So, how does one get the CoolTown-oriented support groups of future tenants, municipalities, universities and investors/developers to collaborate?  This is where true public-private partnerships come in, that is, a new business (ie joint venture) created from these entities.

Much of Silicon Valley’s monumental economic rise can be attributed to such a joint venture.  In fact, it was (and still is) called Joint Venture Silicon Valley, with government, business, education and citizens engaged

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Support groups are built on trust and are the basis for a strong sense of community, often coming together from a striking emotional issue.  Just look at what hurricanes and other selected disasters do for building community in small towns.  Count rage-generating traffic congestion and massive job hemorrhages among them.

The need for CoolTown-oriented support groups arises in four areas, all manifested by the need for building a CoolTown itself:

Creatives, entrepreneurs, progressives:  These

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A common phrase in commerce is that business is all about relationships.  On the residential end, a sense of community is also all about relationships.  The CoolTown process relies on building such relationships from planning to reality, and the key to success its fostering constant conversation.

In the CoolTown planning phase, these conversations are facilitated through support groups.  That is, people who share a common cause, often dealing with a common problem.  There’s a resulting sense

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CoolTown Studios and the content on this daily blog represent the growing trend of creatively entrepreneurial urban villages that are filling the emotional and financial holes in people’s lives.

It’s oftentimes difficult to explain this vision.  While it’s far easier to understand by people who have lived and worked in places like Greenwich Village, Cambridge and the West Bank of Paris, perhaps learning the meaning behind CoolTown studios will help.

‘Cool’ - as defined on Monday’s blog, is

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In a matter of a year or two, a handful of visionaries are able to initiate a business venture that generates $20-$200 million of profit within a few weeks of product introduction, gaining national recognition at the same time, and even changing people’s lives.

This is the film-producing norm for Hollywood’s movie studios, known as the Hollywood Model, a term popularized by Dr. Charles Grantham and his research on productive modern work trends.  The movie studios act as a catalyst for, in

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Here’s one dictionary definition:  Cool - (informal) very good.

Now, in no shape or form are we going to define cool for anyone, especially when building a community.  No, that ain’t too cool, though unfortunately that’s the way it’s been for decades now - ‘we will build it and you will come’.

The CoolTown Studios methodology in developing communities is to involve the most innovative, entrepreneurial, active, creative, passionate people, the ones already most associated with the word cool. 

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Continuing this week’s focus on the CoolTown Program...

Phase II:  Building the Physical Community

Successful talent attraction comes down to providing three key elements:  Entertainment, jobs and affordability, in that order.  Fulfilling just one, or even two elements won’t make it happen.  All three must be brought together, and that requires building a CoolTown.

Why is entertainment (& arts) first?  Most young professionals won’t take a dream job if it were in a small farm town,

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Continuing this week’s focus on the CoolTown Program...

OK, we’re committed to becoming a CoolTown.  What are the next steps?

Phase I:  Building the Human Community

The first phase is building the community of people that are not only going to lead the effort of becoming a CoolTown, but who will actually live, work and grow new businesses there.  This CoolTown Market Creation program envisions a five-step process:

1. The CoolTown 100 - We’ll establish a collaborative of the most

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A great vision doesn’t really matter if it can’t be implemented.  Implementation doesn’t mean much if it no one cared for the vision.

The key to the CoolTown Program is to combine a great vision with the financial capacity to implement it.  That means letting the people who will live/work in the community design it, and finding investors who will finance it.

The program summary, which is downloadable, begins:

“The San Francisco Bay Area, Denver and Charlotte made attracting young

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