Happy halloween…

Pittsburgh has had a tough transition from its prosperous industrial economy to the knowledge economy, but there’s a sign it’s now on track - zombies.

As there is now a creative, bohemian neighborhood in every city, and creativity leads to jobs, the South Side neighborhood is one of Pittsburgh’s key generators of economic revitalization. Some unexpected evidence of its creative influence manifested itself via its first ever Halloween-themed event that only the most

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No cars on 42nd Street, for starters, if Vision42 is executed, an initiative for a cross-city pedestrian mall with light rail backed by seven NY elected officials, the Hilton Times Square Hotel and numerous organizations.

This is not just another social cause, it’s a significant economic one.  With the overall economic trends of cities gaining in popularity and population, Vision42 recently completed a study concluding that business would grow by 35% to $1.49 billion a year, city and state

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Good neighborhood supermarkets are hard to come by. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are the de facto choices by the downtown crowd, though the former has a limited selection and the latter caters to an upper class income. The most progressive neighborhoods in forward-thinking cities like Madison WI, Burlington VT, Cambridge MA and Ann Arbor MI have it figured out - co-op supermarkets.

As you can see (above), co-ops have evolved - they’re organized via grassroots efforts, but don’t look like

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Pennsylvania hasn’t exactly been at the top of the list in states that attract knowledge workers. However, Collegia, which works with colleges and communities to attract and retain top student talent, is helping them change that.

Collegia president Todd Hoffman, interviewed at Smart City, puts it in perspective, “Quality of life is more important now than ever.  It’s really the jobs that are migrating to where the students want to be - they seem to have the upper hand in most places.“

One

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The table is from “Linking the New Economy to the Livable Community”, published by Collaborative Economics, sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation.

It clearly outlines how our one-size-fits-all mass production economy is evolving toward a customer-driven mass customization model based on choice, adaptability, distinctiveness, vital centers and quality of life, and even better, how communities will begin to reflect that.  You can also see why many of the unique, ‘customized’, human-scale

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What’s so hard about building a piazza? That’s the general thinking of the creative class, and tired of waiting for non-creative City and real estate development leaders to probably never invest in such a thing, the local creatives in Manhattan decided to do it themselves.

How did this Gansevoort Project (the name of the neighborhood, aka the Meatpacking District) start?  A neighborhood preservationist and restauranteur got together with their fellow business owners and residents, brought in

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We know there are studies (Competing in the Age of Talent) that correlate population diversity to a city’s economic growth; that young adults create jobs and are a key source of the creative class’ job base of designers, scientists, engineers and artists, and that nightlife is a key determinant in choosing a city…

So, what is an example of this nightlife that everyone’s talking about?  Washington Post writer Ellen McCarthy finds out what that means in Washington DC, providing a benchmark for

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Henry Cisneros. Magic Johnson. Shaquille O’Neal. Oscar De La Hoya. From a member of President Clinton’s cabinet to a world title holder, these four have one thing in common - investing in inner cities, and with significant economic and social impact.

Henry Cisneros - Henry founded CityView after his White House service “to help create the highest quality housing for America’s working families”, partnered with a $500M revolving fund from California Public Employees Retirement System, the

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The story behind the BusinessWeek article, IDEO’s Urban Pre-Planning, is already creating a buzz in the real estate industry.

First of all, who is IDEO and second, what is urban pre-planning?  IDEO is like the Apple Computer of the design world.  They’re experimenting with a new practice called Smart Space (it’s not even on their website yet), which is to utilize the wads of dollars wasted on marketing after a development is completed and invest in it before the development is designed.

Much

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That’s right, they’re the developers, and four years later, they’re in the New York Times - Young, Idealistic and Now Developers.  Starting out four years ago as 22 to 23-year olds with liberal arts degrees and no real estate development experience, Ben, Naomi and Joshua realized that they already had what it took to take on a $15 million urban village - integrity, motivation and capacity.

Located on 2.5 acres in downtown Oberlin, the East College Street green development (after all, the

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