One size does not fit all, which has been the model of the industrial revolution. It’s encouraging to know that model driving the creative, information, knowledge economy of the present is based on providing what people truly want, and that perhaps the right size that personally suits us is finally being provided as an option.

Rightsizing Living
Regular readers know this has been well covered in this blog, that the next gen wants smaller homes, that the housing crisis needed a correction as

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Trendwatching.com reports that with 180,000 people moving into cities daily, a rising creative urban population they refer to as Citysumers are defining a new generation that’s more demanding, open-minded, connected, spontaneous and more try-out-prone than ever. What that means is if there ever was a time to experiment with forward-thinking placemaking, the time is now.

The current manifestation of that mentality is with ‘pop-up’ placemaking. It allow cities to try out innovative placemaking

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Our longtime resource at trendwatching.com recognizes the rising trend of urban cultural creatives as…

Citysumers - The hundreds of millions (and growing!) of experienced and sophisticated urbanites (with disposable income), from San Francisco to Shanghai to São Paulo, who are ever more demanding and more open-minded, but also more proud, more connected, more spontaneous and more try-out-prone, eagerly snapping up a whole host of new urban goods, services, experiences, campaigns and

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Here’s a wrap-up of the latest news and trends that are signaling a shift to a more creative culture and economy…

Cities are starting to go green by the district rather than just by buildings…
Cities are now looking at going beyond green building standards and focusing on green district standards, starting with eco-district plans in Portland, Oregon; climate benefit districts in Seattle, and eco blocks in China. Green at City Scale in Governing Magazine.

...making way for a New American

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Via creative economist Richard Florida, Kevin Stolarick at the Martin Prosperity Institute and BusinessWeek, here are the top 25 Best Cities for Gen Y. The rankings are based on more than thirty weighted variables in five categories: the share of a population at the young and single life stage, economic strength; education levels and safety; economic growth; and local amenities, measuring all 363 metropolitan areas in the U.S.

1. Boulder, Colorado (90K) - Progressive vibe, outdoor recreation,

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When it comes to understanding the fundamental economic difference the Internet provides over the non-digital age, it’s having access to the Long Tail, which is essentially anything and everything else that’s a ‘non-hit’ or ‘non-blockbuster’, but in sum is greater. You can learn more about the Long Tail in our previous four-part series.

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, sums up cities pretty nicely in terms of the Long Tail,

“Think

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Now that the American Dream has come full circle and is once again ready to be defined by you, what would that be for emerging generations? Well, since they seem to be spending so much time on Facebook, maybe it’s worth checking out how that would be manifested in the built environment. Keep in mind that anyone not part of the Facebook generation will probably be just as uncomfortable with the following vision as they are with Facebook ...

- Facebook is a social network that provides more of

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A year ago we profiled Patricia Martin’s Rengen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer - and What It Means to Your Business, which has helped define the term creatives as far as it’s used on this site. It’s time to check in to see how this second renaissance is coming along via this New York Times interview and a CoolTown perspective.

What is the rengen? That’s nicely defined here, a “a thirty-year swath (20-50 years old) of individuals who are living comtemporaneously”, but more of a

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The street lamps in the photo above (yes, that’s a photo) were crafted by an artist especially for this neighborhood. Yes, they’re just light fixtures, but on the other hand, when was the last time:

a. you’ve seen light fixtures that looked like that at all? Tim Burton movies don’t count.
b. you’ve seen street lamps created exclusively for a neighborhood?
c. you’ve seen this Metropolitain sign? Chances are you have. They have the same story of originality and authenticity, and are associated

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Who is sourcing the growing popularity in walkable urban areas and city downtowns?

Chris Leinberger is an industry leader in defining financial models for urban developments and the author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream. He’s also a baby boomer, which is significant in his answer to the Smart City Radio interview question, “Why is there pent up demand for walkable urbanism?“

“It’s basically being driven by the Gen Xers, and I’m sure the Gen Xers will be happy to

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