The real question is, if there are so many people in the U.S. who want better places to live and to socialize in, that want the world-class public places that they have to travel abroad for, why aren’t they building them here?  Maybe because no one really asked them.  If you think this is preposterous, maybe this brief story will change your mind.

The story centers on how companies use market studies and surveys to determine new products and services, including focus groups in shopping malls

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First of all, the cool public piazzas, paseos and courtyards in other countries were built when people walked to get from one place to another.  Because they’re still so popular, they set precedents to continue building such great places.

Not so much in the U.S.  The country is an infant compared to others, and most of the great places we built in the all-too-brief ‘pedestrian age’ that could have served as wondrous precedents were made of wood, a short life.  The mass production age brought

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...the walls at the neighborhood supermarket are plastered with personal classified ads and event flyers for local events.  This is one of the best examples I’ve seen, at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, VT.  The fact that it’s a co-op is another tell-tale sign of a strong sense of community.

One thing that surprises me is that while there’s a number of online classified ad services and event listings for cities and towns, it doesn’t drill down to the local neighborhood.  How about a

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According to Steven Gartner, president of Metro Commercial Real Estate, the revitalization of urban retail follows four phases.  Gartner played a leading role in Center City Philadelphia’s expanding retail scene and many of its economically-growing neighborhoods.

1. Local restaurants, started by great chefs.  Or visionary entrepreneurs who know great chefs, like a Chris and Finn Berge who nearly single-handedly revitalized commercial districts with destination restaurants.  People will

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Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming (or underwhelming) trying to figure out what to do for entertainment on any given evening, like that guy on the right in the photo.  The Cloud in Athens, GA is making that a little easier.

First of all, it’s a 24-block wireless internet zone in the downtown, so one can easily look up the local entertainment scene online.  However, most of us aren’t carrying our laptops wherever we’re going.  Which brings us to the second feature of the cloud - text message

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As our trade deficit grows, the American economy becomes less stable and thus the dollar grows weaker.  Both the proactive solution and the reactive inevitability is to buy local, and that ultimately leads to supporting local businesses since most of what the American national chains buy (ie Wal-mart) are increasingly from overseas - as this story reveals.

So, kudos to America Unchained!, a one-day buy local promotion (albeit Nov. 20th) sponsored by the American Independent Business Alliance

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In January 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank announced a new economic development initiative it sponsored to invest in New England’s “creative industries, a creative workforce and community life that is rich in creativity and cultural heritage.“  Business, cultural and political leaders from each of New England’s states came together to establish the progressive regional industry association, the Creative Economy Council.

Why?  They found via a study (published by the equivalent of a New

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Cities and the Creative Class is for studious fans of Richard Florida’s best-seller, The Rise of the Creative Class.  It is a collection of the research that lead to ‘Rise’, ‘in full empirical detail and analysis the key premises on which the argument of Rise are based’.

It is also a primer for the highly-anticipated sequel that is coming out on March 15, 2005, The Flight of the Creative Class: Why America is Losing the Competition for Talent… and What We Can Do to Win Prosperity Back. 

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It’s tradition in Spain and Portugal to have family dinners outdoors, and to have it as a social event as well, which is why you’ll find so many paseos (pedestrian-only streets).  Think of it as a street by day and a grand outdoor dining room by night.

Unfortunately we don’t have too many of these kinds of places in this country, and rarer so in neighborhoods that would benefit from such community-building events.  That makes it even harder for people to socialize and meet new people as it

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The conflict - car sharing isn’t available in every city, much less every neighborhood, much less on your block, even though the demand is there.

The solution - Zipcar is offering its Dedicated Zipcar program where an apartment management company, real estate developer, university or company could have brand new Zipcars on-site for its people.  The cars, reservations, payment, membership and customer service are handled by Zipcar - while the client makes up (or even profits from) the

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