The next great public places

Many of us are aware of the immeasurable value that Central Park, NYC and Golden Gate Park, SF bring to their respective cities. In the words of Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, “There need to be places where the rich and poor, the cultivated and the self-made shall be attracted together and encouraged to assimilate.”

Economically speaking, extraordinarily designed public places more than replace the opportunity costs of the land they take

read more…

Urban green building - from Mayor Bloomberg to Brad Pitt

It seems the hybrid car phenomenon is spreading to green building - though while auto manufacturers are finding the market for hybrids is finite, not so for buildings, as it’s quickly becoming a standard demand by the next generation of home buyers.

Here’s just a few of the recent stories this month alone:

- Brad Pitt is advocating for 500,000 new green building homes in New Orleans that would save $38 to $56 million/year, $1200

read more…

The rising demand and development of ‘TOD’s

Since transit-oriented development (TOD) sites are the most logical for initial investment in city downtowns, the Urban Land Institute (ULI, the leading organization for real estate developers) brings us an update on TOD demand, trends and incentives in TODs: Location, Location, Collaboration.

Demand - By 2030, the nine-county SF Bay Area will experience added potential demand for 248,000 housing units near transit (source - ABAG, while the same

read more…

The definitive guide to Smart Growth

If you’re looking for one illustrative guide to define smart growth, The Smart Growth Network (SGN) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) have recently done the work for you with This Is Smart Growth.

The 32-page image-filled color document presents dozens of model communities to describe the Smart Growth Principles:
- Mix land uses
- Take advantage of compact building design
- Create a range of housing opportunities and

read more…

Reader question: How to ensure developers are fair to creatives?

“In response to the blank canvas Savings #2 - As an up and coming home buyer in Atlanta as well as being a young architect, I love the idea of a blank canvas or “shell” although I feel as though developers would not lower the home price and instead make more profits by leaving out the “finishes” of the home and call it a feature. I think that this is a great idea but it needs to be done in such a way as to protect the young

read more…

There’s a key neighborhood street block in your downtown that could be the catalyst and benchmark for inspired urban design and investment to attract the next generation of downtown residents and tenants.  Is there a way then, that these emerging populations in your could city get together to design and develop their own neighborhood, buildings, workplaces, third places and homes at attainable prices?  They can via a beta community (evolved from crowdsourcing), a progressive community of

read more…

Saving on housing costs (part 2) - no more 6% fees?

Continuing yesterday’s entry... The Last Stand of the 6-Percenters - that’s the NY Times story that’s got home buyers excited and realtors needing to rethink their business model.  The current system awards 3% to the seller’s agent, and 3% to the buyer’s agent.  Louisville is pioneering a better model with its beta community.

“Traditional agents spend very little time brokering a deal. Most of their time is consumed looking for new

read more…

‘DIY’ - Do it yourself. This is not DIY in terms of becoming a home builder, but using skills that have come to bear naturally by the internet generation.  Ordering exactly what you want also saves the company significantly (and I mean significantly) because it eliminate inventory, risk and interest - just ask Dell Computer, or any business school teacher.  Then there’s that one little thing called customer satisfaction, as this one reader puts it, “Why is it that I can customize a $10,000

read more…

A little help establishing a sense of community where there is little

It’s not uncommon for many of the residents of a neighborhood not to know one another, much less do anything together.  However, what if they’d like to change that?  Not through homeowner associations, which focus more on what you can’t do than what you can.  Think nonprofit organization - this New Urban News article looks at the Seaside Institute’s New Institutes Program which helps communities establish a nonprofit to do

read more…

You know how real estate is… ‘wait until they build what you want’, which could be years from now if ever.  Well, last week some of the most creative, entrepreneurial and intelligent in Louisville, KY took it into their own hands not to wait, meeting at the University of Louisville and other venues to establish what is the only official, active beta community to establish a vision for partnering developers and investors to implement.

Focusing on the downtown, they wanted a place that

read more…

One need look no further than the 2nd annual Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest 2006, sponsored by Apartment Therapy.

Qualifying entrants must be under 650 s.f. (quality trumps quantity in the city) and among the 48 contiguous states (what the judges have against Hawaii, Alaska and Washington DC I don’t know), and are usually submitted in the early spring. This year’s tied-for-first winners are:

- David & Im’s OneSpace - 426 s.f. loft in San Diego (pictured above) - “truly innovative,

read more…

So why is the University of South Carolina’s Innovista (profiled yesterday) worthy of proclaiming itself as “the model for the new research campus of the next 100 years”?…

...When’s the last time you’ve seen a research “park” with marketing like this - “Imagine your home is a meandering stroll from your office. Along the way you pass delightful distractions, quaint bistros, art galleries, and unique shops. Just a few more steps and you’re on a tree lined riverfront parkway, or watching a

read more…

We’re all familiar with university research parks - they look just like suburban office parks, and yes, prospective workers avoid choosing such places (no one lives there) because they’re not about to sacrifice two hours of their daily life to commuting, much less the additional time it takes to get to any form of authentic entertainment.

Well, that was in the days of the industrial economy, and in the knowledge economy we’ll start to see places like the University of South Carolina’s

read more…

As the Netherlands shifts from industry to knowledge-based economy, they certainly know their placemaking, transforming blocks of a neglected industrial district into a $150 million mixed-use development, Arnhem City Center, known locally as ‘Musiskwartier’.

Opening last month, the predominantly a retail/entertainment center hosts a residential community above its shops of condos with terraces, gardens and balconies.  The largely pedestrian-only development features a timeless architectural

read more…

The bad news is, once a place is on an irreversible track towards being uncool, you can bet the creatives will flee.  The good news is, it works vice versa.

We all know the familiar pattern of risk-taking artists moving into an undesirable neighborhood, attracting the cool risk-taking indie venues, coffeehouses, restaurants and workplaces and infusing it with desire, which then attracts the risk-averse executive-types who then attract the risk-averse chains (ie Starbucks, McD’s, Gap, etc.)

read more…

Is there a standard definition of what a local, independent business is?  Or in other words, when does an independent business become a chain?  There’s probably no better person to ask than Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and author of the just-released Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses.

An excerpt from the book:
“There is no commonly agreed upon definition, but in this book, a

read more…

Continuing our look at yesterday’s entry on Maine’s Midcoast Magnet group of proactive creatives and entrepreneurs, here’s a look at where they perceive things are, where they’d like it to be, and how they plan to get there.

First, 400 of them were surveyed, and below are percentages of how many of them felt the particular asset was important to whether they stayed or left, followed by what’s actually there.  You can see why people flee.

Cost of living:  90%
- Perceived as above

read more…

The creative class population of Maine’s northern MidCoast region longed for more of the kinds of jobs, housing and entertainment/nightlife they felt was necessary to retain them and attract others to Maine, so they took it upon themselves to make that message clear and established Midcoast Magnet, “a non-profit organization of people dedicated to vibrant culture, entrepreneurship, and bringing people together socially and professionally”. The governor was so impressed that he had the state

read more…

If you’re a member of any one of 29 entrepreneur/business networking organizations, this recently opened workplace - The Hubworking Centre (THC) in downtown London is indeed free.  The membership requirement is simply to ensure that it’s frequented by people who are running their own businesses, mainly because people enjoy being there to network with other entrepreneurs.

First question I’m sure is, how does the place make money?  They do so by charging for the following additional

read more…

‘World’s Best Cities’ to visit (Part 2)

We continue yesterday’s entry on learning about cool places, venues and daily cultural events from the World’s Best Cities to Visit.  Please add your comments below, especially on the happening hot spots in each city.

Mexico and Central and South America:
1. Buenos Aires, Argentina - The Paris of the Pampas (plains) reinvents itself with youthful vigor
2. Oaxaca, Mexico - Where ‘bold’ and ‘authentic’ flow through the food, drink, music and

read more…