They’re moving to where housing prices are low and the quality of life is high.  At least the successful ones are.

Entrepreneur Magazine just rolled out their annual Entrepreneurial Hot Cities rankings, based on the number of companies that started 4 to 14 years ago and have at least five employees today; and that company’s job growth.

Phoenix and Charlotte top the large city rankings. Ok, Phoenix is far from a model in pedestrian-oriented planning, but the housing is that inexpensive and

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Ever played one of those games where you had to find the list of items that were blended into the picture?

a. Can you find the entrepreneurial workplace where a dozen creative businesses collaborate and celebrate in a living room setting?

b. Can you find the 24-hour diner that’s filled to capacity on a Wednesday morning at 2 am?

c. Can you find the national chain that doesn’t quite belong?

d. Can you find what one magazine called one of the best bars in America?

e. Can you find the

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As one reporter states, Portland, OR has a weird economy.

Portland proper’s population grew 22%, more than neighboring San Francisco (7.3%) or Seattle (11%).  The city’s 2.2% job growth in the past year tops San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York and Minneapolis.  Downtown homes are going for seven, even eight figures.  Yet Portland has the second-highest unemployment rate in the country.

What’s going on?

The easy answer, as highlighted in the full story here, is that

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Artscape, a nonprofit in Toronto, Canada that develops both physical and virtual artist communities, felt the need to prove that the right buildings jumpstarted the economy around it.

So they documented the economic impact in the areas surrounding their projects, and here’s some of the not-so-surprising findings:

In Toronto, in the five years after Artscape development openings, one surrounding area had an increase of approximately $9M/year and another had $5M/year in new retail sales.

In

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The timing is right for pedestrian streets.  While just a vision for now, this could become a built reality if Roanoke, Virginia’s leaders have their way…

“It’s stunningly cool,“ said Ford Kemper, a lawyer and board member of Downtown Roanoke Inc., a tax-supported entity that oversees the city’s historic center.

Regarding the proposals… “They’re right on.  They’re revolutionary, they’re bright, they’re fresh... They could completely change the face of our downtown,“ said Downtown Roanoke

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Who are the hot new artists, bands, and merchants in the city?  Which restaurants and bars should you definitely check out?  Where are the cool new lofts, live-works and studios becoming available?  What are the latest clothing styles you shouldn’t miss?

Sure, you can buy one of these stogdy city magazines, like The Washingtonian here in the DC area, but you probably have to own a BMW to relate to it.  Or you can pick up one of those great alternative weekly newspapers, like Burlington,

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Vancouver is often labeled as one of the most livable cities in North America, the latest honor being labeled as the world’s best city to live in by the Economic Intelligence Unit, as referenced by CNN yesterday.

What are its keys to success?  Larry Beasley, the city’s highly regarded co-director of planning, says it’s because Vancouver is counterintuitive in this Smart City Radio interview.  Here’s the myths of planning most cities follow, and how Vancouver innovates against them:

Myth -

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Downtown independent retailers don’t have the financial muscle or exposure of the national retailers out in the malls, but there most powerful asset is their independence.  That means they have the freedom to do whatever is necessary for them to compete with the suburban juggerauts, and that’s to create an experience when shopping for their merchandise.

Take apparel stores for instance.  There are few places outside of a downtown main street where one will find a collection of unique, often

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...Google.

That’s the offer Google is providing the City of San Francisco, details here.  They haven’t stated whether they would use consumer advertising to pay for the extensive network, but they would charge companies that wanted to offer internet services through it.  Most important is that this removes the controversy of private sector companies accusing municipalities of unfair competition when they get involved in providing a digital infrastructure.

This is just yet another indication

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Connect Four, Trivial Pursuit, Backgammon… the games you played as a kid… or as an adult.  As stated in a previous article, Next gen housing for changing households, the urban crowd stays home less, goes out more.  So, some venues are bringing the living room to them.

Pharoah’s Rock & Blues (pictured) in Adams Morgan has a ‘living room’ on their second floor that provides the aforementioned ‘board games’ for their patrons to use.  The best part is that you don’t have to put it away when

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