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January 5, 2007

Made to Stick

Cool towns - made to stick

It was published only three days ago, but Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die will soon become a best-seller. Think of it as the 'how-to' of The Tipping Point's second of three rules; The Stickiness Factor.

Here's why it's important. Building better communities is incredibly complex - there are literally hundreds of ways to explain what your vision is and how to go about it, multiplied by hundreds of stakeholders inherently involved. Where does one start and how does one end? Made to Stick is one of the few books that can actually help, especially if you're a city, business or community leader responsible for communicating the message of more than one person.

If you're not going to buy the book, but are still interested in what the book is about, read the introduction, which the authors generously posted on their website... read about why people believe the 'Kidney Heist', or why movie popcorn is significantly healthier today, simply by how the message is communicated. I all but ensure you the ten minutes to read it will be worth your time.

Next week we'll go through the Six Principles of Sticky Ideas, which make up the majority of the book:
The Answer:
1. Simplicity - The core idea. Can you understand it? This is the hardest one to get.
Tell Others:
2. Unexpectedness - Does it grab and hold your interest?
3. Concreteness - Will you understand and remember it?
4. Credibility - Do you believe it?
5. Emotions - Does it make you even care?
6. Stories - Will it make you act?

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January 4, 2007

Art gallery by day, home by night

So you want to open an art gallery, but don't have the budget? Or how about just wanting to have your home double as an office with employees during the day? The folks at I-Beam Design worked out quite the solution in this Manhattan loft.

The highlights:
- A revolving wall/door that separates the main gallery/workplace from the private section of the house by day, opens it up by night.
- Moving panels that hide your, ahem, flat-panel TV, in not one, but two ways.
- A convertible client couch that transforms into a guest bed.

Lessons learned? It's not like many of you are itching to open your own art gallery, but there's some design ideas here to either transform your home into more of a workplace atmosphere during the day, or to inspire a developer to provide several of these unit types to beta community members who request them.

It's about time I presented a YouTube video in an entry. This is the beginning of many, especially ones that you feel are representative of what makes a place cool - please send!

To see a Manhattan office by day that becomes a home at night, check out this entry from almost three years ago.

Music: 5th Exotic from a band called Quantic. Maybe you can add this to yesterday's list...

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January 3, 2007

Silhouettes

Who are the creative entrepreneurs?

Who are the people that want to live in a 'cool town'? What are people in the creative class like? If you're a city official or business leader looking to attract creative entrepreneurs to spur job growth and grow a vibrant cultural scene, what mindset should you have when reaching out to them? Rather than provide emotionless statistics, here are some values questions to be aware of to ensure you're empathizing and not sending the wrong subconscious messages:

- Are you a regular visitor to a few of the following websites: Amazon, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, Digg, eBay...
- Do you wake up and go to bed anytime you want? Or plan to in the future?
- Have you read, listened to or watched much of anything on this list in 2006?
- Do you live in the city or downtown area?
- Do you consciously choose the indie coffeehouse over Starbucks more often than not? Not only that, but do you think that indie coffeehouse is essential to where you live/work?
- Does your home have wi-fi?
- Is the internet the equivalent to oxygen?
- Have you read Fast Company magazine? Do you read Wired?
- Do you use a Mac?
- Do you know deep down that someday you'll be running your own business if not now?

This is a tiny fraction of the collective list, nor is it representative of each creative entrepreneur. Please add your own below! I'll keep updating this list - and add a wiki soon enough...

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January 2, 2007

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany

Beta community designs a neighborhood their way in Germany

We recently answered the question How can a City establish a 'beta community' to attract the creative class? with an outlined process. We follow that with a living example, Vauban in Freiburg, Germany..

In the 1970s the City of Freiburg in Germany became known for its progressive mindset, much like Berkelely, CA. With that kind of creative foundation, when a 94-acre army base closed in 1991 it was a natural step for the surrounding residents to establish what was pretty much a beta community. Recognized and respected as a group of future tenants, they actually partnered with the City (which bought the site) to co-design and co-develop the base into what is today a pedestrian-oriented urban village of 4700 people, with 600 jobs.

The best part of this ongoing story is that the residents thus get to live in the kind of community they truly wanted - and in this case, that means one with well more than four times less cars than the typical U.S. city (almost three times less than the average Freiburg locale). In fact, because of its pedestrian-oriented character which is inherently urban in fabric, Vauban has become known as a kid-friendly community. Makes more sense than U.S. logic that auto-oriented neighborhoods (ie suburbs) are better for kids.

Read more here.

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