Finding city hot spots instantaneously

You know the questions visitors ask, "Where are the city's hot spots?" Then there are the resident questions, "Where are the hot spots tonight?" Ideally, one ideal 'superpower' would be to visit every single venue in a city simultaneously to see what's worth checking out. Citysense was invented for us mere mortals.

Built by Sense Networks for Blackberries and soon iPhones, the free application is based on the company's Macrosense technology which analyzes existing data (e.g. demographics, weather, economic information, sales...) in real time.

The result? A visual 'heat map' showing you not only where people are currently spending time (and money) at that moment, but also where people that share your demographics (perhaps even psychographics) are doing so. It'll be interesting to see if the system indicates a free downtown concert...

Find out more here.

'Top 10 Cities for Design in the U.S.'

Yes, it's yet another city ranking. But considering that aesthetics matters most to U.S. citizens, it might be worth a look at BusinessWeek's Top 10 Cities for Design in America (with a population over 500,000) conducted by RMJM Architects.

10 design-related categories include number of historic buildings, the public transit system, number of green buildings, size of the creative population/economy, architectural and design awards won, and interviews with over 1000 residents. So, the rankings...

1. Chicago - The city's relentless pursuit of green design along with award-winning public places like the new Millennium Park bring it to the top.
2. New York - Largest number of LEED buildings on the list, stellar transit system, excellent design schools
3. Boston - Design-oriented schools MIT and Harvard, historic buildings and green-design initiatives
4. Los Angeles - Less regarded for its urban planning, but more so for its innovative-designed buildings, streets and businesses, like Third Street Promenade.
5. Portland, OR - 72% happy with the architecture which has a strong emphasis on the vernacular. It's downtown boasts some of the most attractive, contemporary streets in the U.S.
6. San Francisco - Rich fabric of Victorian rowhouses and green consciousness brought down by limited mass transit system.
7. Seattle - 74% of its residents rate quality of life as good or excellent, not as much history and culture since it's still a relatively a new city.
8. Denver - LoDo (Lower Downtown) hosts some of the best designed loft buildings in the U.S.
9. Philadelphia - Strong public transit and historic building stock, but low resident-rated quality of life. Some of the most picturesque alleys in the U.S. (pictured)
10. Washington DC - Street after street of beautiful historic buildings, weak on green building.

Image source: deegs.

Crowdsourcing a coworking district

Every major city nowadays has a coworking space, but what about a coworking district? That's the plan with the nascent Adams Morgan Works program.

With 30 million people and counting working at home as we transition to a knowledge-based economy, coffeehouses and coworking sites are becoming increasingly popular, most of which thrive in natural cultural districts. Thus in Adams Morgan, Washington DC's preeminent natural cultural district, a movement is underway to transform a rather dead day scene into one as vibrant and active as the central business district.

Given evidence of a dayworking population of customers via beta communities, Adams Morgan merchants will agree to open their businesses during the day based on the beta community's needs. The neighborhood will benefit from a virtual dayworking community that is manifested in the physical world by the area's existing and crowdsourced coffeehouses, cafes and restaurants, spurred by dayworking happy hours and work events around like-minded work circles.

Check out the targeted Adams Morgan dayworking vibe in this Affinity Lab-produced video.

Paris' city-wide bike sharing inspires city-wide car sharing

What's a city that launches the world's largest bike sharing program, Velib ('free bike'... for the first 30 minutes), do for an encore? It announces the world's largest electric car sharing program, Autolib. However, unlike the wildly successful bike sharing program, it's unclear if this will result in more or less people driving. We'll soon find out.

The highlights:
- 4000 electric cars
- 700 pick-up points
- Drop off anywhere (a computerized system will let you know of available parking spots)
- Suggested monthly fee of $300-$400, including electricity.

The contracted company that will operate the progarm has yet to be chosen.

Image source: signonto.think.

What makes an urban winery an urban winery?

The previous entry was for the beer crowd. Today's is for the wine set.

First of all, yes, there is such a thing as an urban winery, like the Signal Hill Winery with downtown locations in Cape Town, South Africa, and Beaune and Bordeaux in France. The primary advantage? According to winemaker Jean-Vincent of Signal Hill, being at a regional center without a committed vineyard allows him to select only the best grapes from the best microclimates.

However the upcoming NYC City Winery (in the fall) will go to town on defining the 'urban' in urban wineries:

Events. With a room for events that seat 200, 400 standing, or more private rooms, the winery will host concerts, art showings and parties that match music with wine and food pairings.

Participation. Because it's in the middle of the city, City Winery is allowing residents to take part in its wine production, choosing their own grapes, then crushing, fermenting, and bottling and labeling their own bottles. 200 of the 300 annual barrels will be sold at $5000 each plus materials expenses.

Crowdfunding a neighborhood pub and microbrewery

A neighborhood microbrewery is a good indication that you're living in a progressive area, but a crowdfunded one? Let's just say if that were the case, there'd probably be a lot of reason to get together, hoist a beer and celebrate every milestone one could think of. BeerBankroll is planning to be the business model behind that brewery (but thank goodness not the name of the brewery). In the land of the neighborhood pub, it's not surprising this is a UK joint.

Goal: Establish a local brewery and pub.
Membership cost: $50
Total membership required for established business: 50,000
Total investment required to start: $100,000 (200 members, for those who don't want to do the math)
Membership influence: Voting on the company name, logo, product design, product mix, marketing plan, advertising, sponsorship...
Profit sharing: One third to members in as redeemable reward points; one third to the company; one third to charity.
Timetable: None - crowd determined.

Check out their FAQ here.

Image source: London pub by prosto photos.

Fast Company's 'Fast Cities' 2008

Ok, since Fast Company Magazine's choice for their Fast Cities 2008 U.S. City of the Year (Chicago) and Global City of the Year (London) isn't very earth shattering news, perhaps its more intriguing to look at their list of twelve Fast Cities, which aren't so obvious. Fast Company btw, is the business magazine for the creatives (and why I've read every article of every one of their 126 issues).

Beijing, China - A booming economy and arts scene - you won't think of China the same way after reading this previous Fast Company article, The Next Cultural Revolution.
Hyderabad, India - Diverse and a Fortune 500 IT hub - who knew?
Mexico City - If the rumor that Mexico City has more undergrads than the U.S. is true, a bright future may not be far ahead...
Kigali, Rwanda, Africa - Both reconciliation and a science-and-tech economy are on the rise as military facilities transition into educational ones. It even has a nascent beta community to build an educational village for kids.
Seattle - No surprise here for this genesis of music scenes.
Orlando - A natural evolution from the 'mouse' to an interactive gaming industry, which may provide the foundation for the future of motivated education and work.
Calgary - A flourishing of natural cultural districts.
Moscow - Russia's London? At least as far as cost of living goes.
Barcelona - A growing high tech, cultural and art mecca, and home of La Rambla.
Kansas City - The up and coming cosmopolitan heart of prairie U.S.
Doha, Qatar - Home of Al-Jazeera and Education City with extensions from Georgetown, Cornell, and Northwestern.
Abu Dhabi - A 'less tacky' version of nearby Dubai, and host of the planned zero-energy, zero car Masdar City.

Still, you're not going to get a fresher, more contemporary review of Chicago and London than in their Fast Cities article.

Image source: Groovnick.

Santa Monica sets free public wi-fi standard

While the market has already assumed a digital infrastructure will succeed our asphalt one, city government leaders still haven't accepted that by making the same financial commitment to free public wi-fi. It's largely a generation thing and it's inevitable the investment will come eventually, but for the cities with progressive leaders that implement them now, they'll realize an economic and cultural windfall as a reward for 'letting go'.

Santa Monica is one of those cities, with their City Wi-Fi program offering free public wi-fi in key hot spots downtown as they prepare to scale up. They're also planning a city-wide wi-fi network for $20/mo. The key difference between Santa Monica's success and other cities' failures? In the words of the City of Santa Monica's Chief Information Officer, "If we don't get an offer we like, we are prepared to blanket the City ourselves."

It should be no surprise Santa Monica is also leading the nationwide trend of establishing pedestrian-only districts - it goes hand in hand with a digital infrastructure.

Image: The pedestrian-only Third Street Promenade, by Malingering.

San Diego's triple-bottom-line third place redefines 'restaurant'

If you're looking for a benchmark restaurant that represents most everything that a restaurant should be (as far as omnivores go), The Linkery in San Diego is a necessary destination. It starts with a founder like Jay Porter, "It would be a place that would, as a business, provide a community space that would bring people together. And it would celebrate really good quality food and drink and beer in a simple way... hopefully it could be a place that could become a center for something that adds meaning and richness to life in this area."

From its description to its blog to its primer for newbies, you'll soon realize the craftsmanship and soul that's poured into this place day in and day out. Some principles:

- All meat served comes from independent farmers and co-ops with integrity.
- Farm-to-table locally-based produce.
- No factory-made ingredients (outside of condiments like mustard).
- Hand-crafted beer and sausages.
- Daily-changing menu based on what's fresh and seasonal, half of which is vegetarian despite the restaurant name.
- Affordability is a key goal.
- No tipping. They have an entire section on it here.

Like Jamie Wallace of Abay Ethiopian Restaurant, Jay started his restaurant with only a tech background. All of Jay's quotes in this entry are excerpted from an excellent interview with Jed Sundwall.

Did you have any restaurant experience before?
No. I was totally making shit up.

Really! Did you have a partner with experience?
No. They say don't do things that you don't have experience in because you'll do every stupid thing possible, which I did. But by the time we opened, we'd attracted people who wanted to be a part of it. There are people with skills and knowledge who came in and said "Oh, you're building a restaurant! What's your plans for this?" and I'd say "I don't know!" And they'd say "Well I need to come in here and help!" "Great!" You know?

As regulars to this website know, the impact of this third place isn't limited to inside the walls, "Over the course of 6 months this little corner went from being basically totally unused at night to rocking."

Thanks to Chris Radcliff for the reference.

Image source: Bonzo McGrue.

NY to close major streets to cars on August saturdays

Emerging generations want more pedestrian areas, less traffic-congested streets. In Manhattan, pedestrians are literally running out of sidewalk room. This August, New York City is conducting a ground-breaking historical experiment to provide a bold answer to this growing demand.

On August 9, 16, 23, three Saturdays between 7am - 1pm, the following streets will be pedestrian only, closed completely to auto traffic:

- Downtown Routes - 6.9 miles: Park Avenue between East 72nd Street & East 14th Street and Centre Street/Lafayette Street/4th Avenue between Brooklyn Bridge and East 14th Street.
- Central Park Route - 6 miles.
- Hudson River Greenway (between Battery Park & Inwood) - 14 miles

NY's government is taking the lead on this one, headed by the NY Department of Transportation and Mayor Bloomberg, "If it works, we'll certainly consider doing it again. We have never been afraid to try new ideas, especially the ones that have the potential to improve the quality of life." See the mayor's public announcement here.

How the social network influences the art scene

In the previous entry we looked at Elizabeth Currid's The Economics of a Good Party and the process by which arts and culture added to the economy. Today, we look at Elizabeth's answer to the question, "How does the social community (ie the patrons, the attendees, the participants) influence the emergence of arts and culture that then translates to economic impact?" Her four ways:

1. Access to gatekeepers both formally and informally - Gatekeepers are defined as the purveyors of taste, so if you're friends with them, you're directly influencing the source.
2. Interaction across art/culture sectors - A bit related to branding as well as the experience economy, music for instance, becomes more appealing when it's associated with inspired venues and events.
3. Establishment of "weak ties" - This speaks to the power of community, where just being associated within a certain scene long enough will eventually bring you to the relationships you'll need, via 'weak ties', to the 'strong ties' that invest in your idea.
4. Distinction and emergence of taste, genre and subculture - See Yelp!, where visitors to the site don't check out the critics' reviews, they peruse their peers. This is word of mouth in one of its most efficient and effective forms.

Image source: kt_jewson.

'The Economics of a Good Party'

How does art and culture translate into economic value? Elizabeth Currid, author of The Warhol Economy presents an invaluable scientific view on an industry regarded as anything but in her article, The Economics of a Good Party: Social Mechanics and the Legitimization of Art/Culture.

Simply speaking, arts and culture establishes economic value the more it's recognized as a scene, when people pay to share in the experience via goods or events. The real question is, how does it become a scene in the first place?

Elizabeth details the process through three role players: cultural gatekeepers, cultural commodity intermediaries, and the social community of consumers:

- The gatekeepers are the equivalent of the Renaissance's Medici, the purveyors of talent and taste that have earned such a reputation through success, whether it's a renowned designer or just someone who knows how to throw great parties. Once a gatekeeper identifies a cultural find, they work with...

- The intermediaries who represent the distribution channels (eg nightclubs, stores, parties) that provide consumer access to the 'chosen' associated cultural products and services. Place-specific reputation, exclusivity and rarity are context-oriented influencers.

Then there's the cultural social network representing the market itself that not only makes or breaks a cultural trend, but is playing an increasingly larger role in influencing the economic viability of artistic and cultural taste, especially in a rising crowdsourcing economy...

Image: A 5-week art scene generated by gatekeeper George Koch of Artomatic in Washington DC.

Digital infrastructure replacing an asphalt one

In 1956 the Federal Aid Highway Act ushered in the auto age, with the U.S. government funding 90% of the costs to build 41,000 miles of interstate highways over 20 years, an equivalent of $200 billion today. Highways are still being built, but they're also coming down as cities are realizing that a digital infrastructure (ie the internet; wi-fi, fiber optic, cellular, satellite networks) negates a continued need for heavy asphalt investment, and at a much lower economic, environmental and social price. It's no coincidence that the rise of a digital economy is being accompanied by a rise in pedestrian-oriented places.

President Eisenhower was inspired to legislate the highway act based on his experience as an army officer on a convoy across the U.S., "The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." This is an interesting counter-perspective to the thousands of critics of the pedestrian-oriented transition that says we're too Euro-centric.

The question is, who will be today's Eisenhower who states, "The old networks had started me thinking about good, fiber optic cables, but cities around the world had made me see the wisdom of broadband wireless across the land... and executes the digital equivalent of the 1956 Highway Act.

Maybe it's you.

Image source: Wi-fi in Bryant Park, Manhattan by Marionzetta.