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July 6, 2007

Legato Point, Ferndale, MI

Attainable urban live-work flex housing

In Michigan the housing market is 'absolutely horrendous', according to Geoff Greeneisen, VP of local developer, the Terra Land Group. So they've decided to supply what has been one of the strongest, most ignored demands in the market - attainable, entry-level downtown housing for Generation X, Generation Y, and “black-collar creatives.”

"These younger buyers are just what a community with a downtown needs. When a place to live costs a great deal more, he says, the buyers end up being older and less active or they work long hours - neither of which infuses energy into a downtown."

Now that's great for the city, but how is Terra Land accomplishing this for the homebuyer? Provide 350 s.f. on the ground floor for a business, allow the second floor to be flexible as either an office or residence, and top it off with a third floor residential loft. They're working closely with the city via public-private partnerships on identifying urban sites and establishing the business/residential codes that allow such flexibility, adaptability to change and growth, whether it stems from the business or the household. The key is that this allows the owner to secure a revenue stream (via leases) based on his/her current needs, yet still compact enough to be affordable to purchase.

Read more in New Urban News' article, Live-work units offer relief from housing downturn.

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July 5, 2007

Cool Space Awards 2007

Pittsburgh's Cool Space Awards 2007

If you're looking for a cool workplace you need a service like Pittsburgh Cool Space Locator, which finds office space for companies in the 'coolest' neighborhoods, as they say. If you're seeking meaningful examples of cool workplaces, check out their annual Cool Space Awards (winners pictured), where you can get full profiles of the projects outlined below:

Reflect
Blacksmith Studio - Painstaking historic physical/cultural restoration (third right).
The Union Project - Cafe, studio and artist living spaces in a restored church.

Inspire
Schell Games - Movable seating, flexible work styles (top left image)
ThoughtForm - Adding color (and umbrellas) to promote creativity (top right).

Recycle
4933 Penn Avenue / Imagebox Productions - Renovated abandoned building to attract the arts (lower left).
The Ice House Artist Studios - 15 years of vacancy now provides attainable artist housing.

You
Mayor John Fetterman helps the Community of Braddock establish a creative district.
Metanoia Development invests in the Community of Bellevue with inspired restaurants, cafes, office space and residences (second right).

Connect
The Kingsley Association - Community center for working class families (bottom right).
Uncommon Grounds - Volunteer-built center for at-risk individuals (second left).

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July 3, 2007

Fast cities

What makes a 'Fast City'?

The previous entry profiled The 30 Fastest Cities to Work, Live and Play around the world, but what makes them fast, or does being a fast city even mean? The term comes from Fast Company magazine, and is essentially a city that attracts, well, fast companies, defined as the most creative, smartest, effective, innovative and as a result, fastest growing in single and triple-bottom line impact terms.

So, what makes a Fast City? According to Fast Company it takes three ingredients, not far off from what makes a fast company:

Opportunity. A city that reveres entrepreneurs as the engine of its economy (ie Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Austin) rather than pilfering companies from other cities. Indicators include a growing number of patents and high-tech companies. For this reason alone a major city like Washington DC doesn't make the cut (not counting the surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia that do), but there can still be a nascent fast neighborhood within what is a Slow City.

Innovation. The physical, cultural, and intellectual infrastructure that allows opportunity and energy, such as alternative means of transportation; local indie businesses and lots of third places; attainable downtown housing; progressive universities... "The real forces for change in America and around the world are the mayors and the local communities," says economist and creative class author Richard Florida.

Energy. It's that thing you see when you get a whole bunch of creative people together in a creative place focused on a creative purpose, like say a beta community. Indicators include number of ethnic restaurants or the ratio of live-music lovers to cable-TV subscribers. This is that instinctual vibe you either get or don't get as soon as you step foot into any certain place or neighborhood.

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July 2, 2007

Fast cities

'The 30 Fastest Cities to Work, Live and Play'

What better source than Fast Company magazine to list the fastest cities in 2007. Here's their Fast Cities 2007, with category, city, population and primary reason it's fast in its respective category:

Creative Class Meccas
Shanghai, China: 14.5M; investment
New York: 18.8M; income per capita
San Francisco Bay Area: 4.2M; technology
Buenos Aires, Argentina: 12.6M; university

Global Villages
Toronto, Canada: 5.1M; diversity/immigration
Johannesburg, South Africa: 3.3M; immigration
Berlin, Germany: 3.4M; immigration

R&D Clusters
Fort Collins, CO: 276K, patents
Seoul, Korea: 9.6M, patents
Raleigh-Durham, NC: 1.6M, college grads

Green Leaders
Chicago, IL: 9.5M, more green roofs than all other cities combined
Stockholm, Sweden (center image): 1.7M, Europe's least-polluted major city
Portland, OR: 2.5M; most LEED-certified green buildings
Vancouver, Cananda: 2.1M; 'World's Most Livable City'

High-Tech Hot Spots
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: 5.1M; 98% of children complete secondary education
Chandigarh, India: 928K; tech exports quadrupled in five years
Boise, ID: 568K; second highest tech GDP growth in the U.S.

Urban Innovators
Curitiba, Brazil: 2.9M, 45% use progressive bus system
Salt Lake City, UT: 1.1M; youngest urban population in the U.S.
Tallinn, Estonia: 399K; 58% use the internet

Culture Centers
Barcelona, Spain: 4.8M; 1500 design studios, 18 design schools
Miami, FL: 5.5M; Wynwood Art District
Dakar, Senegal: 2.5M; International Fashion Week

Unexpected Oases
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 1.3M; one-fifth of the world's cranes are here
Istanbul, Turkey (topmost image): 9.7M; rising credit rating
Sydney, Australia: 4.3M; world's third favorite city (London, Paris)

Startup Hubs
Austin, TX (lower image): 1.5M, more wi-fi hot spots per capita than anywhere else
Madison, WI: 543K; University of Wisconsin R&D
Tucson, AZ: 946K; top ten in U.S. in job growth and high tech concentration
London: 8.5M, most IPOs in the world

Check out runners-up here.

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