We often ask creatives, ‘what’s missing in your city or town that you would crowdsource?‘ Well, I think a lot more of them would be inspired by the following…

The folks in Arlington County, Virginia are not only looking to sponsor a $10 million, 55,000 s.f. urban creative center in one of their key downtown areas (Rosslyn), they’re looking to crowdsource it.  From the Washington Post article, Dreaming of a Rosslyn Renaissance: At the Old Newseum Building, Arlington County Plans Again to

read more…

Sometimes a higher calling means living in a home one could actually afford, depending on location of course. That’s the case at Francis Street Lofts in Charleston, South Carolina, where a former church built in 1937 (serving as a costume shop in the 1990s) now provides homes for young professionals.

The renovated building consists of twelve one-bedroom units ranging from 621 s.f. to 930 s.f., priced between $170,000 and $250,000.  Smaller units are what creatives are looking for in a down

read more…

It’s a fairly common phenomenon, when things are bad, people seek camaraderie. When things become difficult across an entire city or economy, people seek a sense of community.

So, how does that translate to our own cities and neighborhoods? A renewed, and perhaps, more authentic interest in contributing to both public gathering places and local venues, specifically third places. Not only that, but crowdsourcing is a natural community-building methodology for doing so. Project for Public

read more…

Via creative economist Richard Florida, Kevin Stolarick at the Martin Prosperity Institute and BusinessWeek, here are the top 25 Best Cities for Gen Y. The rankings are based on more than thirty weighted variables in five categories: the share of a population at the young and single life stage, economic strength; education levels and safety; economic growth; and local amenities, measuring all 363 metropolitan areas in the U.S.

1. Boulder, Colorado (90K) - Progressive vibe, outdoor recreation,

read more…

It’s not often that you hear a headline like that, and I’m not sure it’s ever been claimed actually, but the real estate development firm, Renaissance Downtowns is committing to indeed, crowdsource downtowns. Not only that, but they’re focused on attracting creatives, with the help of CoolTown Beta Communities.

“Renaissance intends to address the needs of the Creatives by engaging this emerging market through crowdsourcing methodologies that have lead to the success of many technology

read more…

The question often asked in Michigan, and the U.S. in general nowadays, is ‘What about Detroit?‘  The mass exodus of jobs is well known.

What’s less well known is that much of the city’s historic pedestrian-oriented districts, the very kinds of neighborhoods that are the core magnet for economy-building knowledge workers, have long been destroyed. Not only that, but the present-day urban fabric is immensely auto-oriented, with extra-wide streets and machine-like buildings. So, even if

read more…

Coworking “is the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.“ This Urban Omnibus article Work and the Open Source City takes a contemporary look at coworking today. The two main types that are emerging…

The permanent coworking space - You can find a list here of the hundreds of permanent coworking sites around the world, typically run

read more…

First we had the federal government funding crowdsourced placemaking solutions, and now they’re crowdsourcing transportation solutions! Who would have thought the federal government would be out-innovating the private sector.

Located in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) is sponsoring a $50,000 prize for the best crowdsourced solution to our traffic congestion

read more…

If even the federal government is funding a crowdsourced placemaking project, you know the private sector is getting a serious wake-up call. The resulting program, Crowdsourcing Public Participation in Transit Planning, is experienced predominantly through its website at nextstopdesign.com, which launched in the past week.

The U.S. Federal Transit Administration, under their 2008 grant program for Innovative Small Research Projects to Advance Public Participation Related to Public

read more…