In surveys about where young people want to live, Shimokitazawa, a rare natural cultural district on the western side of Tokyo, is always a top choice, and known as a trendsetting place for creatives. Why? Here’s a description from a Japanese magazine, 10+1:

“The urbanism of Shimokitazawa characterized by narrow pedestrian streets (no cars) and dense commercial activity, gives the area a deep Tokyo feel. Attracted by the relaxed character and communal atmosphere of Shimokitazawa, newcomers

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Today’s entry is part of my favorite series on this site, ’Reader Experiences‘. Profiling Vancouver in this story is Luke Graven from Portland, Oregon.

“There has been much written about Vancouver, Canada being a great city.  This British Columbian city has been ranked the number one city in a row by the Economist magazine survey. Here are 5 reasons why it ranks high from a CoolTown Prospective…

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La Rambla - one of the world’s greatest pedestrian streets

La Rambla, which translates to ‘intermittent water flow’, is the iconic hub of Barcelona, a predominantly pedestrian-only plaza stretching nearly a mile through the historic center of the Spanish city.

The central area is filled with outdoor dining areas, merchant kiosks and countless strollers, bordered on either side by traffic-calmed two-lane roads for cars, which are then fronted with restaurants, stores and residences. 

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previous post, it would seem fitting that good design would inspire a central, identifiable gathering place to inspire creative discussion. That would be Serrano Square (pictured).

Surrounding the rather intimate square are no less than twenty restaurants, bars and clubs, all with outdoor

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Monacle Magazine. They’ve teamed up with the International Herald Tribune to provide an for compelling, creative places to check out.

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The ‘little urban experiences’ of Buenos Aires

Looking for a little ‘hands on’ inspiration for a cool town? Venture south of the equator to Argentina…

Making the list of both Fast Company magazine’s 30 Fastest Cities to Work, Live and Play and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Cities’ to Visit is quite a feat, so what is Buenos Aires attraction? Referred to as the Paris of the South, here’s a fitting local viewpoint:

“Buenos Aires is not a place for grand sights or world famous

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Krakow, Poland’s Old Town Square

If the town square is the stage, then there’s no bigger ‘ongoing public performance’ than in Europe’s largest market square, the Rynek Glowny (’Grand Square’) in Krakow, Poland. There’s enough to see and do in and around the square for a week straight, and enough for residents to make it a large-scale third place. It’s a good lesson in what a destination public square can be.

Cloth Hall, a 16th-century, Renaissance-style building, a primary attraction,

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‘The happiest people in the world’

...live in Copenhagen, Denmark, say the polls. Continuing our series of looking at European cities as resources for cool, here are more things about this Danish city you may not be aware of:

- As stated previously, 62.5% of its employees are in knowledge-based jobs, the highest in Europe.
- 32.5% of its residents have an academic degree, more than 80% speak English (and speak it well!).
- It is known as Europe’s leading biotech and medical research

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The quintessential internet city? Tallinn, Estonia

Where?!!! That’s probably a fairly common reaction. Located south of Finland and bordering west of Russia, this fast-growing city of 400,000 enjoy life on the fast lane as far as the internet goes, but it’s key to success is being able to maintain life its enviable slow city, slow food culture.

Summarizing Tallinn’s profile in Spiegel as part of its Coolest Cities story:

The internet is essentially free throughout what is known as the

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As stated just previously via Spiegel’s review of , an impressive 43.9% of Barcelona’s workforce is represented by the creative class.

Via the google earth image, you can see the cultural amenities centered in the historic pedestrian district and the fruits of the 1992 Olympics on the far right. Notice how transportation takes up increasingly more real estate each year, from a miniscule amount in the historic core, to its surrounding neighborhoods directly north, to

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‘An Inside Look at Europe’s Coolest Cities’

You’ve seen lots of rankings of cool cities based on opinions, but the city of Hamburg, Germany took it a little more seriously on behalf of their own cause and hired a firm to find out just which of the European cities were indeed the coolest and the best at attracting the creative class, now and in the future. Here’s their list of the top five, profiled in Spiegel, leading European news site:

Copenhagen This beautiful, progressive city enjoys

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If ever in Mexico City, happen upon Condesa

Words used to describe Condesa, a turn-of-the-century neighborhood in Mexico City: urban, eclectic, diverse, bohemian, chic, indie, cafe culture…

Types of people who characterize Condesa: Movie directors, novelists, soap opera writers, musicians, painters, architects, academics…

Venues you’ll find: Outdoor cafes, art galleries, exhibits, hotels w/ ipod-furnished rooms, the largest bookstore in Latin America, innovative restaurants and bars with

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Pittsburgh’s creative center - South Side

As stated yesterday, every city has its creative center, and South Side, now with its own zombie walk, may very well be the Pittsburgh’s long sought source of talent for job growth in the knowledge economy.

Here’s a few of the reasons why it’s Pittsburgh’s destination for creatives:

- Home to more restaurants and bars than any other neighborhood, with up to 80 watering holes in the area. That’s a lot of conversations, the basis of economic growth

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‘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

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If you were looking to travel the world to discover and learn from the coolest places, venues and daily cultural events, Travel + Leisure’s compilation of the World’s Best Cities is a good place to start.  See the rankings below, and you can check out the overall top 10, each city’s score, and full profiles here.  Please add your comments below, especially on the happening hot spots in each city.

Asia:
1. Bangkok, Thailand (pictured) - The cool/hip/chic capital of Asia?
2. Chiang Mai,

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While towns and cities are putting up official signs (see yesterday’s entry) to declare their inclusiveness of different people and cultures, one city neighborhood that hasn’t needed one for a while is Hillcrest, San Diego, referred as the city’s Greenwich Village.

According to urban designer and former City of San Diego planner Howard Blackson, “Hillcrest is a Richard Florida prototype.  The gay community found a home here in the late 80’s as it had cheaper rents (artist, designers,

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Yes it’s in France, and 65% of its citizens named Montpellier as the city they’d most prefer living in, even over Paris.  So what does Montpellier have that makes it so desirable?  How about what it doesn’t have…

Cars. From a North American journalist, “...the virtual absence of cars is paradise - not the sort of thing we could ever accomplish back in the real world, of course, but an unstoppable delight in this bar-filled biosphere where tables crowd into every square, flute solos seep

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Rarely are they mentioned in the same sentence, but it’s when smart growth is strategically integrated with economic development do cities see effective results.

The International Economic Development Council took the smart growth bull by the horns and produced a landmark report: Economic and Development and Smart Growth: 8 Case Studies on the Connections Between Smart Growth Development and Jobs, Wealth, and Quality of Life in Communities.

Here are the eight case studies, not all of which

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Reader experience: Pedestrian-only district in Dublin

Since there are too many inspiring places for one person to absorb, it is our customer-driven fashion to let our readers show you what’s out there, and more importantly, what could be realized in your city.

Today’s reader discovery is on Temple Bar, a cultural, retail-entertainment-residential pedestrian-only (see map) district in downtown Dublin, Ireland, as experienced by Kamile Kay, a knowledge worker in Virginia and occasional

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How can Times Square make room for its crowded pedestrians?

Manhattan has a definite problem with running out of space for its pedestrians amid its frenzied onslaught of auto traffic, especially in high-traffic destinations like Times Square.  So, perhaps they could take a lesson from Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China - and establish the main street for pedestrians only.

The first commercial road in Shanghai, being the busiest, most popular street in the city wasn’t enough.  Thus, a large

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Checking out the SF Bay Area

Over the holiday break I revisited the San Francisco Bay Area to see what its cities had built to attract creatives and entrepreneurs in the eight years since I last lived there.

Here’s my basic assessment based on what’s under construction - the East Bay will have the greatest population gain in this group by far, San Francisco will continue to attract them as well albeit at a much slower pace, and the West Bay/Peninsula - the heart of Silicon Valley - will

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Vancouver thrives by dispelling planning myths

Vancouver is often labeled as one of the most livable cities in North America, the latest honor being labeled as the world’s best city to live in by the Economic Intelligence Unit, as referenced by CNN yesterday.

What are its keys to success?  Larry Beasley, the city’s highly regarded co-director of planning, says it’s because Vancouver is counterintuitive in this Smart City Radio interview.  Here’s the myths of planning most cities follow, and

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Not in the U.S.

Why not?  Count how many cars there are.  Zero.

Ironically, it’s designed by a U.S. firm, the sterling urban design firm, RTKL.  Unfortunately for the U.S., this development, called Huadi Kunshan New City, is envisioned for Kunshan, China.  So why is China so darn lucky?

Because most people in China walk rather than drive, developers are confident they can build a neighborhood de-emphasizing cars.  While this isn’t true for the average American citizen, such a

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The Pearl of Portland

The Pearl District in Portland, Oregon is one of the finest new urban redevelopments in the country, transforming a warehouse district into an artist district into a residential community.  Unfortunately, the new lofts are anything but affordable (the population doubled in the last couple of years), but the public places, streets, farmer’s market and galleries - all free to inhabit - are among the best in the city.

As the story goes, Thomas Augustine, a local gallery

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