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August 31, 2007

Apartment renting takes a page from online dating

So many candidates, so little opportunity to find out which exactly which one is right for you. Wait a minute, are we talking about dating or finding an apartment? While searching for suitable dates via the internet is certainly not the most authentic approach, there's a lot to be learned from such a system when fittingly applied to the inanimate yet life-impacting relationship you'll have with where you choose to live.

Hubbuzz is the closest thing yet to a match.com for apartment hunting. Instead of entering in height, gender and personal interests, you provide neighborhood characteristics: walkable, urban, diverse, convenient to the city... The system is new so there aren't that many listing or host cities (just San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver (image above is from Lakewood), Northern Colorado and Colorado Springs), and the unit listings aren't that detailed (hardwood floors? loft? open floor plan?), but they're on the right track.

Apartment owners pay the dwelling matchmaker $375 for every renter they secure, and the renter gets a $100 for using the system as a reward (mainly to allow HubBuzz to validate their $375 commission).

Of course, the cooltown approach is to assemble a group of people to list their ideal building's characteristics, then working with someone to build it. Try that, eharmony.com.

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August 30, 2007

Barcelona is creatively stacked

As stated just previously via Spiegel's review of Europe's Coolest Cities, an impressive 43.9% of Barcelona's workforce is represented by the creative class.

Via the google earth image, you can see the cultural amenities centered in the historic pedestrian district and the fruits of the 1992 Olympics on the far right. Notice how transportation takes up increasingly more real estate each year, from a miniscule amount in the historic core, to its surrounding neighborhoods directly north, to the 20th century toward the east. Not surprisingly, the cultural center is in the most walkable part of the city, highlighted by La Rambla - a continuous street that behaves as what seems like a never ending public square of merchants by day and outdoor diners by night.

Such creativity drives a progressive agenda, such as the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures, a world expo for peace, human rights, sustainable development and diversity where mundane utility buildings were redesigned as hip new environmentally friendly structures, one of which has become a new Barcelona landmark.

Creativity and progressiveness in turn drive the economy. One transformational knowledge-based undertaking is the 22@Barcelona (why it's called that, it'd be nice if someone commented below), 500 acres of industrial urban area that's being redeveloped into a world-class creative class district based on media, IT, communications, energy and biomedicine, resulting in 150,000 new growth-based jobs. Here's hoping it passes the postcard test.

Thanks to Mike Lydon of DPZ & Company for the reference.

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August 29, 2007

'An Inside Look at Europe's Coolest Cities'

You've seen lots of rankings of cool cities based on opinions, but the city of Hamburg, Germany took it a little more seriously on behalf of their own cause and hired a firm to find out just which of the European cities were indeed the coolest and the best at attracting the creative class, now and in the future. Here's their list of the top five, profiled in Spiegel, leading European news site:

Copenhagen This beautiful, progressive city enjoys a GDP of $76,000/capita and population growth of 3.1% thanks to lots of new patents and knowledge economy workers (62.5%), a high portion of Denmark's students (11.6%) compared to its total population, $370 million in venture capital for startups, and tax breaks for research investment.

Barcelona is a city on the rise, long popular with creatives and a reputation for tolerance. It's GDP/capita is only $31,000, but it's popularity is increasing. Polish engineers consistently named Barcelona as the city they'd move to, and the creative classes make up a whopping 43.9% of all workers.

Dublin It's no surprise Dublin has a GDP of $66,000/capita with 7% population growth given that Ireland is the second largest software exporter in the world after the U.S. and its median age downtown is something like 25, though with a modest 36.9% creative class population. It's also profiting from newly joining the European Union.

Amsterdam Everyone knows Amsterdam (top image) is synonymous with 'tolerance', and that's a huge draw for creatives, which amount to an amazing 47.1% of the workforce, translating to a GDP per capita of $66,000 with 5.6% population growth in the cosmopolitan mecca.

Vienna's per capita GDP is $55,000, but it only has 0.4% growth as it's still transitioning from the fall of communism. It has a bright outlook with the Richard Florida three T's of talent, technology and tolerance with 42% of its workforce in the creative class. However, Spiegel decided to replace Vienna in the top five with...

Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn residents are vastly internet savvy, in large part since internet access costs residents almost nothing. With its beautiful urban fabric (lower two images), that adds up to a pretty powerful magnet for creatives and entrepreneurial growth.

Thanks to Braulio Agnese of Architect Magazine for the reference.

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August 28, 2007

Will Liverpool create musical history again?

On one hand, you've got Liverpool, the home of the Beatles. On the other hand, you've got Elements, the first beta community to crowdsource a restaurant, and in Syracuse, the first beta community to crowdsource a building for artists and musicians. What happens if you combined all three?

You'd then have the Liverpool Cultural Cafe, a nonprofit-initiated bistro by day, bar by night third place to develop local musicians and other artists. The kicker is that not only is the project crowdsourced, but it's crowdfunded. The goal is to raise $1 million via 25,000 crowdfunders contributing $40 each, who in turn as investors participate in the design and development of the cafe. The ultimate goal is to invest in a tangible vibrant future for Liverpool's creative culture.

Founder Mark Bowness, who started other crowdfunding ventures (for bands and an eco-community in Fiji) felt it was time to focus locally, "After learning about the cultures of Fiji, after bringing employment and investment to that area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city."

Perhaps one day the city will be known as the genesis for another musical revolution.

This is definitely one we'll be tracking!

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August 27, 2007

A hotel expressive of the people who stay there

As with most buildings, the exterior and interior design of hotels rarely provide an expression of the lifestyle of the people staying there, other than perhaps their income. At the same price range, most hotel rooms pretty much look alike. However, one hotel is breaking that mold, and hopefully it will set higher standards for how residential buildings are truer to their tenants inside and out.

Based on the pictures, it's easy to see that Nylo Hotels is beating to a different drummer. Each hotel will feature a 24-hour restaurant, game room with foosball and billiards, and a common area designed specifically for socializing called The Loft, a high-energy public area that will invite guests to work, shop, meet, drink, dine or relax. They also don't have hotel rooms, but guest lofts with 11 foot ceilings (when's the last time you've seen that in a hotel?), oversized windows and wi-fi (of course).

The work of local artists are displayed throughout the hotels, chosen via contests, and even their >website is entirely unique to a hotel. The first hotel opens in Plano, TX at the end of the year, then Providence the year after.

The value of the NYLO model is similar to that of Nau's (covered previously here) - learn from what the most progressive corporations are doing and apply them locally.

Read more about its branding here.

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