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October 26, 2007

Small town green micro-village

"I never leave the courtyard," says one of the tenants of the Bison Courtyard in the heart of the small town of Banff, Alberta, Canada (immediately surrounded by one of the most beautiful landscapes anywhere in the world, almost like a storybook).

The Bison Courtyard is just a modest $10 million building complex in scope, but it's a shining example of what happens when progressive minds work collaboratively toward a shared vision that inspires them on a daily basis, enough so that I guess they don't want to leave. Not surprising to this website's regular readers, the theme of the courtyard is green, healthy and social interation:

It's green features, thanks to LEED, is standard fare for enlightened developments:
- 92% of construction waste was cleared away diverted from landfills;
- The complex uses 70% less energy than comparable buildings;
- Rainwater irrigates drought-resistant plants and flushes toilets.
- It's designed by the world's most prominent green architect, McDonough.

The next step beyond green is health, though being green is already a significant step toward being healthy:
- The courtyard's restaurant is committed to serving locally grown, sustainably-farmed protein and produce;
- The bakery is dedicated to organic, gluten-free and low-sugar items;
- One store specializes in natural health, beauty, and sports nutrition

Finally, what's becoming increasingly more inspiring in these forward-thinking developments is the emphasis on social connections:
- Enough can't be said of how much the outdoor courtyard is used as a stage for both planned and spontaneous interactions;
- Benefiting the local community and culture, all eleven businesses are local, independents, with ten apartments above;
- The courtyard hosts an organic produce market and recitals, the hair salon organizes monthly art shows; and the restaurant runs pizza nights.

Then there's the historical significance built right into the complex...

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October 25, 2007

Cool towns need a Linus Torvalds/Steve Jobs combo (2 of 2)

To recap the previous entry, Linus Torvalds galvanized an army of people to co-develop a superior 'program' called Linux, and Steve Jobs is able to interpret people's values, principles and stories into stunningly designed products like the iMac and iPod.

Now, what if you combined the efforts and applied it to creative real estate development? You'd get a community of profoundly satisfied people committed to, entirely proud of, and inhabiting the phenomenally-designed place they help build. If you followed Torvald's footsteps and crowdsourced a significant number of people to co-develop the 'program' of tenants and patrons for a business, building or block, then assimilated Steve Jobs' skills and were able to interpret that collective program of tenants, patrons and their stories... you'd be able to transform that body of knowledge and emotion into extraordinarily designed 'products', namely as business and residential interiors, building exteriors, public spaces and the user experiences that go with them.

There are such development and business leaders undergoing that process right now - to create in the emotionally-driven manner and prolific effectiveness as Torvalds and Jobs - as profiled here and here. They are crowdsourcing the most progressive talent to define the very kind of place that inspires them, and will then work with the best design talent to execute that in the built form.

Coincidentally, the Linux mascot's nickname is the same as mine. Hmmm.

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October 24, 2007

Cool towns need a Linus Torvalds/Steve Jobs combo

I am speaking on a panel today at the Urban Land Institute's annual conference in Vegas, and the inevitable question will be, "What is it that you exactly do?" The tagline above says it pretty succinctly, crowdsourcing cool places for creatives, which after explanation comes, "How is this done?"

By training city, business and community leaders to become a figurative combination of Linus Torvalds, inventor of Linux, and Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple. First, it's important to understand what makes these two entrepreneurs so extraordinary.

As the story goes, Torvalds was frustrated with existing computer operating systems and decided to write his own. However, rather than work independently, he asked for collaboration (see his original request here). This open call to his coding, known today as open source, resulted in a swarm of volunteers who sensed they were part of something significant.

Jobs on the other hand, as we all know, has a knack for interpreting people's values (beauty, elegance, simplicity) and principles (I shouldn't have to take ten minutes learning how to use each feature, it should fit comfortably in my pocket...) and designing inspiring new products that strike emotional chords. As this previous entry highlighted, you don't design by committee, you ask them for their stories by which the design is based on.

Next entry, what happens when you combine the two...

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October 23, 2007

The creative class, Richard Florida, cooltowns and Joe Namath

Some people have been wondering how the creative class relates to cooltowns and to Richard Florida, who coined the term, creative class.

True story: Back in 1999 while on a business trip to Pittsburgh, one of my contacts suggested I just had to go see a Carnegie Mellon economist professor named Richard Florida because we were speaking the proverbial 'same language'. I literally dragged my business associate with me who happened to have a history of working in sports agencies, including the agency that represented Joe Namath that for better or worse catalyzed the 'athlete as superstar' phenomenon.

Well, long story short, my associate thought Richard could mainstream popularize progressive cities the way Namath did it for football - an 'economist professor as superstar' if you will. I might add, that's not a typical observance in the slightest. He told him he needed to write a mainstream popular book and promptly introduced him to his current literary agent today, Susan Schulman, A Literary Agency (highly recommended I might add). Flattered, and with no fear of the limelight whatsoever, Richard asked, "So what should I call the book?" I suggested, "The New American Dream", which was under consideration until a much better, targeted title was chosen and the resulting book was finally published over two long years later, The Rise of the Creative Class.

Today, Richard Florida, in many ways, is arguably the spokesperson for progressive, creative cities. His research team provides the economic evidence for why the creative class does indeed equate to economic prosperity. What CoolTown is and has always been about, is the implementation of the places - on the neighborhood, building or business scale - that attracts the creative class. We complement each other perfectly.

What we can help you with is in answering a vital question, "Who are the Joe Namaths in your city?" More on that tomorrow...

Posted by Neil | Link to Article | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 22, 2007

Having fun connecting with people over food, play and making an impact

There are many of us who feel that food, play and contributing to a cause can start to get routine-like. Thankfully, the innovation-tracking folks at Springwise have spotted some new ways to spice things up in those areas of our lives.

Group dining: You know there are people in your social or work circle that want to try out new restaurants or return to old favorites, but which friends, and which restaurants? Crazymenu not only allows the group to vote on where to eat, but once you pick one and choose to order out, you even have the option of allowing them to submit exactly what they want.

Group playing: Miss the days of playing Twister, Perfection, Rock'em Sock'em Robots or even Musical Chairs? Not those who venture out to Play Date Atlanta, where for $10 you enter what they bill as the alternative to the 'club, bar, lounge scene' and get down for spontaneous games of Scattergories and Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Group greening: If you're looking for something more meaningful, check out Green Thing, where participants are given a 'green thing' to do each month, record what they've done about it online, then watch as their impact is collectively measured. The current green thing is to walk once (how fitting, no pun intended), so there's an activity your friends can creatively find to do together and actually have your resultant environmental savings recognized for posterity...

...then at the end of the walk, meeting at the restaurant you voted on...

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