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April 18, 2003
Young adults, kids have great ideas too
Sometimes, even better than those who are making decisions in how we plan and build our communities. The more we listen to a diversity of people, including age and gender, the healthier our places will be. For instance...
In the industrial age, mass production allowed only a few lucky managers to make the decisions of many. This is quite evident in one of the greatest mass production results of all time: suburban sprawl - which has little reflection of the needs of children, teens, the elderly, women and economically disadvantaged, nor does it embrace cultural, ethnic and occupational variety.
In the information age and evolution to mass customization, the needs and opinions of all ages, gender, income and culture will be a natural part of decision-making. If you want a preview of the future, just start asking a diversity of people what kind of town they'd like to live in. The ones from kids are especially fun to listen to, and the ones from teens and young adults are the most encouraging - just ask them!
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
April 17, 2003
Your comments - coming soon!
As I've made it very clear that I believe the best towns will be ones where the people who live and work there literally help design it, I feel the same way about this blog. Unfortunately this blog hosting service, recently bought by Google, doesn't support reader comments yet...but "they are working on it." When it's implemented, there will be a link at the end of each blog to add your comments publicly as easy as sending an email. As soon as that's up, I can't wait to hear your opinions, follow-ups, questions and complaints for all to see.
The must-have counterpart to a blog with comments is a public bulletin board that facilitates and archives discussions, links and images by topic.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
April 16, 2003
I want diversity in my town! How?
At least that's what the cultural creatives, the early adopters and today's kids are saying. One may need to look no futher than Jane Jacobs to find answers.
In her 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which by the way, has probably prompted the renaissance of more than several cities, she says if there's any one word that defines success for a city, it's diversity. To achieve it, she says you need:
1. A concentration of people. This explains why pedestrian malls without housing are often dead, and why Italy's piazzas are anything but.
2. Small blocks. People like choice - they don't like having to walk a quarter-mile without being able to change directions - that's for cars. My neighborhood has small blocks, and I feel like I've been given control.
3. Old and new buildings. We're talking about affordability, as well as history. I can afford to live in DC because I live in an old building (with a lot of history - the first African-American co-op in the U.S.).
4. A major, easily identifiable amenity that draws people. A theater. A piazza. An ethnic restaurant row like in my neighborhood.
For the skeptics, the economic correlation to diversity is displayed visually on page 37 of this report by Richard Florida.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
April 15, 2003
Have it your way - your town that is
The business system by the economy will evolve where we will see customer-driven products and services as a basic expectation is called mass customization - a "system of combining the low unit costs of mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization."
Too technical? If you bought a Dell it isn't. It's all about going from "you can have any color you want as long as it's black" (Henry Ford) to "here are my measurements, you can send my perfectly fit pair of jeans here.
So, if we can mass customize jeans, cars, and homes, why not communities? That's what CoolTown Studios helps municipalities and real estate investors achieve. Read more about how this applies to cool towns in this collection of entries.
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
April 14, 2003
A cool town is truly people-driven
What makes a CoolTown unique is that the people who will actually live and work there get to be involved in its design from the very beginning. Fair huh? Typically today, a community's stakeholders use the charrette to plan the town from the ground up. Once the project is approved by the City several months later, only then would it be marketed to future tenants, already designed.
Now, suppose a number of employers desired a main street of loft offices, or if half the residential tenants didn't want any parking at all, or if most everyone supported a true Italian piazza**? Unfortunately, developers/municipalities won't invest in such innovative amenities if the market demand isn't there, and the market won't demand them if they don't even know they exist. It's a vicious cycle, but we're working on it.
**Just this Saturday I was strolling through my neighborhood when I came across a rockin' swing dance on the neighborhood center plaza. I even discovered I knew several people, and some of us went out to dinner afterwards. So for social reasons, what if a number of future tenants wanted an outdoor ballroom (eg piazza)?
Posted by Neil | Link to Article
