Oh thank heaven, it’s not 7-11

Have you walked through 7-11 looking for something to eat and just can’t seem to relate? Or rather, when was the last time you walked in. Like many cultural creatives, you’re looking for an alternative, something better, something like…

...maybe a Fresh ‘N’ Friends? So the name may be a little corny, but then again, it’d be a foreign language to its patrons (which is otherwise cool) because it’s located in Berlin, Germany. So what makes it different,

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In continuing last week’s entries on redefining streets the way we’re redefining buildings (green), food (organic), and the music industry (crowdsourcing), here’s a sample of that shift on a city scale... a slow city, green city, city 2.0, organic city, remixed city, authentic city if you will.

Paris’ mayor vowed in 2001 to reduce car traffic/congestion by 40% by 2020.  It’s the kind of thing auto-oriented generations see as a travesty of driving freedom (which ironically it’s anything but

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New terms for pedestrian-only streets (2 of 2)

Ah, the power of crowdsourcing...

Realizing the need for a new generation of terms for pedestrian-only streets, what better process than to ask groups of creatives for suggestions, both virtually and in person. Here’s their starting list of informal creative class market driven terms that they feel communicate a shift in how we think about streets:

Slow streets - There’s the slow food movement, the anti-fast food campaign promoting taste,

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New set of terms needed for pedestrian-only streets

Pedestrian-only street. It’s the primary term used to describe a street for pedestrians only.  Makes sense, but it’s clumsy and the acronym is even worse.

We need to reframe these terms. There’s been significant cultural and economic shifts in the last ten years, and thus there are countless words in our everyday lexicon that didn’t exist ten years ago (google, wiki, and increasingly crowdsourcing), and more so, words that have taken on a

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“How can I keep chains out of my neighborhood?“

It’s a familiar refrain from urban creatives, such as the following one from a progressive developer, “How can you legally do this? Keep out the chains and corporate company’s like Starbucks, the Gap, TGI Friday’s, McDonalds, HARD ROCK CAFE’S! They are all part of the whole “Generica” movement, you could be anywhere in the country and not no where you are based on your surroundings. I want [our neighborhood] to be something you can’t just get

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How popular is Paris’ recently launched bike sharing program, Velib (short for velo libre, “free bike”), after one week? 45,000-trips-a-day’ popular, and that’s just the beginning.

The basic facts:
- 10,000 bikes, 20,000 by the end of 2007
- 300 stations, 900 by the end of 2007
- 17,000 annual passes sold after one week
- 45,000 trips/day, with a goal of 250,000 trips/day
- $40/29 euros for an annual pass
- $1.40/1 euro for a half-hour trip, and the price increases over time to encourage

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Companies now contributing to the bike share movement

We know that companies often drive positive change much more effectively than government (especially in North America), such as what Whole Foods has done for organics. This has been just the opposite when it comes to transportation, pitting the private sector auto industry vs public sector mass transit. Is there any sign of a shift at all?

Possibly, starting with a simple, but noble gesture from a triple-bottom-line bank, Vancity, in

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How South Beach became popular (before it became too popular)

Today South Beach, Miami FL is no longer known as a place where you go out to see your friends, but a place to go with your friends to see and be seen, where you’re not fixated on the persons at your dining table, but at who may walk in at any moment.

However, before it become such a Hollywood-oriented mecca, how did it go from a district of decaying buildings and drug dealers in the 1970s to a place desirable by the most

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The preeminent event for art and technology

“This (Hatchfest) (profiled yesterday) looks really cool! But for us who don’t live in the states… do you know if there are any similar things going on in Europe?“

That would easily be the Ars Electronica Festival showcasing art and technology, which has had a major economic and cultural impact on its annual host city, Linz, Austria.

Not only was Linz a declining steel town that knew it had to transition to the information economy to survive,

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Film, music, writing, fine arts, fashion, photography, architecture, design…

...are some pretty desirable talents in establishing both a cultural and economic base for any city, but what has that got to do with Bozeman, MT and Asheville, NC?  A lot, thanks to an increasingly popular event known as Hatchfest.

Held annually in Bozeman since fall 2004 and for the first time in Asheville in spring 2008, students from around the world participate in competitions and exhibitions while being

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‘Best (big) cities for young profes-sionals’

Where to go if getting a job is just as important as having a life?  Forbes provides their annual Best Cities for Young Professionals to help you decide based on the following criteria:

- Where the graduates of top universities ended up 10 years later (only counting those who moved right after graduating to discount any ‘unfair advantages’, as well as adjusting for population);
- Where the best business opportunities exist (based on Forbes’ list

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Neighbors form their own development firm to do it right

As they say, if you want something done right, do it yourself, and that’s just what the neighbors of historic Curtis Park (just outside of downtown Denver) did.

It started with one progressive-minded resident (and architect), Cathy Bellem, who realized an empty lot in their ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood was being bid on to build a project to maximize profit at the expense of the local character. She took it upon

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Time for indie tenants to meet real estate investors halfway

While it’s , it’s also time for local independent tenants to make it easier for developers to lease to them. The simple reason why an overwhelming majority of new developments prefer leasing out to national chains rather than local independent businesses is because chains can pay more rent, and that’s because they have an established patronage once they open. This is why

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Where are the majority of our country’s real estate development investment dollars? Take a look at any of the highlighted projects GlobeSt.com, the de factor real estate investors website, and you’ll see the problem. In the now outdated industrial economy, it didn’t make any sense to build one customized widget when you could mass produce thousands for a lot less.

With investment it’s the same - all your pension and insurance payments are sourcing a tremendous pool of capital that has to be

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NY follows France’s lead with bike sharing

Good ideas spread fast. It’s not official yet, but New York City is prepping to establish a city-wide bike sharing program like in France, started in Lyon and recently adopted by Paris with 10,000 bikes at 750 stations.

Today is the last day you can pilot the system during a test run of 20 bikes with a few stations. As described in our profile of the overwhelmingly successful French model, the first half an hour is free and you can leave the bike

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Using wikinomics to enliven your neighborhood

Yesterday we took a look at the rising need to capture a community’s collective brilliance, which happens too randomly and ubiquitously to be of any use in today’s rigid business processes. Enter Wikinomics, the wikipedia approach to business.

With collaborative tools like wikis, many progressive organizations will utilize much smaller, decentralized teams, whose primary role will be to monitor creative input rather than directly provide it.

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Rise of the wiki community

Hundreds of people in your neighborhood have moments of brilliance on what would make it a better community economically, socially and environmentally (ie a coffeehouse having its very own socially-minded social network), but then those ideas are gone, usually for years if not forever, like that acclaimed research paper back in college. That will no longer be the case in the near future.

First a look at the problem, using this excerpt from the book Wikinomics by

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Attainable urban live-work flex housing

In Michigan the housing market is ‘absolutely horrendous’, according to Geoff Greeneisen, VP of local developer, the Terra Land Group. So they’ve decided to supply what has been one of the strongest, most ignored demands in the market - attainable, entry-level downtown housing for Generation X, Generation Y, and “black-collar creatives.”

“These younger buyers are just what a community with a downtown needs. When a place to live costs a great deal

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Pittsburgh’s Cool Space Awards 2007

If you’re looking for a cool workplace you need a service like Pittsburgh Cool Space Locator, which finds office space for companies in the ‘coolest’ neighborhoods, as they say. If you’re seeking meaningful examples of cool workplaces, check out their annual Cool Space Awards (winners pictured), where you can get full profiles of the projects outlined below:

Reflect
Blacksmith Studio - Painstaking historic physical/cultural restoration (third right).
The

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What makes a ‘Fast City’?

The previous entry profiled The 30 Fastest Cities to Work, Live and Play around the world, but what makes them fast, or does being a fast city even mean? The term comes from Fast Company magazine, and is essentially a city that attracts, well, fast companies, defined as the most creative, smartest, effective, innovative and as a result, fastest growing in single and triple-bottom line impact terms.

So, what makes a Fast City? According to Fast Company it takes

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‘The 30 Fastest Cities to Work, Live and Play’

What better source than Fast Company magazine to list the fastest cities in 2007. Here’s their Fast Cities 2007, with category, city, population and primary reason it’s fast in its respective category:

Creative Class Meccas
Shanghai, China: 14.5M; investment
New York: 18.8M; income per capita
San Francisco Bay Area: 4.2M; technology
Buenos Aires, Argentina: 12.6M; university

Global Villages
Toronto, Canada: 5.1M; diversity/immigration

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