In yesterday’s entry, I questioned why rooftop dining was so rare, and today I provide an example that flies in the face of ‘old economy’ downtown development - Lauriol Plaza; probably the most successful restaurant in the entire Washington DC area.

What are its secrets to such crazed popularity that the waiting time for dinner is at least an hour every single night?  No secret really…

It’s has top-notch service and is located in the heart of an urban, walkable neighborhood where people walk

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I was sitting next to a friend of mine whose girlfriend exclaimed, “I feel like going to one of those restaurants with rooftop dining!“  It wasn’t a difficult decision, being that there were really only two choices in the neighborhood.  Which made me wonder, why are there only two?

It’s easier to figure why not.  First of all, it’s practically free real estate space, compared to most rooftops that add no value.  The same with patio dining, but that’s another story.  Second, people absolutely

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Inspiring places have an energy, a vibe, a freshness that says you’re going to experience things you haven’t before, whether it’s food, music, people, design, ideas or a unique combination of them all.  The secret yet unasked question is, “How can a place maintain such a demanding creative edge?“

Ask a group that recenty sold 6 million albums, Gorillaz.  It’s a virtual band presented as cartoon characters, and no one knows the exact line-up of artists except Damon Albarn of Blur, the only

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It’s a global economy, so how can small businesses compete?  They can become a tenant in Minneapolis’ coming global marketplace, the Midtown Global Market, the first of its kind anywhere.

The market will feature 60 local merchants representing Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, andd the Middle East, and African American and Native American business owners.  Another innovative element of the market is that these businesses will be divided by their stages of growth: start-up, second-stage

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That’s the theme of the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) Public Market Program - one of the freshest, most comprehensive guides to public markets anywhere.  These aren’t just those ad hoc groups of merchants on the street corner, public and farmers’ markets are modernizing.

New PPS studies that document these greater economic gains over ‘big boxes’ will be revealed at their public markets conference at the end of October.  One survey showed that 83% of the entrepreneurs in these markets

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g src=“/images/carfreeday.jpg” alt=“Car Free Day”
There’s even a website dedicated to the special day at www.22september.org, though it seems to cover the topic of car-free living so comprehensively that they forgot to mention Sept. 22.

I was in Madison, WI on Car Free Day last year, and I remember it well as I saw the city’s mayor give a sincere and impassioned speech that morning on how important it was to Madison’s progressive culture.  Wait a minute, I think I blogged

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Why is it that the most pedestrian-oriented streets in the U.S. are found in resorts? The reason being that people in second-home communities have no need to commute to work, so the car is de-emphazed. Plus, they’re looking to pay for a higher quality of life. Well, that sounds a lot like the lifestyle of minipreneurs, so expect to see these pedestrian-first principles in more everyday, urban neighborhoods.

Here’s a preview - just use your imagination and apply the following to urban settings

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It’s becoming an eBay world as the heirs to the rat race cubicle world are emerging.  Goodbye office park commuting, hello minipreneurship.

Gotta love the people at Trendwatching.com - here’s their definiton: minipreneurs: a vast army of consumers turning entrepreneurs; including small and micro businesses, freelancers, side-businesses, weekend entrepreneurs, web-driven entrepreneurs, part-timers, free agents, cottage businesses, seniorpreneurs, co-creators, mompreneurs, pro-ams,

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We all have opinions on how we’d improve the places we live, work and play in, but rarely see that influence our surrounding built environment.  Well, if this customer-made trend continues to evolve, we won’t have to wait much longer.

Customer-made (as defined by Trendwatching.com): the phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in what actually gets

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If there’s more variety and choice, will people purchase less or more?

One thing’s for sure, according to a University of Pennsylvania study, “If there is a perception of increased variety, people eat more,“ says Barbara Kahn, vice dean and director of the university’s vaunted Wharton Business School Undergraduate Division and expert in consumer choice and brand loyalty.  They even conducted a study with jelly beans to further substantiate their claims.  More choice = more consumption, and it

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