What’s the Now South?  According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Now South: Lofts, lattes in Mayberry, it’s a “a wireless, latte-fueled, even hip update on small towns etched in Old South traditions and bypassed by the New South renewal of the 1970s and ‘80s.“

Other words becoming more prominent in Now South towns for the first time:  lofts, walkable, yoga, tea, microbrews, vegetarian... A researcher who monitors redevelopment in small towns exclaims, “Ten years ago, people

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In continuation of the last entry on retail trends that will influence the future of local, independent retail in your town…

Community activism: More and more community resentment and opposition to growing chains like Walmarts and Starbucks arise as residents seek to prioritize their own community’s uniqueness, authenticity and economy.

Health care costs: Entrepreneurs (individuals) still have to pay significantly more in health care insurance than employees of companies - that’s just the

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Creative urbanites prefer unique, local, independent retailers to the Ruby Tuesdays and Walmarts, but these desired retailers need to keep up with the current trends to survive.  The National Retail Federation Foundation helped sponsor a report to help them do just that, called Challenges of the future: The rebirth of small, independent retail in America.  Here are the trends they need to be aware of, from a creative urban point of view:

Personalization: Customers demand and expect

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Would you believe that theaters in the 1940s sold 4 billion tickets each year, at half the current population?  Today, with the advent of TV, cable, DVDs and the internet, that number is down to 1.4 billion.  So will theaters slowly disappear?  The more accurate prediction is that they’ll evolve with multiple uses...

A multiplex theater in Millbury, MA (pictured) features a bar, ice creamery and coffeehouse (unfortunately chains,) a wifi lounge and even screenside waiters serving drinks. 

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You’ve heard of stories of people who ‘escaped the projects’, but clamoring to get in them?  First a little history:  When suburbia was taking off post-WWII, the federal government’s urban renewal program built hundreds of public housing projects in the city that were so universally ill-designed (and probably purposely so) that they became known as the projects, synonymous with crime, vandalism and drugs.

It’s a good thing people evolve, because the project pictured here (and yesterday) is

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It’s the toughest question to answer in urban development, and the Urban Land Institute, a Washington DC real estate development educational nonprofit, brought together a group of practitioners who have invested in solutions, summarized in Urban Land Magazine.

Two key points:

- Mixed-income housing is unanimously the best approach to providing attainable housing.  The most reliable rent-payers in some developments?... those in the lowest income categories vs. market-rate residents.  For

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You’ve heard of green buildings, but green cities?  Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley’s wants to evolve his hometown into the greenest city in America, according to the NY Times, and his environment commissioner, Sadhu Johnston says it best, “It’s not so much about saving the world. It’s more about using green technology to save $4 million here, or earn $10 million there, and make the city better by doing that.“

The Daley administration has put policy and $ where their mouth is:
- planted 500,000

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To get that answer, it’s a matter of asking thousands of people around the world the right questions, and leading advisor Simon Anholt and global research firm GMI have done just that through the Anholt City Brands Index.

Here are their six categories of questions, and the kinds of questions any city should ask of itself:

Presence — a city’s international status and standing - How important is this city to the world?  Is there a reason to visit there? 
Place — a city’s beauty, climate and

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Have you ever wondered in which city downtowns you could actually afford to buy a home in, yet still enjoy some semblance of active urban life and entertainment?  Rich Karlgaard, author of 2004’s Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness has done some research for you, “Bohemian Bargains are core cities in the 150,000 to 750,000 population range with lively downtowns and a reasonable cost of living.“  My brief comments follow each

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With 8 million people living within its borders and a model for urban working and living, one would have thought that the City of New York had established a plan to provide free wi-fi in their parks by now.  They haven’t.  However, with the possibility of being leapfrogged by San Francisco and Philadelphia, the City may finally have a plan for free wifi in all their parks.  The reason?

The City will no longer try to make money on the wi-fi networks off of the private sector companies building

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While yesterday’s entry presented national evidence of the downtown movement, what about local evidence?  Syracuse, New York is one of many small cities investing in downtowns as they transition from a manufacturing economy to an information-based one.

Syracuse’s success story simplified:

Step One:  Designate a depressed warehouse (ie manufacturing) district, Armory Square as a historic (and very affordable) neighborhood, thus encouraging artists and entrepreneurs to settle there.  Sound

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There are still some that question whether urban is in or not.  Here’s further evidence that it is, especially to the ‘cooltown’ target market, based on research by the authors of the new book, Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs.

From 2000 to 2004, per capita income in cities increased on average from 86% to 89% of their metropolitan areas’ income, as well as the value of homes, as the desirability of city living increased in many, but certainly not all parts of the city.  As the

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As mentioned yesterday, we are fully immersed in a customer-driven economy, and those investing in cities and neighborhoods must participate to prosper.

Trendwatching provides the most current “definition: “The phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with experienced and creative consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in (and rewarding them for) what actually gets produced, manufactured,

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If you want to look it where the next generation of real estate is going, keep tabs on what the next generation is doing, and 30 million of them are participating in a show that literally allows them to influence the music industry.

Now, if only we could harness that energy into shaping better communities.

The first sign of that is the charrette, which is in practice, an intensive planning session of planners, designers and community stakeholders meeting over a week or so, resulting in a

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For people with hefty wallets and type AAA personalities, meeting people at bars is no problem.  However, for most of the population, it’s neither comfortable nor sustainable.

Enter the tachinomiya, aka standing bars, which are all the rage in Tokyo, Japan.  These are very intimate, rather densely occupied venues that serve drinks and appetizers, but with no chairs.  As the New York Times states, “Their popularity is fueled by low prices and the opportunities they offer many young, shy

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In the words of Stefanos Polyzoides from the acclaimed urban design firm, Moule & Polzoides, “The rules of courtyard housing are very simple.  You enter into a complex and then you direct access to the individual units from the common courtyard. All parking is underground. Apartments facing the street also have front doors onto the street.“

What are the benefits?  Many…

- The building’s exterior can easily be designed to fit seamlessly into an urban fabric, as shown in

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It’s not wilderness, but it’s not concrete either.  Briefly mentioned in the previous entry, this next phase of the highly successful Albuquerque High Lofts, the BelVedere, will feature 54 residences, each gifted with a doorway leading into a courtyard.

Courtyard homes have a deep Mediterranean and Southwest tradition in the area (more tomorrow on courtyard housing), which is largely a response to the hot, dry climate, but have been largely ignored in favor of air conditioning.  Thankfully,

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That’s a typical creative class response (and an actual one too) comparing something like the Albuquerque High Lofts (pictured) with the nearby luxury Gold Avenue Lofts.

To elaborate, the Gold Avenue Lofts are housed in one massive building, described as ‘sterile’, ‘boring’ and ‘safe’, with prices starting at $300,000 for large 1100 s.f. units.  Only 8 of the 41 units were initially sold after completion.  Meanwhile, the Albuquerque High Lofts began at just $150,000 for units as not so big as

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If you read yesterday’s entry, you are now aware of what infolust is and what dumb buildings are.  Here’s how the technology arising from this trend/opportunity can be applied to helping innovative local indie merchants compete with the national chains…

Many people favor chains because they know exactly what they’re going to get.  This is not the case when they come across a unique restaurant or store while walking down the street, there’s a bit of risk involved.  In due time, RFID (radio

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Take note - these are the trends that are shaping our current economy…

So, what the heck is INFOLUST?!  A definition from Trendwatching:

“Experienced consumers are lusting after detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest, the coolest of the coolest, or on how to become the smartest of the smartest. Instant information gratification is upon us.

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Creatives and entrepreneurs (this website’s target audience) solicit ideas and inspiration from around the world, and since many of them are actually moving overseas, it’s economically beneficial to learn which countries are tapping into their deepest values.  One of those values lies in green building and environmentalism - Fortune calls it the Next Big Thing and the market has been growing by a third each year ($7 billion in 2005.)

So it may be a good idea to understand how Sweden has

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Up until the middle of the 20th century, the economy of Easthampton, MA ran on textile mills.  Ever since then, the town of 16,000 people about 100 miles west of Boston has been struggling to find a new economy to grow from.

Enter the Eastworks, a 500,000 s.f. former mill turned mecca for arts-related industries founded in 1997 by some rather visionary small developers.  Among designers in clothes, jewelry, software, art and photography are 46 live-work lofts and the Marketplace at Eastworks,

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