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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