A lot!  Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know it by reading the mainstream press.  Hopefully by the end of this blog’s week you’ll have a resource to point to.  But first, we need to define Smart Growth.

There’s the Smart Growth Network’s definition, representing a consortium of the most influential public and private sector organizations that can influence Smart Growth.  However, because they are sponsored by a federal body (EPA), they can’t advocate for specific policy changes.  Then there’s the

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Affordability:  Design smaller-sized 4-6 story unfinished loft-style units (like these here by Dover Kohl, an urban design firm that fundamentally understands this market) with flexible open floor plans and some detailing to add character.  Do the same with office space.  Encourage the retailers to keep it simple and aim for artful practicality and efficiency over status.  Think Parisian neighborhoods.

Entertainment & Nightlife:  Center the village around a carless piazza (that should be a

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1200 urbanists met five blocks from my home at the annual Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) conference in Washington DC last week.  I owe a lot to the people who started this organization dedicated to improving quality of life in our communities through better planning and development.

While they are the largest group committed to the concept of New Urbanism, I have to stop short of saying they are active supporters of CoolTowns.  CNU conference speakers and attendance are not very diverse

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Take one city model, pour water over it, tilt slightly.  How much water is left?  Use the same principle for people.

The mark of a truly great city is that it not only has great third places indoors, but outdoors as well.  This was easy to provide in pedetrian-oriented cities, but difficult in auto-oriented cities where much of the outdoor space was already taken up by roads and parking lots.

In the Nolli Plan of Rome below (one of the most famous plans in history, where you’ll find it on

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Looking at the plan of the town above, you’ll notice that all the gray areas are buildings, and all the white areas are pavement.  At first, the ratio of building to pavement seems normal.  Then, when you compare it to an American town you’ll often discover the plans are the inverse of this!  Why?  The Dubrovnik plan doesn’t have any roads, which also means there are no parking lots.

The big pavement areas in the Dubrovnik plan are either piazzas or pedestrian boulevards.

Another feature is

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The Department of Labor released a study stating that 70% of what you know about your job is done so informally.  Some say it’s 75%.  That’s why in a CoolTown of entrepreneurs and artists, it’s so important to have informal ‘networking places’ such as pubs, piazzas and basketball courts - which leads to today’s story.

I present the medieval city of Dubrovnik, Croatia as a model urban fabric for a CoolTown.  I’ve never been there and I’ve never heard about it before today, but someone on the

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One of the country’s leading institutional investment groups, Federal Realty came upon a progressive city, San Jose, resulting in the European-inspired, pedestrian-oriented Santana Row.  They even made sure it had a state-of-the-art fiber optic infrastructure.  However, there is little local economic development focus (fundamental to a CoolTown):  no office space, no mixed-income housing, and no emphasis on entrepreneurial/local retail tenants.  However, it’s a great project for what it is,

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