CoolTown Studios and the content on this daily blog represent the growing trend of creatively entrepreneurial urban villages that are filling the emotional and financial holes in people’s lives.

It’s oftentimes difficult to explain this vision.  While it’s far easier to understand by people who have lived and worked in places like Greenwich Village, Cambridge and the West Bank of Paris, perhaps learning the meaning behind CoolTown studios will help.

‘Cool’ - as defined on Monday’s blog, is

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In a matter of a year or two, a handful of visionaries are able to initiate a business venture that generates $20-$200 million of profit within a few weeks of product introduction, gaining national recognition at the same time, and even changing people’s lives.

This is the film-producing norm for Hollywood’s movie studios, known as the Hollywood Model, a term popularized by Dr. Charles Grantham and his research on productive modern work trends.  The movie studios act as a catalyst for, in

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Here’s one dictionary definition:  Cool - (informal) very good.

Now, in no shape or form are we going to define cool for anyone, especially when building a community.  No, that ain’t too cool, though unfortunately that’s the way it’s been for decades now - ‘we will build it and you will come’.

The CoolTown Studios methodology in developing communities is to involve the most innovative, entrepreneurial, active, creative, passionate people, the ones already most associated with the word cool. 

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Sprawl may cost city jobs, reports indicate The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Julie B. Hairston, November 21, 2003
Atlanta’s suburban sprawl may be literally driving away good jobs.

According to the recently released study, The Jobs are Back in Town: Urban Smart Growth and Construction Employment, building places like cooltowns creates more jobs and uses less resources than sprawl.  The study defines Smart Growth as apartments and townhouses vs single-family homes.

For instance, Oregon has

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Great young minds think alike: Educated 20-, 30-somethings flock to city (Denver Post)
By David Olinger, November 12, 2003

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week, Denver’s one of the top ‘brain-gain’ cities in the country, ranking sixth in net migration of single college graduates during the late 1990s.  Portland, OR, Atlanta and Charlotte, NC were winners as well, the industrial age-dependent Rust Belt and New England cities - not, namely Philadelphia, Cleveland and

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Article in San Francisco Chronicle
By Richard Paoli, November 16, 2003

The survey, What Women Really Want in Neighborhoods, Homes and Community Life, conducted by EDAW, seemed focused on women with the greatest buying power/influence, typically boomers.  Still, their priorities are much more CoolTown-oriented than their male counterparts.

Their two key qualities they’re looking for in buying a home are: Social interaction and convenience.

Topping the list of amenities are:
- Access (ie

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The Washington Post is having quite the CoolTown run lately…

Out of the Driver’s Seat : Arlington Residents Increasingly Choose to Shift Into a Carless Lifestyle (Washington Post)
By Chris L. Jenkins, November 17, 2003 (link expires Dec. 1)

More and more people in Arlington County, VA are going carless - and guess what?  According to the article, they’re very happy.  I can vouch for that since I know a few of them myself.

Percentages of carless households in the Washington DC area: …

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Fast Company Magazine:  The giant retailer’s low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart’s relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? Charles Fishman

What an eye-opening story (just click anywhere in the paragraph above).  It makes you realize that Wal-mart isn’t a national retailer anymore, it’s an international wholesaler.  While it’s single-handedly forcing the

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Urban Warfare: DC’s Unfulfilled Potential: Leadership, Tax Issues Hamper Growth (Washington Post cover story)
By D’Vera Cohn, Nov. 10, 2003 (link expires Nov. 24)
Second of two articles:  While most cities have to scratch and scheme to attract out-of-town talent, the nation’s capital is among a handful of magnet cities that many young people feel they simply must experience…

A curious thing is happening in Washington D.C. - its leadership’s mindset doesn’t actively support attracting young

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Mid-sized cities get hip to attract young professionals (USA Today cover story)
By Haya El Nasser, Oct. 10, 2003

Summarizing the article:

Pittsburgh, Richmond, Memphis, Tampa, Indianapolis, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Tallahassee, Fla., Cincinnati and Fresno, Calif. are intent on diversifying their population by trying to attract younger people.  San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Washington and Boston are already there.

What seems to be causing a stir in Cincinnati that a

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