That’s literally the case when it comes to Detroit. Let me say that again… Detroit.

Quicken Loans moved 1700 of their employees to downtown Detroit in August, 2010. It’s no surprise the company located its workplace next to the city’s premiere active public space, Campus Martius, which recently received an award as the most outstanding example of a public open space that has catalyzed the transformation of the surrounding community. It also should be no surprise then, that Quicken Loans was

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In the industrial economy people worked in factories. In the services/information economy people worked in office parks. In the creative economy, people are working in downtowns. Rod Stevens of Spinnaker Strategies summarizes this trend quite nicely in The New Urban Workplace.

He mentions the suburbia to city downtown shift of Microsoft and Expedia in Seattle, American Eagle in Pittsburgh, AT&T in Atlanta, and Target in Minneapolis. He also highlights how these companies are recycling

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Many of Google’s HQ employees in Mountain View, Silicon Valley, California fit the creatives vibe. So it’s encouraging, though probably not surprising, that the company is prompting the City to invest in sustainable development and a vibrant community in the area surrounding its campus. In other words, Google is looking out for its employees beyond the workplace, and it’s not only smart, it’s a sign of the times. Goodbye office park, hello urban village.

Check out the following letter excerpt

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Real estate development is one of the slowest to react as an economy and culture evolve, but office parks are gradually making the transition. From Urban Land Magazine’s June 2009 article, Reworking the Office, here are the key trends to be aware of as outdated office parks are overhauled and retrofitted to leave behind the industrial economy and fully meet the needs of the knowledge economy, and further on to the creative economy...

Mixed uses, walkability and amenties - “Young professionals

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Today’s entry is brought to you by social engagement designer Brian Corrigan of the soon-to-be MobFuse, a social engagement design agency.

“We all want to have fun at work and studies show that when we are having fun, we get more done.  So what if someone designed an office like a carnival: fun, colorful and lots of cool signage.

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On an island near Shanghai, China formed by the accumulation of, silt shared with a protected bird habitat, will rise a city that is free of greenhouse gas emissions and gas-powered vehicles with an emphasis on energy-efficient design, waste reduction strategies, and renewable energy.

Dongtan, a 21,250-acre eco city, is being developed by Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation as a leading example of green development in China.

Transportation
- All vehicles within the city will be

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Adams Morgan, the preeminent natural cultural district of Washington DC, has no problem attracting nightlife whatsoever, especially on the weekends when you’ll have difficulty walking down the sidewalks that are packed with pedestrians.

However, weekdays during the day are another story, when only a tiny fraction of the restaurants are even open and pedestrians are sparse. The picture above isn’t a normal day (taken during the annual Adams Morgan Day festival), though that’s what it could be

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We hear a lot of buzz about the popularity of people working at home, but how prevalent is it?  Here’s a snapshot via answering a few questions:

How many U.S. Americans are working at home? 28 million at least part time in 2006.
Is that number growing? That’s a 10% increase from the previous year and a 40% increase from 2002.
Do U.S. Americans have home offices?  7 out of 10 have offices or designated work stations, a 112% increases since 2000.
How important are home offices in new homes? 

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Continuing our happiness theme from the previous entry, here’s one way to look at work-life balance happiness:

“In their interviews and surveys, Nash and Stevenson learned that successful professionals who were also happy had found ways to ‘switch and link’ - to switch the focus of their full attention with lightning speed among activities and people in different realms.

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From an interview with Architect Magazine, I stated how the next generation of architects will work with the creative vision of progressive future tenants rather than the opinion of one developer, with a lot less ego to go around. At the Balcom Agency in Fort Worth, Texas, you can get a hint of things to come in interior design.

From a Design Sponge article, rather than spend the entire interior design budget on one firm, the company distributed $300 to each employee to design their own

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