The industry average says only 20% of potential home buyers who put a refundable $1000 deposit on a future community (that they have some say in), end up buying.

Using my favorite principle of Occam’s Razor (the simplest answer is usually the right one), that means only 20% of them got what they really wanted.  Of course, using the Industrial Economy Developer’s Razor, that means 80% of them didn’t know what they really wanted.

Take it even simpler - if you went into the process of designing

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Conventional developer:  “We look at what’s been financially successful and replicate it.  Then we’ll customize it according to the local culture.“  Sounds fair enough, until you realize the result is something like a McDonald’s in Texas marketing “Spicy Ranch” bbq sauce for their McNuggets.  “Oh, but no other McD’s has it!“, they say.

This business model explains why you can’t tell one suburbia from another.  Add the opinion that suburbia is ugly, and you’ve got a pretty depressing

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There’s probably no more over-used philosophy in product development.

You’d think this would apply to fashion, yet Blue Cult’s new jeans are insanely popular because women feel they’re finally being listened to, while individually customized jeans and even shoes are fast becoming the norm.

It’s bad enough in general, but rather disastrous when applied to building communities.  For instance, another product that “we didn’t know we wanted” - SUVs.  We didn’t ask for them, but now they’re

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This is the second of two key questions asked at the First World Congress on the Future of Work last week:

The answers, based on the vision highlighted in yesterday’s blog:

one: Promote technology that actually works, from video-conferencing to collaborative software to workstation furniture, and demonstrate working models.  This is one of my favorite resources for real examples.

two: Build more open plan workplaces that encourage a sense of community at the office, creativity at home and

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This is the first of two key questions asked at the First World Congress on the Future of Work last week:

The answers from a group of thought leaders on the future workplace:

one: Work is becoming less place-based, with more mobile workers and informal teleworking in a less structured system.  The anyplace workplace.

two: There is a growing need for community building as business systems become more complex and individuals are vastly more information-sophisticated.  We’ll be working as

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I must admit the foot people really put in some extensive criteria to come up with the .  Here’s my take on walking through their ‘winners’:

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People are starting to favor the unique establishments of downtown over the “What neighborhood am I in?“ homegeneity of suburbia…

Charlotte’s downtown population has grown tenfold from just 800 in the early 1990s to 9500 today.

The Census showed that for the first time in 30 years Atlanta’s downtown city population grew, 16,000 of them between 2000 and 2003 alone.

For the first time ever, Houston’s inner city growth equaled or exceeded that of the suburbs

Denver’s central city population

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Once you install the latest version of Quicktime and have good computer speakers at the ready (this is vital to the experience, and primarily why I was hesitant to post the movie), you’re ready to watch the CoolTown QuickMovie.  Click here.

I’ve shown these only in person to a few municipalities around the U.S., but with serious CoolTown implementation interest last week from Montana to Nigeria, I figured it was time to post it on the net for more to …

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Just in case anyone might be offended, that’s a take off of Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid!“ campaign as a reminder to the staff of what was important.

Every ‘place’ has its underlying ‘essence’ or getalt that makes it cool - and it takes a knowing eye I suppose, to capture what that is, whether it’s the outside or inside, with people or not with people.  The coolest places are often best captured from the inside with people, not the outside without people as imagery is often

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...and that is to attract only the most creative people.  Creative prejudice if you will.  For instance, the 9:30 Club is by far the hottest venue in Washington DC for big-name live rock bands in a small venue, but it may very well be the ugliest building in the city as well (image) in a neighborhood not recommended to be walking alone in.  Because of this, some say the club only attracts die-hard music fans, the same people that feel a place is ‘ruined’ once it’s discovered by suburban

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That seems to be the myth.

The ‘coolest places’, especially to the creative and entrepreneurial, are the most affordable with the best food/service.  Atmosphere takes a back seat, not by choice, but by necessity.  For instance, the favorite pub is commonly the dark, dingy one with the $2 draft beers, low ceilings, 1970s chairs and 30-year old carpets (ie the ugliest/cheapest building in an often ugly neighborhood).  Pub designers, this does not mean ugly is cool - it means $2 draft beers

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With all the buzz about how creativity is vitalizing economies, it’s imperative to understand what motivates the creative people at the heart of it all, like Dana Ellyn, one of Washington DC’s rising artists…

“Living in the suburbs is not an option for me as an artist for many reasons. My art is often inspired by what’s going on around me and events in the news. It is tremendously important for me to feel a part of what’s happening.

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I asked Diane Dorney, who owns a new live-work unit in the truest sense of the word (within a live-work community to boot), “Sure, live-works units are great, many would love nothing more than to be able to live above where they work, but who can afford one?“

“The thing about making live/works work for people without a lot of money is that they are flexible - much more flexible than any other option out there.  While they are income-eating as far as the mortgage and utilities go, they are

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So what do the urban loft and storefront townhouse actually like?  How are they configured?  How big should they be?  Town planners DPZ & Company partnered with Beazer Homes to actually build the answers.  Check out the units and dimensions here.  Find out more than you may want to know here.

Keep in mind that these are enormously expensive units - they were built for a trade show so you could say they’re a tad ‘showcasey’.  The costs are also greatly augmented by the parking and courtyard. 

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One way to realize there’s increasing demand for live-work-play(shop) communities is to see what the country’s largest investors are not investing in.

Simon Properties, America’s largest shopping center developer (in other words, shop-only destinations that resulted from live-only/suburban subdivisions), announced last week, “Simon will not be planning anymore enclosed shopping malls for the near future.“

Instead, Simon is building what they’re calling “alls” - mixed-use retail, residential,

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Where there’s a rising demand in live-work, there’s the spark of a new supply - live-work units.  I turn the spotlight to Thomas Dolan, founder of the Live-Work Institute, to explain the three main types of live-work units:

• Urban lofts in renovated former industrial or commercial buildings, often but not always sold as condos. Urban lofts are now being developed as new, purpose-built projects. 3,500 have been built in San Francisco in the last ten years: all are condos. Other cities are

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There’s a ton of buzz about places where you can live, work and play within a 5-minute walk.  Just google “smart growth” and “new urbanism”.

Now, it’s tough to do a survey asking people if they’d prefer a live/work/play neighborhood because they haven’t been built since the 1920s, and the ones that have are ranked as the most expensive neighborhoods* in the country - hmm, there’s evidence for demand huh?

However, one unmistakable trend that provides evidence of this is the number of people

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OK, The Town Builders Collaborative (TBC) is a team of implementors, but its founding director, Bruno Bottarelli is the driving force behind it all.

The TBC provides something pretty fundamental to building CoolTowns - institutional investment capital.  The question is, are there municipalities (and universities) that share the TBC …

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Entreworks is all about economic gardening.  In fact, it’s one of the only businesses out their that focuses on economic gardening - which focuses on getting cities to grow and invest in their own homegrown businesses rather than stealing another city’s.

The president of Entreworks, Erik Pages, has quite a sterling entrepreneurial adminstration background - with leadership positions from the National Commission on Entrepreneurship to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development

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If you’re wondering how your town center is ever going to compete with those regional shopping centers, Kennedy Smith is the person to call.

Now a principal with the Clue Group, she was the executive director of the National Main Street Center for 20 years, a progressive nonprofit that has established main street programs in nearly 2000 towns and cities, developing more than 57,000 new businesses and creating more than 231,000 new jobs.  One of the most successful economic development

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The CoolTown Guild is the talent pool by which these CoolTowns can and will be built.

Upon walking up to a CoolTown, one of the most striking features will be the visual sense that this is a mecca for creativity.  The goal is to produce the same physical experience and wonder as when you walk down the streets of Paris or Venice for the first time, or if kids could walk through Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory.

That’s the goal.  The modern reality unfortunately is far different, but one man

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Have you seen any of these COOL initiatives applied on a University/College campus?  Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Great question, and the honest answer is ‘not yet’.  Utah State University, a to-be-announced major university in Connecticut, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champlain, and maybe Wayne State University (yours truly) have every intention of supporting a CoolTown-like magnet as a regional economic draw for more than just academics.  Living/learning centers, as described

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