Where is the market headed for 2008? While those who read this website often aren’t tracking such knowledge since they’re the trendsetters, a valued resource in discovering what trends they’re setting is through Trendwatching and their report, 8 important consumer trends for 2008. Here’s a look at each one and how they apply to cool towns:

1. Status Spheres - “a variety of lifestyles, activities and persuasions, which can be mixed and matched by consumers looking for recognition from various

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If you’re looking for color inspiration when it comes to home interior design, it’ll be tough to find a better source than the annual Apartment Therapy Fall Colors 2007 contest.  Apartment Therapy itself is one of the best daily resources for apartment design.

This year’s winner hails from a couple in Chinatown, Los Angeles. See a full range of rather stellar photos here. From the home owners, “We have never seen white as the starting point to develop a color scheme…in our apartment, which is

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Especially for cities with great weather all year round, restaurants often find themselves with fully occupied seating areas outside, and empty tables inside. So, like the open air cinemas of Athens, some restaurants have adapted by turning their interior spaces toward the outdoors.

Notice that much of the interior ground floor of this restaurant in Buenos Aires has a patio feeling, while the equivalent amount on the second floor is open to the sky. Some restaurants, like The Reef in Adams

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With the rise of creatives and design in ‘BAires’ (the edgy name for Buenos Aires), especially in the neighborhood of Palermo, as described in the previous post, it would seem fitting that good design would inspire a central, identifiable gathering place to inspire creative discussion. That would be Serrano Square (pictured).

Surrounding the rather intimate square are no less than twenty restaurants, bars and clubs, all with outdoor seating. In the center of the square, local merchants

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Here’s one way to transform an industrial city like Buenos Aires, Argentina into a mecca for design and creativity, though this is definitely doing it the hard way…

Take one economic crash in 2001 where the peso’s (Argentian’s dollar) is devalued from 1:1 with every U.S. dollar to 1:3 with every U.S. dollar. Suddenly companies had to shed workforces in order to stay in business, forcing people out of secure jobs and without a means of finding new ones with companies unless they were to accept

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Shouldn’t there be a multimedia magazine by now that captures cool culture, business and design from around the world? As of earlier this year, there is now a contender to take on that role, Monacle Magazine. They’ve teamed up with the International Herald Tribune to provide an for compelling, creative places to check out.

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What happens when you combine great weather with a return to inner cities, you get the rising popularity of the open air cinema (therina) in Athens, Greece, where a hundred of them now thrive.

Another reason for the return of the outdoor theaters (there used to be thousands in Greece) is that digital technology is allowing just about any film to be shown, anytime, anywhere. Thus, even cold weather cities are taking advantage, like “Living Room Theaters in Portland, OR.

The key historic

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If you’re visiting Munich and drink beer, you probably already know about the Hofbrauhaus (brew court house) downtown.

Wilhelm V., Duke of Bavaria, was dissatisfied with the beer brewed in Munich, so in 1589 he established his own brewery, the Hofbrauhaus (brew court house) to serve only his royal court (talk about an elitist brewery). It wasn’t until 1828 that it became open to the public.

The main attraction of the Hofbrauhaus is multifold, and a great lesson for microbreweries.  Of course

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Every once in a while it’s important to show a bit of beauty in an urban infill development, even though it might not be attainably priced. The ultimate goal of course, is to combine beauty with attainability.

One of the development partners, the I’on Group, specializes in building beautiful homes. The other development partner, Civic Square, builds beautiful public spaces into their projects, “that contribute to the ideal of a more successful public realm, whether in the form of a beautiful

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Locavore - local resident who tries to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.

At first blush, the reaction may be ‘who cares’? But if attracting job-producing progressive, creative, entrepreneurial people to your city is important it may be worth noting…

- Fewer companies have created more jobs in a shorter period of time than Google. So what do they name their 4000-employee cafeteria? 150, representing that its ingredients will come from within a 150-mile radius.

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