Pub on wheels

A year ago we profiled the conference bike from the Netherlands, which allowed seven people on one bike together - and have a ‘conference’ at the same time. Be it no surprise that the Dutch now bring us the Fietscafe (pictured above), or the PedalPub as it’s known (and distributed) in the USA. If the world has a biking scene, it’s hands down in the Netherlands.

This time instead of seven, there are fourteen people that can ride at the same time, each of them pedaling at their

read more…

Austin looks to keep their ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ reputation

How important is live music to the city of Austin? How many cities do you know of that have a Live Music Task Force? Not only that, the city-funded group won’t consist of the usual suspect government bureaucrats, but local musicians, music venue owners and regular music-loving Austin residents - all deciding how to spend the government’s money to keep Austin’s Live Music Capital of the World reputation thriving.

The

read more…

This is a question I’m often asked - how can crowdsourcing help develop and/or revitalize a commercial district, especially a natural cultural district?

It starts with preparation, understanding crowdsourcing as a solution to a ‘cloud problem’, and recognizing the importance of third places, scenes and events. Read more about their roles here.

The first action step involves establishing a creative community, which will then crowdsource the scene for the district, such as as arts and

read more…

This diagram illustrates how crowdsourcing is used to solve a cloud problem, that diffuse, difficult to pin down dilemma such as how to establish a creative scene in a designated district.

In the graphic, note how creatives and ‘sponsors’ (those who contribute significant investment dollars or buildings) work from the ‘clouds’ (via a physical and virtual social network), collaborating on a specific problem with a common vision - a clock problem; a clearly definable situation, like how to

read more…

My favorite category on this website is Reader Experiences. What better way to profile inspiring places than to have readers relive such moments. Today’s such person is Christian MacAuley, CEO of FabApps. Her experience:

“Philz Coffee in San Francisco makes your coffee one cup at a time. It feels special and tastes awesome. After waiting in line to be served, a staff member makes your coffee with you one-on-one, asking for your exact preferences so you’re getting very individualized

read more…

As stated in a previous entry, the primary reason why an overwhelming majority of new retail developments lease to national chains rather than local independent businesses is that chains can pay higher rents.  They’re able to do so because they already have an established customer base before they open.  This makes it extremely difficult to establish a natural cultural district, which is why we have ‘Anywhere USA’ instead.

How can local indie shops and restaurants compete with such a

read more…

‘Third places’ for bicycle commuters

We know third places are that familiar social gathering place away from home and work, and we’re thankfully witnessing a renaissance of them in neighborhoods everywhere. So, it was inevitable that as more creatives turn to more natural means of transportation we would start to see third places for biking commuters, aka urban bike stations (thank you Springwise).

You’re in luck if you live in the following cities with urban bike stations, all of which

read more…

London’s three public markets in one

If you live anywhere near Notting Hill in London you may never have to shop anywhere outside of Portobello Road, where the Portobello Road Market comes to life each day.  Over a half mile long and closed to cars, it features three distinct public markets:

Monday-Friday, 9am-6:30pm with half-day closing on Thursday, 1pm:  Fruit and vegetable market, with flowers and food vendors, primarily serving the locals.

Friday, Saturday, 9am-6:30 pm:  Flea market,

read more…

Every once in a while a checklist is highly beneficial to remind one of the fundamentals. Today we bring you a civic-minded one from Project for Public Spaces*, Is Your City a Great City?

PPS’s checklist has seven principles with three to four action-oriented steps each, as you can see here. Below are those principles with the most cool town, natural cultural district-focused tactic to achieve each one:

Community goals are a top priority in city planning
Utilize crowdsourced placemaking. 

read more…

Looking for a solid, short read on crowdsourcing? The best book to date to satisfy that would have to be We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business (at least until Crowdsourcing: ‘Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business’ comes out July 2008). For the concise-minded, not only is We Are Smarter a mere 147 pages, but it’s full of pictures as well.

A look at the chapters, all of which provide lots of real world examples.

1. Look What ‘We’ Can

read more…

‘Pull your own pint’ - a bar within a bar

Say you’re at a bar with friends, and you want to sample a few beers, or you just want a half pint to cap off the evening, or you’re in the mood for a hefeweizen right now. There’s also something festive and congenial about refilling everyone’s mugs from a pitcher on the table.

It was inevitable, and it has arrived - self-serve tables with their own draft taps (and metered displays), which you’ll for the time being have to travel to Pilsen,

read more…

Is establishing a creative community like herding cats?

It’s not easy, according to research findings in Richard Florida’s Who’s Your City?“Who’s Your City?. The following excerpt from his book highlighting the findings of another colleague, Christopher Peterson Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, best explains the cloud problem of development a creative community akin to herding cats.

“Peterson’s independent analysis of his strengths data and my own creativity measures

read more…

Continuing our look at Richard Florida’s new book, Who’s Your City?, one eye-opening study Rich’s team conducted was their Place and Happiness Survey.

The survey received 27,000 responses on what things matter the most to U.S. Americans in their communities, which were later organized into five major categories: economic and personal security (jobs, perceptions of crime and safety); basic services (schools, affordable housing, transportation); leadership (business and civic, opportunity for

read more…

Why the personality of your place matters

One of my favorite graphics in Richard Florida’s new book, Who’s Your City?, are the Personality Maps, based on the study, The Geography Distribution of Big Five Personality Traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness).

Two psychologists who worked on the study, Sam Gosling and Jason Rentfrow; Kevin Stolarick, responsible for much of the statistical analysis in Rich’s work, collaborated with Rich through surveys

read more…

The growing economic impact of the creative class

Richard Florida’s Who’s Your City?, profiled in the previous entry and available starting today, focuses on why place matters dearly in attracting the creative class.  However, the book provides an effective visual (above) and an entire section among four on why the creative class matters in the first place.

Notice the rise in the creative class workforce along with services, and the decline in manufacturing and agriculture, especially to

read more…

Richard Florida’s new book, Who’s Your City?

First there was the best-selling Rise of the Creative Class that introduced the creative class and the creative economy in the U.S., followed by Flight of the Creative Class which took a global perspective.  On March 10, 2008, economist and author Richard Florida presents Who’s Your City?, which is best explained by its tagline,  How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life.

The book is organized into

read more…

The CoolTown visual guide to crowdsourced placemaking

What is crowdsourced placemaking? A beta community? Creatives, VIBEs, third places, scenes, natural cultural districts…?  All of that is explained in one definitive 13-page document, the CoolTown visual guide to crowdsourced placemaking and economic development, Crowdsourcing Cool Places for Creatives, published by CoolTown Beta Communities.

The table of contents:
The conflict: Cities are hitting a wall
Where creatives are attracted to

read more…

Austin music event brings in $95 million

We all know how important music and events are to local culture, but what about to the local economy? The City of Austin wanted to find out what kind of $ impact its annual SXSW (South by Southwest) music, film and interactive festival provided and got their answer: $95 million.

Conducted by Angelou Economics, the $95 million figure that the festival was calculated to have brought to Austin’s local economy in 2007 was double that of estimates by the

read more…

Profile of a future VIBE

To refresh your memory, a VIBE is a variegated independent business entrepreneur, the creative, evolved version of the franchise operator, that opens multiple unique, authentic businesses under different names and concepts, but with a common system of delivering high quality product and service.

Smart City Radio recently interviewed a young budding VIBE and former attorney in Pittsburgh’s East End, Jamie Wallace who opened his first restaurant ever, Abay Ethiopian

read more…

Small town absorbing growth in the center

What happens when your population doubles from 10,000 in 2000 to 20,000 today? In the case of Woodstock, Georgia, 30 miles north of Atlanta, the result will be a vibrant downtown rather than sprawl and congestion - thanks to investment in the city core.

They’re off to a good start, with their downtown plan winning a regional development of excellence award followed by a national award (CNU Charter Awards).  The plan consists of 340 residential

read more…

Finally, a one-stop-shop for green building materials

If you wanted a resource for green building materials you had more resources than ethnic restaurants in Manhattan.  At long last, there’s Ecolect, whose mission is “to be the largest, freely accessible sustainable materials library in the world.“

In 2005, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) graduates Joe Gebbia and Matt Grigsby felt the same way so many of us do about finding sustainable materials - it’s confusing, uninspiring and

read more…