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November 16, 2007

Pictur- esque infill

Every once in a while it's important to show a bit of beauty in an urban infill development, even though it might not be attainably priced. The ultimate goal of course, is to combine beauty with attainability.

One of the development partners, the I'on Group, specializes in building beautiful homes. The other development partner, Civic Square, builds beautiful public spaces into their projects, "that contribute to the ideal of a more successful public realm, whether in the form of a beautiful new park, a more sustainable community organization, or a well-built new sidewalk."

So what happens when the two are combined? The result is Morris Square in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. You can immediately absorb the craftsmanship in the homes and landscaped park, while the hardscape plaza with a fountain is yet to come, but will be the most striking feature in the project.

70 homes on the 2.7 acre site will range in size from 900 s.f. to over 2300 s.f., including a diversity of housing types: single-family detached, townhomes, and condos. There are 8 affordable homes, and profit from the project will contribute to the creation of 15-18 affordable homes on the Charleston Peninsula.

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November 15, 2007

The Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year is 'locavore'

Locavore - local resident who tries to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.

At first blush, the reaction may be 'who cares'? But if attracting job-producing progressive, creative, entrepreneurial people to your city is important it may be worth noting...

- Fewer companies have created more jobs in a shorter period of time than Google. So what do they name their 4000-employee cafeteria? 150, representing that its ingredients will come from within a 150-mile radius.

- Elements, the green, vegetarian restaurant being crowdsourced via beta community in Washington DC, is committed to being as locavore-oriented as possible.

- Farmers and public markets, long focused on locally grown produce, are an institution in the most entrepreneurial, creative neighborhoods, and ever increasing in popularity. Read more here.

- The Slow Food movement sweeping many countries, "dedicated to the mingling of taste, culture and the environment" in a relaxed atmosphere. Who doesn't want more of that? Where would you find this? In a Slow City of course.

- Finally, this is the Oxford Dictionary we're talking about, founded in the 1800s, not Wired Magazine, so you know their Word of the Year is not like a passing fad or anything, "The word ‘locavore’ shows how food-lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment. It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way.”

Image source: DougHumphries

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November 14, 2007

The first community-oriented crowdfunding tool hits the market

Crowdfunding is what happens when $ are applied to crowdsourcing, such as when fans raise money to record the first CD for an unknown band. It's a matter of time before people are allowed to formally crowdsource either the buildings they live in, or buildings in their neighborhood they believe in.

One major step in that direction is Crowdfunder, started by a pair of Boulder, Colorado entrepreneurs who formed the company simply based on what they felt was one of the biggest needs in the marketplace - the ability for people to raise money for just about anything, anytime and soon anywhere (it's beta testing only in Boulder right now.) Whether it's $50 to finance a young girl's trip to a soccer tournament or $3000 to support the aforementioned recording artist, you can contribute. Only when the goal is reached by the stated deadline is the money provided to the source, otherwise all the money is returned.

The service is presently free in its beta mode, but it will charge a rather whopping 7.5% fee, plus the 2.9% fee that goes with PayPal. In other words, if you contribute $1000 to a project, only $896 will reach their bank account.

Still, it's a fair enough price for smaller projects and I assume that fee will find it's way down, especially for larger budgets. It will be a matter of time however until a crowdfunding tool is established for business investment purposes, especially real estate, but it's time will come based on the fact that it's already in use in Fiji.

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November 12, 2007

The most bike-friendly cities in the world

I don't know what it is, but this seems to be the year of the bicycle...

Based on criteria (see below, which are very U.S. oriented, thus skewing the rankings significantly) provided by the League of American Bicyclists, Virgin Vacations presents the 11 most bike friendly cities in the world:

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands - You have to check out the video on the site - amazing, though it may help to ignore the rather nerdy-sounding narrative. 40% of all trips are by bikes, and there are more bikes than cars. They get their own streets and even traffic lights.
2. Portland, Oregon - One of the most progressive cities in the U.S., up to 9% in some neighborhoods commute by bike.
3. Copenhagen, Denmark - Home of the world's most successful (and free) community bicycle program, which says a lot given all the press for Paris bike sharing. 32% of workers overall commute by bike, which dwarfs Portland's numbers.
4. Boulder, Colorado - Spends 15% of its transportation budget on bike related programs.
5. Davis, California - The city's logo is a bike - what more can you say? 17% of Davis residents commute, and it's university has been a proponent of alternative energy for decades.
6. Sandnes, Norway - A cycling pilot small town in 1990 that has become a true bike city since.
7. Trondheim, Norway - Home of the famous 'bicycle lift', the Trampe, profiled in the previous post.
8. San Francisco, California - 40,000 commute to work in the second densest city in the U.S.
9. Berlin, Germany - Less than half of its residents own/want/need a car, and cycling has doubled in the past decade.
10. Barcelona, Spain - Established their own near-free bike sharing service last spring - more here.
11. Basel, Switzerland - Blending bicycling from the downtown to the beautiful countryside in this small city.

The criteria (the Five E's)
1. Engineering (bike parking, designated lanes, etc.)
2. Encouragement (events and campaigns)
3. Evaluation and Planning (ongoing political bodies that make changes to existing laws and plan for the future)
4. Education (bike maps and awareness campaigns)
5. Enforcement (making motorists heel)

What's missing is a sixth 'E' - Environment, and in many ways the most important: Is the city's overall urban fabric oriented toward bicycling, and is there a cycling culture that significantly compares to driving? For instance, Amsterdam's city core has no cars, and that contributes more to biking than any of the other criteria by far.

Image source: Carron

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The world's first 'bike lift'

How can you tell a city really cares about bicyclists? By spending the money to design and install the world's first and presently only bike lift to encourage biking to popular, but difficult to reach places. In this case, it's a steep hill between the city's main university and its downtown.

Built in 1993, the 'Trampe' (bike lift) has been averaging 46 uses/day since. Cities today can build one for $450-$550 foot, or as the company website says, "the same building costs as an ordinary bicycle road in urban areas."

It's a great example of the city and private sector working together - local officials were looking for ways to increase bicycle usage, including lifts, while bicycle enthusiast and inventor Jarle Wanvik created a working prototype. Today, 41% of the lift users say they're using their bikes more often due to the Trampe. It $18/year for a keycard to use it, or you can rent a free one for a day.

There is definitely evidence for bike lifts in other cities based on observations of the Paris bike sharing program, where piles of bikes are ending up at the bottom of hills. It's a combination of people not having the stamina to bike up steep hills as well as not wanting to sweat themselves to the point of being unpresentable.

Check out how it works here.

Image source: Martin Eian.

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