Check out those street lamps!

The street lamps in the photo above (yes, that's a photo) were crafted by an artist especially for this neighborhood. Yes, they're just light fixtures, but on the other hand, when was the last time:

a. you've seen light fixtures that looked like that at all? Tim Burton movies don't count.
b. you've seen street lamps created exclusively for a neighborhood?
c. you've seen this Metropolitain sign? Chances are you have. They have the same story of originality and authenticity, and are associated with only one city in the world, Paris. Not bad for a simple, modest sign don't you think?

This speaks to the power of establishing your own local identity via how many good stories you can tell about what makes your neighborhood one-of-a-kind special. These stories have an even greater impact of progressiveness if it's something as mundane as an outdoor light fixture, which by the way are located in the Selbourne neighborhood of Serenbe, Georgia.

In addition, the street lamps aren't an isolated thought or happy accident, but a deliberate manifestation of the neighborhood's profoundly embraced art scene - more on that tomorrow. Sure, happy accidents are ideal, but you can't count on them, and as they say, "luck happens when preparedness meets opportunity".

Thanks to Erin Caricofe for the reference to Serenbe! Btw, if you watch the video featured on her January '08 blog entry you'll never think about 'stuff' the same way again.

Gen Xers get credit for rise of walkable urbanism

Who is sourcing the growing popularity in walkable urban areas and city downtowns?

Chris Leinberger is an industry leader in defining financial models for urban developments and the author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream. He's also a baby boomer, which is significant in his answer to the Smart City Radio interview question, "Why is there pent up demand for walkable urbanism?"

"It's basically being driven by the Gen Xers, and I'm sure the Gen Xers will be happy to hear this, it's finally not the baby boomers doing something. The Gen Xers were brought up on 'Friends', 'Seinfeld', and an image of urbanism that was different than their parents and grandparents and they saw walkable urbanism as a very exciting, safe way to live their lives."

Chris also goes on to explain why real estate in walkable urban areas are so costly:

"There just isn't enough of this stuff. The market is in front of our ability to produce this. Somewhere between 30-45% of the households want walkable urbanism (with another being 30% are urban agnostic). Most American metropolitan areas have no more than 5-10% supply. So you've got this pent up demand and little supply, you get those 40-200% price premiums for 'walkable urban product'."

Image source: Haarlem, Netherlands by slabbers.

When you boil it down to the basic elements, the metrics of a place's success answers the question, 'Are the people happy?' To some researchers, this is more science than art, as explained in Air Canada's enRoute article, The Happy City. City mayors are making sweeping changes, most of which center on replacing cars with grand public third places.

University of British Columbia economics professor John Helliwell, who studies happiness and social connections, states that frequency of positive interaction is the key, so the more we meet outside of our cars, the kinder and gentler we're likely to become.

Some examples:

Paris: Mayor Bertrand Delanoë founded the Paris Beach, will ban all suburban cars from the city core by 2012 and provided 20,000 virtually free bikes downtown.

Bogotá, Columbia: Its mayor legislated the transformation of roads into parks and pedestrian "freeways."

Mexico City's mayor is also lobbying for investment in urban beaches and bikeways, Seoul replaced downtown freeway with parks and streams, and London implemented congestion charges to limit cars downtown.

Mental well being is also the purpose behind the new car-less city of Mandar, profiled in this recent entry.

'How To Be Creative' - from Gapingvoid, (3 of 3)

The last in this three part series interpreting Gapingvoid's How To Be Creative tips as it relates to cool towns and beta communities...

21. Selling out is harder than it looks. Don't water down/commercialize your ideas before you absolutely need to - you may be doing everyone a disservice. Our beta communities have a 'Building Exterior/Interior Image Brainstorm' where we encourage everyone to submit whatever place in the world inspires them.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself. In other words, do, don't talk about why you want to. Beta communities don't leave you a choice but to 'do', otherwise nothing will get built, which is why...

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

24. Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually. This illustrates the beauty of the beta community's social network - participants find inspiration comes naturally just being around so many creative people, and its online bulletin board captures those fleeting epiphanies for posterity. I can't emphasize the value of this enough.

25. You have to find your own schtick. People in beta communities not only have roles, they create ones they want to have, like a green-minded architect without a practicing license contributing exciting design examples, or simply a born leader who never had a chance to lead, but none of it matters if you don't...

26. Write from the heart.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it. Developers and investors repeatedly say the reason they don't build walkable, green, indie-business oriented destinations is that the market won't support it. Beta communities allow these ignored, progressive markets to build their own such places without their approval. This is when beta community members soon realize...

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually. If you suffer for your art, you suffer. If you sell out, you suffer from the accusation. You'll suffer either way, so you may as well build the live/work/play destination of your dreams in the process.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it. Here's a gold nugget from director Tim Burton to gapingvoid author, Hugh MacLeod, "If you have the creative bug, it isn't ever going to go away. I'd just get used to the idea of dealing with it." If you've got it, flaunt it... and throughout your community.

31. Remain frugal. There's a whole category on this site for this one, and it's a fundamental theme for all beta communities and their resulting cool places. Why? Because one can't always balance the fine line between doing only what you want to do and selling out

'How To Be Creative' - from Gaping-void, (2 of 3)

Continuing our look at Gapingvoid's tips on How To Be Creative as applied to cool towns and beta communities, from the previous entry...

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether. Keep in mind 'crowds' as defined here means 'markets'. Don't try and stand out by attempting to build an even better place and then selling it, but avoid that model altogether and co-develop it with people who share your values and principles, and it'll already be sold when it's built.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you. This applies to the risk-takers and early adopters who pioneer revitalization in a neighborhood - they readily accept the negative consequences of being the first ones, and thrive on its gradual evolution.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside. This relates to rule #7, the Sex & Cash Theory, where something you find spiritually rewarding is extremely difficult to make a living from without feeling like you're 'selling out'. The great thing about cool town beta communities is that there are always others who find it more spiritually rewarding than you.

14. Dying young is overrated. This is the value of establishing a community for creatives - a slew of drug-tastic artistic geniuses died young because they couldn't bear the pain when they were alone. Genius needs company.

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not. The most significant red line when crowdsourcing a place is knowing what decisions the developer/building/business owner is willing to let the group make, and which they aren't. For instance, the number and type of residential units may be decided by the group, but the final exterior designs may be left to the developer's professional design team.

16. The world is changing. This is the context under which beta communities are most valued, providing a collective intelligence in a vastly evolving world is the only way to truly compete anymore (see YouTube and eBay).

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't. Beta communities aren't made up of the most qualified in development, planning and policy, they're made up of the city's most passionate about experiencing inspiring places. It's up to the developer to bring in the expertise to facilitate that passion into built reality.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang. The Watercooler Gang as defined by gapingvoid are the people who gather to complain about the jobs they're inevitably going to leave or be fired from. That's because they have no control of the future. Beta communities are literally about defining that future, and complainers need to be reminded of the group's manifesto declaring why they have such a passion for the development they're co-creating.

19. Sing in your own voice. Beta communities and the developments they produce are only as good as how much its members self express themselves honestly, genuinely, authentically.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant. When it comes to beta communities, it doesn't matter if you express yourself via music, painting, film, writing or business, as long as you express yourself and contribute to making the place happen. All that stuff about artists thinking business guys are sell-outs or business guys thinking artists are slackers... irrelevant in a beta community.

'How To Be Creative' - from 'Gaping-void' (1 of 3)

You know creativity = economic growth, so how do you get more creative? Here's an alternative look, How To Be Creative, from none other than an extremely creative resource, gapingvoid, "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards". The site has a full description of the following tips, but here's a cool town, beta community-oriented interpretation of it:

1. Ignore everybody. People often can't handle good, original ideas for great places until you build them, so ignore them until then.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world. Think less of revitalizing an entire community by yourself, think more of helping build a great place in a community that sets the standard... to change the world.

3. Put the hours in. It takes years, sometimes decades, to effect change in a neighborhood. If you're committing any less, forget about it.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail. Don't wait for those magical investors to appear to finance your development. They won't come. Start building on your existing relationships, now.

5. You are responsible for your own experience. Don't stunt the growth of your experience waiting to be 'discovered' or having that 'big idea' or the 'right opportunity' - find what you can do now to make a difference in your community and start immediately (ie join a beta community).

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. And you know what, in Syracuse people are once again finding that box of crayons as they co-develop their very own place to live, work and play.

7. Keep your day job.
Here's a gapingvoid nugget, the 'Sex & Cash Theory' - keep at least two jobs, one job to manifest your passion (the sex), another to pay the bills (the cash). Hmm, that means beta communities would be analagous to a...

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity. This is essentially the aforementioned fact that creativity drives the economy now more than ever, so if you're not working with a creative developer or live in a city without creative leadership, prepare to be patient.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. When it comes to your own neighborhood, make it clear to everyone! An Italian piazza? A pedestrian-only district? Only local independent shops and restaurants? It may not be possible to 'reach the peak', but you'll get a lot further knowing where it is. Everyone in a beta community gets to define their 'peak' as a 'Personal Objective'.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props. Props, as in tools, or 'pillars' as gapingvoid describes it, like the lousy tennis player with the $500 racket. If there's one rule creatives live by it's this one, which is why they're creative, and why they seek out fringe neighborhoods - because they don't need anything more. The luxury condos and trendy restaurants are for the less talented.

More to come...

Thanks to Rasul Sha'ir at Vosica for the reference.

Trending 2008 into cool towns

Where is the market headed for 2008? While those who read this website often aren't tracking such knowledge since they're the trendsetters, a valued resource in discovering what trends they're setting is through Trendwatching and their report, 8 important consumer trends for 2008. Here's a look at each one and how they apply to cool towns:

1. Status Spheres - "a variety of lifestyles, activities and persuasions, which can be mixed and matched by consumers looking for recognition from various crowds and scenes." Example: Prius drivers. Cool town status sphere? People who co-develop/crowdsource their own places to live, work and play.

2. Premiumization - "no industry, no sector, no product will escape a premium version in the next 12 months." Example: Bottled water. Cool town premiumization? How about a de-premiumization of urban lofts that are high style and low cost.

3. Snack Culture - "embodies the phenomenon of products, services and experiences becoming more temporary and transient; products that are being deconstructed in easier to digest, easier to afford bits, making it possible to collect even more experiences, as often as possible, in an even shorter timeframe." Example: Smart cars, H&M. Cool town snack culture? Car sharing, bike sharing, ipads.

4. Online Oxygen - "control-craving consumers needing online access as much as they need oxygen". Example: Mobile phone ubiquity. Cool town online oxygen? Ubiquitous wi-fi access (ie a digital infrastructure replacing an asphalt one).

5. Eco-Iconic - "eco-friendly goods and services sporting bold, iconic design and markers, that help their eco-conscious owners to visibly tout their eco-credentials to peers. Example: Honda FCX Clarity. Cool town eco-iconic? The upcoming crowdsourced Elements green restaurant in Washington DC.

6. Brand Butlers - "assisting consumers in smart, relevant ways, making the most of your products and whatever it is your brand stands for." Example: Charmin restrooms. Cool town brand butler? Developers allowing beta communities to co-develop their own places via collaborative websites.

7. MIY - Make It Yourself - "digitally designing products from scratch, then having them turned into real physical goods." Example: Ponoko. Cool town MIY? Of course, there's the co-development of a place, but beta community members can potentially digitally design their own residences.

8. Crowdmining - "when co-creating, co-funding, co-buying, co-designing, co-managing *anything* with 'crowds', the emphasis in 2008 will move from just getting the masses in, to mining those crowds for the rough and polished diamonds." Example: Netflix's $1 million prize for how to best predict consumer movie preferences. Cool town crowdmining? Identifying and rewarding the best designers, from architecture to logo design.

Image source: Your Daddy.

A sampling of the emerging consciousness for better cities...

So what are progressive, creative people saying about cities these days? Well, the only thing better than asking the regulars at a local, independent coffeehouse, is to ask the regulars at local, independent coffeehouses in 40 countries around the world.

That's just what the folks at likemind, a rhythmic gathering of likeminded individuals sharing coffee and stories every third Friday morning at local third places did on October 19, 2007. The question they posed that morning for people to answer:

“If you were to rebuild your city from scratch, how would you build it differently and what would you keep the same?”

Here's the conclusion:

- Create The Right Mix To Create The Right Neighborhoods
- Waterways as Transport Alternatives
- Bury The Car
- Green Space, More Urban Farms
- Build Up Not Out
- Slow Down, Ride A Bike, Take A Walk
- Where’s My Transport System?

Likemind summaries by city can be found here.

Pictured is one New Yorker's graphic (in more ways than one) answer that the likemind crowd provided as a model answer. Larger, readable version here.

Apartment renting takes a page from online dating

So many candidates, so little opportunity to find out which exactly which one is right for you. Wait a minute, are we talking about dating or finding an apartment? While searching for suitable dates via the internet is certainly not the most authentic approach, there's a lot to be learned from such a system when fittingly applied to the inanimate yet life-impacting relationship you'll have with where you choose to live.

Hubbuzz is the closest thing yet to a match.com for apartment hunting. Instead of entering in height, gender and personal interests, you provide neighborhood characteristics: walkable, urban, diverse, convenient to the city... The system is new so there aren't that many listing or host cities (just San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver (image above is from Lakewood), Northern Colorado and Colorado Springs), and the unit listings aren't that detailed (hardwood floors? loft? open floor plan?), but they're on the right track.

Apartment owners pay the dwelling matchmaker $375 for every renter they secure, and the renter gets a $100 for using the system as a reward (mainly to allow HubBuzz to validate their $375 commission).

Of course, the cooltown approach is to assemble a group of people to list their ideal building's characteristics, then working with someone to build it. Try that, eharmony.com.

A hotel expressive of the people who stay there

As with most buildings, the exterior and interior design of hotels rarely provide an expression of the lifestyle of the people staying there, other than perhaps their income. At the same price range, most hotel rooms pretty much look alike. However, one hotel is breaking that mold, and hopefully it will set higher standards for how residential buildings are truer to their tenants inside and out.

Based on the pictures, it's easy to see that Nylo Hotels is beating to a different drummer. Each hotel will feature a 24-hour restaurant, game room with foosball and billiards, and a common area designed specifically for socializing called The Loft, a high-energy public area that will invite guests to work, shop, meet, drink, dine or relax. They also don't have hotel rooms, but guest lofts with 11 foot ceilings (when's the last time you've seen that in a hotel?), oversized windows and wi-fi (of course).

The work of local artists are displayed throughout the hotels, chosen via contests, and even their >website is entirely unique to a hotel. The first hotel opens in Plano, TX at the end of the year, then Providence the year after.

The value of the NYLO model is similar to that of Nau's (covered previously here) - learn from what the most progressive corporations are doing and apply them locally.

Read more about its branding here.