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December 8, 2006

Old Montreal

How can a City establish a 'beta community' to attract the creative class?

A City can plan itself to death if it doesn't attract real and significant private sector investment dollars resulting in compelling, vibrant buildings and places on behalf of it, not to mention the events, creative class and jobs that follow. I know for a fact that a lot of cities are going through this.

Based on the previous two entries on our evolution to a customer-led economy, the answer lies with the City's own population. Not to oversimplify things, but here's a CoolTown scenario of how this model, applied to a beta community, could result in an economically, culturally successful new neighborhood/commercial district that's a regional draw from miles around...

- City leaders have to be 'cool' themselves - see Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm or West Palm Beach Mayor Nancy Graham. If they aren't passionate about attracting the creative class, you can stop reading.
- Inspire the stakeholders and the nascent creative class in your city with a presentation that strikes emotional chords that exclaim, "Finally, someone understands me!" A Richard Florida comes to mind.
- This is your chance to capture that energy into a beta community - a group of motivated individuals who become an organized group that will commit to establishing a vision of the kinds of buildings, venue and events that they'd invest in...
- The other part of this is partnering them with progressive (and yes, cool) developers that the City selects via a widespread RFP process, based on select districts, sites and buildings customer-led by the beta community. If they don't have the equity, we can help with that as well.
- The final implementation piece is a casting call for the half-dozen VIBEs; the independent business entrepreneurs who have the midas touch as far as opening the kinds of cafes/coffeehouses/third places that become overnight institutions. In fact, they have their own VIBE beta community.
- Of course, that's only the product, as now there's the customer service phase that's about to begin - providing the events, attracting subsequent businesses, supporting entrepreneurs, establishing circles of social interests... but that's another story unto itself.

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December 7, 2006

Istanbul/Generation C

Customer-led economy - customers getting paid?! Part 2 of 2

Yesterday in Part 1, we looked at the different models of a what is fast becoming a standard feauture in anything we buy - customer-led services, products and yes, buildings and neighborhoods. However, just to show you how quickly this is all evolving, Trendwatching provides a summary of the next step - getting paid for it - and they even have their own term (albeit a bit trite):

“Generation C(ontent) is joining Generation C(ash). If consumers produce the content, if they are the content, and that content brings in money for aggregating brands, then revenue and profit-sharing is going to be one of 2007’s main themes in the online space. It’s not like brands will have a choice: talented consumers are going to be too sought after to remain satisfied with thank you notes. Get ready for an avalanche of revenue sharing deals, reward schemes and sumptuous gifts aimed at luring creative consumers.” Some examples:

- Intel and Netflix offer $1 million to help them come up with new products and services respectively.
- No less than seven (see Generation Cash article) video-hosting services (like YouTube) reward you with $ the more they're viewed. One of these days we'll set up such a system for the cool places that you live in or visit (see image).

Now, how does this apply to co-designing and developing cool places in your city as part of the CoolTown beta community program?
- $10,000 reward for referring a developer to investment capital
- 10% price reduction on homes that you co-design, since you're saving the developer marketing, realtor, inventory, marketing analysis and market uncertainty/risk costs.
- Lead a local beta community as part of the development team and earn about $20,000-$60,000 per 20-50 units of housing built via the customer-led model.

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December 6, 2006

Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland

Customer-led economy 'leading' to cool towns? Part 1 of 2

You're hearing more and more how customers are participating in the decision-making behind what they're buying. Here's a summary of terms used to describe this customer-led economy, with real-world examples and how it will help shape our communities for the better:

Customer-Led - The most generic description encompassing the entire field, also referred to as customer-driven or customer made. This website has an entire collection of entries on this topic here.

Mass Customization - The business definition - the industry term for the 'how to' behind the customer-led economy, such as Dell's and Mini Cooper's computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce custom output.

Co-Design - Well-documented in the newly published book Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future and accompanying ">blog by industry expert Patricia Seybold. This generally involves customizing a product just the way you want it. Examples include Nike ID, Levi's and Scion.

Crowdsourcing - Mass volunteer participation and self-organization to create new products and services, like Wikipedia, YouTube, Flickr and now CrowdSpirit. More details in a previous entry.

Open Source Development - Originating as a response to proprietary software, the open source code is freely available to the public for use and/or modification, typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community.

Beta Community - How all this applies to building better places to live, work and play. A beta community is a 'cooltown-oriented' community of future tenants that have a formal partnership with a development entity to build out their collective vision. Check out how to establish one here, and an example here.

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December 5, 2006

Most beautiful train stations

The most beautiful train stations in the world?

There is probably no greater diversity or activity over a given time period than at your city's train station. So, which ones do the best at inspiring people to linger, want to return, or regret leaving? Here are some examples, with a primer provided by the UK's Guardian and their local favorite in London.

Clockwise from the top left:

Grand Central Terminal, New York, 1913 - There's a reason why it's featured in so many movies, referred to by The Guardian as the world's most romantic meeting place.

Lahore Railway Station, Pakistan, 1862 - Another Guardan favorite, this medieval storybook-influenced destination is as much a cultural marketplace as it is for travel.

Union Station, Washington DC, 1907 This one deserves special note - not only is the station itself beautiful (filled with shops, restaurants and even a multiplex theater), but even the individual subway stops have the same dramatic feel.

Helsinki Central, Finland, 1919 - Per the Guardian's description, "the principal entrance arch leads into a concourse, and rooms as imaginatively detailed, perfectly maintained and calm as a Lutheran cathedral."

Union Station, Los Angeles, 1939 - A more intimate, elegantly crafted train station fit for Hollywood's stars, who ironically no longer use it. Maybe in about 30 years.

Atocha Train Station, Madrid, Spain, 1851 - Shops, cafes, a nightclub, and a one-acre covered tropical garden - what's the hurry?

What is the most beautiful train station you've experienced?

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December 4, 2006

Boklok

Homes by Ikea?

By 2010, 50% of all new homes will be built by just 10 national homebuilders, up from 36% today, say industry analysts (that's a lot of influence). Why? As reported a few entries ago, most of our investment capital is held in large, corporate entities that only invest in other large corporate entities. Accepting this trend, there are two paths to steering this capital toward the readers of this site seeking urban, affordable, creative, unique, social, pedestrian-oriented places to live/work/hang out in: Invest in a real estate mutual fund model, or replace one of those 10 national homebuilders with companies who think like Ikea...

Yes, Ikea's getting into the homebuilding industry, starting in the UK and Scandinavian countries, with a company called Boklok. It doesn't look like they have much corporate competition as far as their target market and values are concerned:

Their customers:
- "Small households
- Working people with average household earnings of around $25K-$50K per annum
- People who cannot access social housing
- First time buyers
- People who are currently priced out of the owner-occupied market or market rented sector in their chosen location"

Their design principles:
- "Inner courtyards and green space with fruit trees and seating
- Flexible open-plan layout
- High ceilings and large windows, giving the apartments a light, airy and contemporary feel"

The first prototypes are suburban and way too cookie cutter, but clearly have the potential for downtown urban development (the U.S. is one of the only countries that still depends on stick-frame construction), and certainly, it shows that their target market and product offering may be worth investing in on a very large, and yes, corporate scale.

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