The busiest restaurant in town…

In yesterday’s entry, I questioned why rooftop dining was so rare, and today I provide an example that flies in the face of ‘old economy’ downtown development - Lauriol Plaza; probably the most successful restaurant in the entire Washington DC area.

What are its secrets to such crazed popularity that the waiting time for dinner is at least an hour every single night?  No secret really…

It’s has top-notch service and is located in the heart of an urban,

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Rooftop dining - why so rare?

I was sitting next to a friend of mine whose girlfriend exclaimed, “I feel like going to one of those restaurants with rooftop dining!“  It wasn’t a difficult decision, being that there were really only two choices in the neighborhood.  Which made me wonder, why are there only two?

It’s easier to figure why not.  First of all, it’s practically free real estate space, compared to most rooftops that add no value.  The same with patio dining, but that’s another

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Learning innovation from Gorillaz

Inspiring places have an energy, a vibe, a freshness that says you’re going to experience things you haven’t before, whether it’s food, music, people, design, ideas or a unique combination of them all.  The secret yet unasked question is, “How can a place maintain such a demanding creative edge?“

Ask a group that recenty sold 6 million albums, Gorillaz.  It’s a virtual band presented as cartoon characters, and no one knows the exact line-up of artists except

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The first internationally themed public market

It’s a global economy, so how can small businesses compete?  They can become a tenant in Minneapolis’ coming global marketplace, the Midtown Global Market, the first of its kind anywhere.

The market will feature 60 local merchants representing Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, andd the Middle East, and African American and Native American business owners.  Another innovative element of the market is that these businesses will be divided by

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Contemporary public markets instead of Wal-marts?

That’s the theme of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) October newsletter - one of the freshest, most comprehensive guides to public markets anywhere.  These aren’t just those ad hoc groups of merchants on the street corner, public and farmers’ markets are evolving with the modern times (see tomorrow’s entry.)

New PPS studies that document these greater economic gains over ‘big boxes’ will be revealed at their public markets conference at

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There’s even a website dedicated to the special day at www.22september.org, though it seems to cover the topic of car-free living so comprehensively that they forgot to mention Sept. 22.

I was in Madison, WI on Car Free Day last year, and I remember it well as I saw the city’s mayor give a sincere and impassioned speech that morning on how important it was to Madison’s progressive culture.  Wait a minute, I think I blogged that.

Unfortunately, most of the news on the concept is outside the

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Why is it that the most pedestrian-oriented streets in the U.S. are found in resorts? The reason being that people in second-home communities have no need to commute to work, so the car is de-emphazed. Plus, they’re looking to pay for a higher quality of life. Well, that sounds a lot like the lifestyle of minipreneurs, so expect to see these pedestrian-first principles in more everyday, urban neighborhoods.

Here’s a preview - just use your imagination and apply the following to urban settings

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The modern businessperson - the ‘minipreneur’

It’s becoming an eBay world as the heirs to the rat race cubicle world are emerging.  Goodbye office park commuting, hello minipreneurship.

Gotta love the people at Trendwatching.com - here’s their definiton: minipreneurs: a vast army of consumers turning entrepreneurs; including small and micro businesses, freelancers, side-businesses, weekend entrepreneurs, web-driven entrepreneurs, part-timers, free agents, cottage businesses, seniorpreneurs,

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We all have opinions on how we’d improve the places we live, work and play in, but rarely see that influence our surrounding built environment.  Well, if this customer-made trend continues to evolve, we won’t have to wait much longer.

Customer-made (as defined by Trendwatching.com): the phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in what actually gets

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More choices = more successful downtowns?

If there’s more variety and choice, will people purchase less or more?

One thing’s for sure, according to a University of Pennsylvania study, “If there is a perception of increased variety, people eat more,” says Barbara Kahn, vice dean and director of the university’s vaunted Wharton Business School Undergraduate Division and expert in consumer choice and brand loyalty.  They even conducted a study with jelly beans to further substantiate their

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Universities are starting to respond to the long-time reality that people simply don’t enjoy working (or are as productive) in the typical isolated campus research park devoid of human scale or residential, retail and entertainment vitality.

Johns Hopkins University is one of them, with their 80-acre Science + Technology Park adjacent to their medical complex. Notice how it continues the existing walkable urban fabric around it.  That’s the Johns Hopkins medical complex at the bottom of the

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Seeking to grow, but with no room to do so, Columbia University worked with New York City to rezone a nearby low-density industrial area (warehouses, auto service stations) to transform it into a mixed-use urban village with contemporary classroom/office space, housing, restaurants and retail (see before and after image.)  The 18-acre site will allow the university to grow by a whopping 50%.

To get an idea of how efficient this vision is, compare these 18 acres dedicated to at least 10,000

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The most vibrant, thriving town centers and main streets occur near universities, from Pearl Street in Boulder near the Univ. of Colorado to Main Street in Charlottesville near the Univ. of Virginia.  The list is endless.  Why?  Because there’s no better population for live music, indie restaurants and 24/7 nightlife than students and recent graduates.

So maybe Arizona State University realizes this well enough to build their own town center (or two), as pictured on the right side of the

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In continuation of yesterday’s entry on built examples of the ‘next university’, here’s one that’s a sign of where things are going, this one at Ohio State University in Columbus.

South Campus Gateway is a $150M four-block mixed-use urban village located between the University and one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, with 30+ retail shops, university office space, multiplex cinema and nearly 200 rental apartments. 2-bedroom ‘loft apartments’ with great views and 10-ft. ceilings will rent

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In 2003 I presented a vision for how contemporary universities will blend seamlessly into neighborhoods and cities, via articles on site plans and imagery.  Two years later, it’s nice to be able to show photos of built projects instead.

This photo is not of a complex for office workers, but the University of Pennsylvania’s Sansom Common, designed to provide a supermarket, entertainment (theaters and restaurants), shopping and public safety for its students, and a hotel for university

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‘Free money’ for CoolTown projects

Say you want to develop a $10 million

Town development - transforming a number of historic buildings into contemporary loft offices, residences and indie (independent) businesses.  Say you have only $6 million.

It can be done without giving up any equity.  The federal government already has two programs in place to provide that other $4 million, and they are:

Historic Tax Credits:  Provides up to 20% of the rehabilitation costs (essentially all the

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The one ‘how-to’ book to get for ‘New Urbanism’

While New Urbanism is more about placemaking than economic development, and a quick search of Google images will illustrate that many new urbanist projects are rather suburban at this point, the movement is trending toward urban, and many of the suburban projects are urban in nature.

That said, if you’re looking for a development guide on placemaking and can filter out its suburban-oriented content if you’re focused on city/urban/CoolTown

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Not in the U.S.

Why not?  Count how many cars there are.  Zero.

Ironically, it’s designed by a U.S. firm, the sterling urban design firm, RTKL.  Unfortunately for the U.S., this development, called Huadi Kunshan New City, is envisioned for Kunshan, China.  So why is China so darn lucky?

Because most people in China walk rather than drive, developers are confident they can build a neighborhood de-emphasizing cars.  While this isn’t true for the average American citizen, such a neighborhood

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New Orleans’ French Quarter spared

Considered one of the most beautiful (and active, being a focal point for Mardi Gras) neighborhoods in the country, many feared the destruction of the historic French Quarter after Katrina.  Thankfully sitting on the highest ground in New Orleans, the community rose above the flooding.

As covered in this popular AP story, the neighborhoods’ residents, many of whom are the working poor living above the restaurants and bars that cater to the more affluent,

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So close to being a great neighbor- hood, yet so far

Sweden’s new contemporary urban village for a 1000 people, Bo01, is a model destination in many ways except its lack of affordability.  Unfortunately, that one shortcoming alone has seriously compromised the community’s original vision.

First, the good:

- The streets are walkable, organic in layout, human-scaled and oriented to surprise views, like in historic European city centers, with cafes and restaurants running throughout.
- Cars

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Businesses grow in cities, decline outside of it

At least that’s the conclusion of Dr. Virginia Carlson, associate professor at the Dept. of Urban Planning, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, based on her World Business Chicago studies and experience.

In Chicago, when businesses are growing they seek the best sources of talent, riskier financial capital, energy, wi-fi, and meeting spaces (cafes), and that she says, is in city centers.  When they start to decline, which most businesses eventually

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