From Governing Magazine, “The two greatest trends in shopping, it seems, are thrift and togetherness. As one urban planner put it, ‘These days, you either go [shopping] for the experience… or you go to Wal-Mart for the discount.‘  Enclosed malls occupy a middle ground, being neither cheap nor fun.“  Those malls also require 200 acres, and that’s way too inflexible for our evolving customer-driven economy.

Togetherness refers to retail environments where people can meet others for lunch or

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The more they are, the less you’ll see one-of-a-kind places like this cafe that tech-star Moby opened in Manhattan.

Why are cities so infatuated with attracting them?  It’s not about job creation or tax revenue, as you can only buy so much coffee and furniture.  It’s about the kind of customers they lure - creative, professional, hip - the kind of people that boost both the city’s economy and its innovative self image.

Unfortunately, it’s an old economy, mass production method of growing an

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They’re ‘intrinsic exercisers’ - that is, they exercise because that want to, not because they have to.  The key?  Unstructured exercise, or as I refer to it, exercise you’re not even aware of.

In The Intrinsic Exerciser: Discovering the Joy of Exercise, author Jay Kimiecik cites several studies that three 10-minute ‘exercise sessions’ are the same as one 30-minute session.  What this means is, if you just motivate yourself to move a bit more during the day, you’d be getting as much exercise

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30-55%.  That’s the projected demand by 2010 for denser, more walkable neighborhoods (compact cities) according to a USC study.

The summary, funded by the Fannie Mae Foundation, is highlighted and illustrated in a brochure by the Congress for the New Urbanism.

In a nutshell, it takes a 17% overall home buyer preference for these types of communities (which is the same suburban-biased survey revealed in yesterday’s blog), along with a 30% vote of support for townhouses in general, and

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Here’s another reason why new communities are often so undesirable: opportunistic surveys by the nation’s home building association, which in turn guides what is built in the future.  Their 1999 survey concludes that only 9% of 25-34 year olds want to buy a townhouse in a neighborhood like the one on the left (Glenwood Park, Atlanta GA), whereas 91% prefer a single-family home in suburbia with a longer commute to work.

Hello?

Maybe it’s because they chose to survey a specific audience where

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Why don’t we design and build places like this anymore?  Listen up, to anyone interested in contributing to the field of urban planning and development!  Focus on getting an education, not credentials!

In the legendary Jane Jacobs’ latest book, Dark Age Ahead, she describes how the Great Depression inspired a system to ensure employment: credentialing.  Become a doctor with an MD, an architect with an AIA, or a manager with an MBA.  It’s that simple.

According to Jacobs, the instititions

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As drive-in theaters continue to close down, walk-in theaters (often on big lawns) are becoming more and more common, like Washington DC’s Screen on the Green, playing tonight (and throughout the summer) on the Washington Mall.  Here’s my favorite example in Switzerland.  Why the popularity?

Here’s a comparison:

Cost:
Drive-in theater: Same as a movie theater
Walk-in theater: Free, usually sponsored by the City or arts group
Fresh air, space:
Drive-in theater: No
Walk-in theater: Yes
Maximum

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What is a satellite office?  One definition:  A type of telecommute using office locations typically operated by and for a single employer that are away from the employer’s primary work site.

What is a CoolTown satellite office?  A satellite workplace that excites employees.

The image is from the Future@Work exhibit in Seattle, a demonstration of integrated design and management approaches for modern workers.  Notice the diversity of workplaces in one area, from casual collaborative

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More and more government and company employees are working at home or in satellite centers, at least part-time.  Why?

- Companies don’t have to pay for office space.
- Employees don’t have to commute
- Technology is allowing people to collaborate virtually
- Satellite offices bring workplaces closer to more people.  In other words, one giant company campus is close to a few, and far away for many.  Several company offices (satellite centers) are close to many, far for few.  The employees

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Wouldn’t it be great to live above your own business, just like each of the people who own ‘live-above’ units as in the image, located in Kentlands, Gaithersburg MD?

Got $400,000?

Maybe that’s why the live-above type of live-work unit just isn’t in most of our fields of future vision, and perhaps why urban loft live-work units are.

It doesn’t have to be that way though, not unless you’re one of the early buyers (or better yet, a beta resident)*, can live without luxury features, and

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