It’s not called Sex and the Suburbs for a reason.

The popular HBO series is based on the dating adventures of four women.  Quite simply, there wouldn’t be much to write about if they all lived and worked in, say, a subdivision and an office park, and socialized at the local Walmart power center.  The bottom line is that the city is where you go to meet people, the burbs are where you go to avoid them, and one of these choices probably isn’t going to advance society as we know it.

Of course,

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Where else can you have a #1 show about nothing?  Where else would the #1 comic book hero reside?

If you want to know if you’ve got the makings of a CoolTown, see what people are willing to associate with your town.  It’s not a coincidence that the biggest TV hits of the last three decades: The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends, were all set in New York.  Why?  Because not much happens in the suburbs, except the 10:00 local news headlines, and that to me isn’t worth watching.

As for the

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A few days ago I was listening to a traveling sports announcer exclaim that San Francisco and Seattle were two of the country’s greatest cities (New York goes without saying).  Sure, I agree.  Then today I saw some evidence of that.

I came across three movies during the day on my travel day from Hawaii to Washington DC:  Life or Something Like That, A Guy Thing and The Rock.  They were set in Seattle, Seattle and San Francisco, respectively.

Watch a lot of movies if you want to know where

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Apple introduced videoconferencing for the masses yesterday which will help connect entrepreneurs and artists in unprecedented ways, but it’s the company’s philosophy that blends with CoolTowns. Here’s their tribute to the same kind of people that will pioneer CoolTowns - with one slight opportunistic edit:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

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As I mentioned regarding last week’s event, I surveyed the early adopters, the cultural creatives of town building at the University of Maryland, hosting a focus group of entrepreneurial, architecture and real estate students.  Here are some of the results from the group of 32 forward-thinkers:

- The three most desirable public amenities, in order:  A piazza, parks and public wireless broadband access.
- The most desirable nightlife venue:  Outdoor seating restaurant/cafe
- 88% chose ‘vibrant

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I was fortunate to host a focus group of about 20-30 University of Maryland students at the Hinman CEO entrepreneurial center to ask them what kind of the town they wanted to live in.

The most popular?  The affordable side of Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Annapolis, Greenwich Village and Manhattan Beach.

What are they looking for?  Nightlife, nightlife, nightlife.  Also, convenience/mobility, affordability (big one, almost goes without saying), and even sense of community.  More next week when I

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