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August 11, 2006

La Comedie, Montpellier, France

The city most of the French prefer living in (not Paris)

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 out of the upstairs windows of the pale golden buildings and the sweet sound of conversation reverberates along the quieted winding lanes."

It helps that the city is a university town with 60,000 students, with an expanded newer university in science and technology - it's creative, open-minded culture has been attracting innovative and high-tech companies since the 1960s.

On many streets all but service vehicles are prohibited, while others are extremely narrow with no parking. Parking garages are not only located outside the city center, but underground as well. An overwhelming majority of North American planners would exclaim that this would hurt businesses, but it's the very feature that results in a continually busy, economically successful, pedestrian-rich environment.

Check out more auto-free cities and districts in Carfree.com's guide.

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August 10, 2006

Arena District, Columbus, OH

'Economic Development and Smart Growth'

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 are cooltown models:

Commercial Corridor Revitalization
- East Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA - Revitalized steel mill neighborhood, $385M/$119M private/public investment, 3500 new jobs since 1985, 3900 additional jobs in the near future.
- Main Street Program, Burlington, IA - Historic main street revitalization, 500 net new jobs, 396 building rehabs, $37M in private investment, $117M in property appreciation (1986-2004)

Arts and Entertainment District
- Fountain Square, Indianapolis, IN - Neighborhood-based reinvestment in neglected urban district, 77 new jobs, $9.5M initial investment in catalyst projects.
- Artist Relocation Program, Paducah, KY - Innovative initiative attracting 62 artists/97 jobs, $15.5M/$1.2M private/public investment with free lots, no down payment loans, mentioned here Jan. '04.

Transit-Oriented Development
- The Brewery Blocks, Portland, OR - Five blocks of new and rehab construction, expensive and chain-driven, but eco-friendly and adjacent to the hip Pearl District, attracting $292/$8M private/public investment.
- Silver Spring Downtown Redevelopment, Silver Spring, MD - Between 2000-2010, $1.37B in private investment, 3800 new jobs, with massive 22-block city-driven downtown revitalization, though more suburban in feel than urban.

Targeted Area Redevelopment (Not targeted to the cooltown market)
- Arena District, Columbus, OH - 75-acre hockey arena-based corporate-class redevelopment, $500M/$35M in private/public investment, 3600 new jobs.
- Belmar, Lakewood, CO - 103-acre/22 block redevelopment of a shopping mall into a high-end, chain-heavy urban village, $752M/$123M in private/public investment, 7400 new jobs.

Image: Arena District, Columbus, OH. While not a great model for attracting diversity, a good example for placemaking. Still, this is a better cooltown model in Columbus.

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August 9, 2006

Taipei, Taiwan

The race to be the first with wi-fi citywide

...and the winner is Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei just this summer completed its citywide wi-fi network of 4000 hot spots (wi-fi transmitters) covering 90% of its 2.6 million residents. The major reason for the unprecedented wi-fi investment? To reduce traffic on city roads, says the city's mayor.

Yes, there still isn't a single major U.S. city with comprehensive wi-fi, though many are talking about it, with San Francisco apparently taking the lead (promising citywide wi-fi by year's end). Boston's will come a year or so later, but will be the first to be a city-based, nonprofit, wholesale network not controlled by private interests. This could prove to be a breakthrough...

The main hold up in the U.S. is that the major telecom companies want to control the infrastructure. It's like if GM in the 1940s did everything they could to prevent city governments from building roads because GM wanted the auto industry to themselves. GM was smarter than that, and instead lobbied the U.S. to enact the infamous 1956 Highway Act that initiated the freeway system we have today. It seems ironic that the Verizons of today don't see the same logic for taking their industry beyond what even GM ever dreamed it would be back then. This is where global competition comes in handy...

Typical response found on the internet when it was announced two years ago that Taipei was implementing city-wide wi-fi: "Amazing! I'm heading to Taiwan :)" Soon enough, that'll include San Francisco and Boston.

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August 8, 2006

Toronto street

Investing in center city benefits surrounding communities

If the nation's economy is at stake, should cities and companies invest/locate in the city center or surrounding communities? Based on findings (and title) of the highly respected Conference Board of Canada's recent economic study, Canada’s Hub Cities: A Driving Force of the National Economy, the answer is:

"Concentrating investment strategically in nine hub cities across the country, we find, would produce gains for smaller communities in each province and for the country as a whole."

In fact, the studies show that investing less in the surrounding communities would result in a greater GDP for those same communities if the difference was spent on the hub city instead.

How much more investment should hub cities over its surrounding communities receive?
That's too politically charged for the study to answer, but the smaller communities benefited more when they received 20% less per capita investment and hub city residents 20% more, than a flat rate for everyone.

What should new funding for hub cities be spent on?
1. "Environmental, social, housing and quality-of-life assets that attract mobile workers and affect corporate decisions about where to locate and expand." Sound familiar?
2. "Infrastructure adequate to support modern communications, transportation and utilities" (more on this tomorrow).

Implications? A benchmark real estate development investment would be more likely to be financially successful and provide greater economic impact in the center city than in the surrounding areas, especially if cities reward developers with incentives in return for these benefits.

Image: A hub within the hub city of Toronto

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August 7, 2006

Downtown Baltimore website

Attracting new residents downtown via the web

Our last entry focused on a model for attracting new residents to a city, but what about a specific district or neighborhood, like a downtown? Baltimore once again provides a model website for achieving this with its Downtown Baltimore website.

First of all, they do a great job with a video that captures the clean, green and safe theme that's at the forefront of potential urbanites, especially women. Every downtown should have a video this well put together.

Second, for housing seekers, they wisely choose to integrate with the Live Baltimore Home Center (previous entry), one of the best tools anywhere for helping people relocate to the neighborhood and home they really want.

One feature the site could use to acquaint first-timers unfamiliar with the downtown is a visual map of where the restaurants, bars, and stores are, such as this interactive map in downtown Raleigh, NC, run by Geocentric.

Oh, and the Downtown Baltimore website just plain looks vibrantly inviting and welcoming, a branding lesson more districts and neighborhoods could learn from.

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