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November 10, 2006

Temple Bar, Dublin

The rise of Gen X, Y home buyers spur new models

Is there a reason to expect a change in the standard subdivision and apartment tower housing models? Yes, according to experts at the leading real estate development organization, the Urban Land Institute (ULI), as documented by the Wall Street Journal.

Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) comprise a little more than half of the market for newly constructed homes, says the president of a leading advisor, forgoing master suites for smaller footprints, settling for what's available vs. finding what they really want (a beta community opportunity).

Generation Y (born after 1980) is still in transition, committed to student housing and rentals for the next six years. However, that is evolving as well, such as at the University of Maryland's Hinman CEO Living/Learning Center where undergraduate students live in four-bedroom residence halls focused on starting their own company, supported with high-tech conference rooms, computer rooms and meeting lounges.

Also mentioned are trends that include both markets show that second- and third-tier cities with populations of 300,000 to 1 million are attractive to the youth market and poised for growth. In addition, young people tend not to mind close living and more of them live alone and wait longer to marry and start families. The bottom line is that there is still a strong, unmet demand for "compact apartment and condo units in urban areas where they can interact with their neighbors..."

...and beyond, like the Temple Bar district in Dublin, Ireland (pictured).

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November 9, 2006

Ithaca street

Cities with the best value

We profiled Bohemian Bargains recently to give you an idea of what are the most affordable creative cities. A complement to that is Kiplinger's 50 Smart Places to Live measured on fun, vibrant, and affordable with a strong economy. Note that all but one are college towns to some degree, according to College Town Life.

1) Nashville, TN 1,398,214
2) Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 3,138,324
3) Albuquerque, NM 782,916
4) Atlanta, GA 4,765,845
5) Austin, TX 1,415,324
6) Kansas City, MO 1,934,400
7) Asheville, NC 387,970
8) Ithaca, NY 103,641 (pictured)
9) Pittsburgh, PA 2,402,483
10) Iowa City, IA 138,941
11) St. George, UT 110,515 (not a college town)
12) Harrisburg, PA 521,971
13) Lexington, KY 429,410
14) Indianapolis, IN 1,626,173
15) Logan, UT 110,632
16) La Crosse, WI 129,118
17) Rochester, MN 176,606
18) St. Louis, MO 2,754,233
19) State College, PA 144,311
20) Madison, WI 534,567

Note that the larger the city gets, the more focused on specific neighborhoods you have to be. Anyone know what the 'bohemian bargain' neighborhoods are in Kansas City?

Check out the full list here.

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November 8, 2006

Art gallery 2.0

Art galleries will always have their place in the city, but to survive, they'll have to become more than just venues to sell art pieces - they need to become venues to sell art experiences. Check out these two trends:

1. The rise of the design economy. Think how Target has the world's top designers designing their everyday products at affordable prices.

2. The rise of the experience economy. Think of a progressive bookstore with an in-house organic cafe amidst a poetry slam. Or Anthropologie, which sells a lifestyle rather than a line of products, or the Galleria illy profiled yesterday.

The result? The art gallery becomes the art cafe, art bar, or art lounge/restaurant/theater, or basically anything but only an art gallery if it is to thrive in the modern economy and its merging of retail and entertainment.

Then, taking a page from the design economy, everything from the traditional art pieces to the chairs people are sitting on to the coasters under their drinks and the glasses themselves, are part of the 'art gallery collection' and for sale by the artists who designed them. To have patrons experience one's art with at least three of the five senses than via just one is perhaps more meaningful to many artists, as well as the patrons.

Image: Art cafe in Dubai by mayadelic.

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November 6, 2006

Gallery Illy, New York

'Brand spaces' create an experience

Continuing yesterday's theme... We know that the third place is a general term (our 'home' away from home and work), but how about when a business successfully defines it in their terms? Once again, Trendwatching.com has the definition:

Brand space - a space that capitalizes - in the broadest sense of the word - on consumer expectations set in motion by being spaces (aka third places). Think literally accommodating consumers outside the home and office, becoming a relevant and useful part of their daily lives, offering them surprise, discovery, empathy, transformation. A place to lounge, hang out, try things out, work, or relax. Or all of this at once?"

In other words, a brand space is one company's interpretation of providing a third place whether it's selling an experience, a service or even a product. This is essentially where the rubber meets the road, and why every business should look at Trendwatching.com's examples here.

While local independents don't want to become commodities like national chains, they should still learn from successful examples by larger companies that take risks (and read the book, E-Myth). One such example is Gallery illy (pictured). Located in SoHo, Manhattan, it's a cafe, gallery, library, theatre and even university all dedicated to... coffee, where one can experience what is billed as the most authentic espresso in the city, watch a film on coffee's history and chemistry, or take a three-week course on preparation and indulgence.

But what's a successful brand space really all about? As the company's CEO says about the venue's patrons, "It's tremendously insightful; to sit in the library and on the couch, engaging in conversations with them, finding out about what they do, how they learned about illy, what are the passions in their lives."

For a local independent version of a brand space (which is more authentic because the 'neighborhood brand' is infused), check out Busboys and Poets, only a year old and already a neighborhood institution in Washington DC.

Image source: Trendwatching.com

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Transumerism

Transumerism: freedom-oriented, boredom-fighting quality of life

Nomads move from city to city, but what about those who still want to enjoy new and different experiences without changing addresses?

Our friends at Trendwatching.com refer to them as transumers - "consumers driven by experiences instead of the ‘fixed’, by entertainment, by discovery, by fighting boredom, who increasingly live a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions. The fixed is replaced by an obsession with the current, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible. In other words; the past is, well, over, and the future is uncertain, so all that remains is the present, living for the 'now'. Remember, living in the now is not necessarily about being temporary and fleeting, but the basis for yoga and meditation as well.

Transumers love cool towns because they don't possess material things, they possess experiences. For instance:

- They don't own cars, they share them.
- They don't own material items from designer handbags to jewelry to evening wear, as well as cars and boats, or theoretically anything at all. They rent them.
- What we don't need, we eBay or give away.
- Then of course, there are third places - the destinations away from home and work where transumers choose (by the day or hour) their hang-out to socialize, do work, or both.

Image source: Trendwatching.com

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