biggest opportunity and our biggest challenge. This idea that people want to be individuals and want to belong at the same time is a huge concept. It used to be if you

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BusinessWeek: The Vanishing Mass Market (New poll up!)

BusinessWeek: The Vanishing Mass Market

The new American aspiration is to stand out from the crowd, not keep up with the crowd.

The July 12, 2004 cover story of BusinessWeek features the shift from a mass media, mass production economy to an individual-targeted, mass customization one.  People don’t want to be normal and part of a consumer crowd, they want to be unique yet part of a real community.  This graphic from the magazine

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A cool site for getting to work

A fundamental principle of CoolTowns is to offer its residents/workers an environment based on choice and convenience.  Arlington County in Virginia is a model for how government can play a role in that regarding commuting.  Their program director, Chris Hamilton put it best, “The urban village pedestrian system won’t work until we get people out of the cars.”

If you’re fed up with the traffic congestion or simply don’t have or want a car, Arlington’s

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Virginia takes lead in car sharing

What would a car sharing program in a CoolTown be like?  For a hint of the future, check out Arlington County, Virginia’s car sharing pilot program.

- There weren’t enough shared cars available, so the County provided 20 spaces that allowed car sharing companies to add that many cars.

- Car sharing spaces are often hard to find, so the county made them extremely visible, with noticable signage (see image*) in premium spots (near subway stops, town

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More pedestrians, less cars

A spontaneous crowd of pedestrians often generates excitement.  A spontaneous crowd of automobiles often generates road rage.

CoolTowns are about creating destinations for pedestrians, planned and unplanned.  However, how is that possible in such an auto-dominated landscape?  The primary solution is best stated by the CEO of Ford Motor Company, in yesterday’s blog - live in the city.

The next best thing is to share.  Car sharing, which Ford also sees as the

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“If you live in a city, you don’t need to own a car.”

“If you live in a city, you don’t need to own a car.” William Clay Ford Jr., CEO, Ford Motor Company Ltd. October 2000

The following excerpt from the UK Observer provides the context for Bill Ford’s statement that puts a so-called auto-dependent nation in perspective:

[The company is also repositioning itself as a purveyor of mobility. “The day will come when the notion of car ownership becomes antiquated. If you live in a city, you

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Happy 4th of July

A day to focus on your freedom, your quality of life.  Think of the British of the 1770s as the corporate rat race of the …

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June 2, 2004: Governor Jennifer Granholm announces Cool City pilot projects

Based on input from her local Cool City advisory groups, Governor Granholm’s initiative has identified 20 pilot projects to receive $100,000 grants to create places that attract the creative class, including access to over $100 million in a “Resource Toolbox” of 75 state community improvement grants, loan programs, and assistance programs.  The state Cool Cities web site was also launched.

Here are three of my

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September 19, 2003: Governor Jennifer Granholm launches Cool City initiative

Inspired by Richard Florida’s Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, Governor Granholm has asked 250 Michigan mayors to form advisory groups and design plans to attract this creative class.

The ideas from these advisory groups will be presented to the statewide advisory panel consisting of representatives from 30 of those cities. The panel will then use

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