The benefits of building community virtually (via the internet) are often seriously limited without a physical venue by which the online participants can meet face to face.  The goal of CoolTowns is to provide both.

What would this look like?  Simply combine the virtual community elements in yesterday’s blog with the third places described on this web site.  Then you’ll come up with things like a “Friendster Bar” as a friend of mine would like to see - a physical watering hole for the popular

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There’s an old argument that the internet is isolating people.  However, if you ask anyone in the net generation, they wouldn’t know how to meet and keep their friends otherwise.

Take something as simple group email programs.  About twenty of my college friends keep in touch this way, and we plan reunion trips every few years.  There’s no way we’d keep in touch like this without the internet.

Then there’s services like Friendster, myspace and Meet Up that modern presidential campaigns swear

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The things a CoolTown piazza can’t be without:

Movie theaters - There are several reasons why movie theaters can be the centerpiece to making a CoolTown piazza a true destination:

1. It will single-handedly bring hundreds of people out at night (away from their couch and TV sets.)  They’d then be within a mecca of food, entertainment and social opportunities.

2. It promotes diversity - see point #4 of this previous CoolTown blog.

3. In Europe’s oldest cities, monumental churches anchored

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The things a CoolTown piazza can’t be without:

The eclectic nightclub - Nightlife is a must for the creative - entrepreneurial market, and for many the night doesn’t begin until the morning.  If you’re the only nightclub in town, then you need a minimum of three stories to play three genres of music - whether it’s hip hop, r&b, house, techno, trance, salsa, ‘new swing’ or that 70s, 80s, 90s stuff.  Why?  Just ask any creative - entrepreneur what kind of music they like - “Everything” is the

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Essential #3 - The things a CoolTown piazza can’t be without:

The pub - Where everybody knows your name.  The pub is a standard in England, and the typical ones there are small, very homey, lots of wood floors, walls and furniture, and a line of regulars parked on the bar stools.  For some, that bar stool is the equivalent of the couch in the living room, while the buzz of conversation in the air replaces your television set.  Well in fact, many pubs do have a “tellie” just for that reason -

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Seinfeld fans can relate to this one…

Essential #2 - The things a CoolTown piazza can’t be without:

The late night cafe:  The place where you can get $5 sandwiches/burritos or $4 bacon*/eggs/toast at 3 in the morning, without OD’ing** on grease, fat and sugar.

The key is to establish places that people can theoretically frequent every single day without going bankrupt or skyrocketing their risk for diabetes.  Not everyone has to drink coffee or tea, but everyone’s gotta eat, and wouldn’t it

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This week I’ll take a look at what the ideal shops, restaurants, entertainment and services would be on a CoolTown main street, or even better, a piazza.  Thus, imagine the coolest of main streets as a piazza.

Essential #1 - These are the things a CoolTown piazza can’t be without:

The hang-out coffeehouse.  The one with the local owners, local art on the walls, local live bands stopping by (see the pattern?) and bulletin board stuffed with ads from people selling bikes to seeking

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The most inspiring person at the Creating Cool conference was the lunchtime keynote: Bill Strickland of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild.

Here was a simple man with no money who established a center for excellence in job training, art and music production in “a black neighborhood in inner city Pittsburgh” as he reminded the audience repeatedly.  The incredible story behind the center is definitely worth the time to read.

Another great story told at the conference was that of the Box Factory

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How big a trend is this ‘cool town’ thing?  The organizers for today’s Creating Cool conference in Lansing, Michigan were expecting 700 attendees.  There were 1400.

Governor Jennifer Granholm opened the one-day event, and I’d have to say I haven’t witnessed a cooler governor.  She wasn’t out there giving a typical political speech with statistics and policy promises, she was out there impassioning people to think creatively, to think cool.

Richard Florida was the keynote, and he gave an

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This new report from the Brookings Institution, Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania, December 2003 can be summed up in this excerpt:

“Pennsylvania’s cities, boroughs, and older townships possess centrality and convenience. They marshal numerous health centers and educational institutions, strong business traditions, and abundant transportation links. And equally important, they offer in abundance the charming town centers, distinctive neighborhoods, and clusters

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