Oh what place-making wonders await us when we get the truth

The real question is, if there are so many people in the U.S. who want better places to live and to socialize in, that want the world-class public places that they have to travel abroad for, why aren’t they building them here?  Maybe because no one really asked them.  If you think this is preposterous, maybe this brief story will change your mind.

The story centers on how companies use market studies and surveys to determine new

read more…

So many cool public places… overseas?

First of all, the cool public piazzas, paseos and courtyards in other countries were built when people walked to get from one place to another.  Because they’re still so popular, they set precedents to continue building such great places.

Not so much in the U.S.  The country is an infant compared to others, and most of the great places we built in the all-too-brief ‘pedestrian age’ that could have served as wondrous precedents were made of wood, a short

read more…

...the walls at the neighborhood supermarket are plastered with personal classified ads and event flyers for local events.  This is one of the best examples I’ve seen, at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, VT.  The fact that it’s a co-op is another tell-tale sign of a strong sense of community.

One thing that surprises me is that while there’s a number of online classified ad services and event listings for cities and towns, it doesn’t drill down to the local neighborhood.  How about a

read more…

According to Steven Gartner, president of Metro Commercial Real Estate, the revitalization of urban retail follows four phases.  Gartner played a leading role in Center City Philadelphia’s expanding retail scene and many of its economically-growing neighborhoods.

1. Local restaurants, started by great chefs.  Or visionary entrepreneurs who know great chefs, like a Chris and Finn Berge who nearly single-handedly revitalized commercial districts with destination restaurants.  People will

read more…

What’s to do tonight?  Have your favorite venues tell you

Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming (or underwhelming) trying to figure out what to do for entertainment on any given evening, like that guy on the right in the photo.  The Cloud in Athens, GA is making that a little easier.

First of all, it’s a 24-block wireless internet zone in the downtown, so one can easily look up the local entertainment scene online.  However, most of us aren’t carrying our laptops wherever we’re going.  Which

read more…

As our trade deficit grows, the American economy becomes less stable and thus the dollar grows weaker.  Both the proactive solution and the reactive inevitability is to buy local, and that ultimately leads to supporting local businesses since most of what the American national chains buy (ie Wal-mart) are increasingly from overseas - as this story reveals.

So, kudos to America Unchained!, a one-day buy local promotion (albeit Nov. 20th) sponsored by the American Independent Business Alliance

read more…

In January 2003, the Federal Reserve Bank announced a new economic development initiative it sponsored to invest in New England’s “creative industries, a creative workforce and community life that is rich in creativity and cultural heritage.“  Business, cultural and political leaders from each of New England’s states came together to establish the progressive regional industry association, the Creative Economy Council.

Why?  They found via a study (published by the equivalent of a New

read more…

Cities and the Creative Class

Cities and the Creative Class is for studious fans of Richard Florida’s best-seller, The Rise of the Creative Class.  It is a collection of the research that lead to ‘Rise’, ‘in full empirical detail and analysis the key premises on which the argument of Rise are based’.

It is also a primer for the highly-anticipated sequel that is coming out on March 15, 2005, The Flight of the Creative Class: Why America is Losing the Competition for Talent… and What We Can

read more…

It’s tradition in Spain and Portugal to have family dinners outdoors, and to have it as a social event as well, which is why you’ll find so many paseos (pedestrian-only streets).  Think of it as a street by day and a grand outdoor dining room by night.

Unfortunately we don’t have too many of these kinds of places in this country, and rarer so in neighborhoods that would benefit from such community-building events.  That makes it even harder for people to socialize and meet new people as it

read more…

The conflict - car sharing isn’t available in every city, much less every neighborhood, much less on your block, even though the demand is there.

The solution - Zipcar is offering its Dedicated Zipcar program where an apartment management company, real estate developer, university or company could have brand new Zipcars on-site for its people.  The cars, reservations, payment, membership and customer service are handled by Zipcar - while the client makes up (or even profits from) the

read more…

Project for Public Spaces: 20 best

One of the best resources for great public places is the nonprofit Project for Public Spaces, so when they announced their list of the 20 best North American districts, downtowns, and neighborhoods, I knew public life and entertainment would have much more weight than other lists.  They also list 20 great places abroad.

The places mentioned range from hip districts for creatives to quaint neighborhoods for retirees, but a common theme is that these places

read more…

Can artists bring vitality to an abandowned downtown?

The artists in the Massachusetts town of Pittsfield think so.

Pittsfield lost 13,000 jobs when GE left 15 years ago, which is staggering since it had a population of 60,000 at the time (50,000 today).  That and a new shopping mall all but killed the downtown.

Fast forward to 2002, when an artist, Maggie Mailer realized that even if all the downtown businesses were gone, the downtown vitality didn’t have to be, nor should it.  As the

read more…

Transit mini

Here’s another example of the growing trend towards more personalized mass transit - the mini bus.  It can more easily pass the 5-minute rule since it runs more often than a regular bus, and it’s also quieter and more car-like.

The real potential in this size of transit may be realized when bus rapid transit/BRT-guidance systems are applied to it, where they’ll run automatically along invisible tracks, remotely turn traffic lights green up ahead and also take advantage of

read more…

CoolTown mobility review

Here’s a summary of how the CoolTown entries on mobility may fit together, which includes transportation:

There are millions of people who would live in a city with only pedestrians and no cars.  It’d have lots of piazzas and paseos with subways in the larger cities.

While not a reality for most cities, they ought to take a long hard look at bus rapid transit (BRT) and streetcars instead of light rail and buses.  BRT and streetcars are much more efficient,

read more…

The mass customization economy has recently produced a new vehicle that travels freely and speedily on dedicated pathways like trains, yet can navigate through traffic like a car to get you more specifically to your destination.  Not only that, it signals traffic lights up ahead to turn green as it approaches.

The 21st century version of bus rapid transit (BRT) began running June 30th, 2004.  Yes that’s a bus you’re looking at… and yes it’s in Vegas, but that’s the luxury of having more tax

read more…

While the next generation of mass customized, personalized mass transit won’t arrive for decades, we’re going back to the future for the closest thing today - the streetcar.

Boston, Portland, Seattle, Tampa, San Francisco, Charlotte, Tucson and New Orleans are just a few of the many cities that revived streetcars.  Denver, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Boulder are considering it. Why?  Because they’re efficient, small, quiet, air-conditioned and best situated to pass the golden

read more…