What makes Dubrovnik’s urban fabric cool?

Looking at the plan of the town above, you’ll notice that all the gray areas are buildings, and all the white areas are pavement.  At first, the ratio of building to pavement seems normal.  Then, when you compare it to an American town you’ll often discover the plans are the inverse of this!  Why?  The Dubrovnik plan doesn’t have any roads, which also means there are no parking lots.

The big pavement areas in the Dubrovnik plan are either piazzas or

read more…

From basketball courts to medieval cities

The Department of Labor released a study stating that 70% of what you know about your job is done so informally.  Some say it’s 75%.  That’s why in a CoolTown of entrepreneurs and artists, it’s so important to have informal ‘networking places’ such as pubs, piazzas and basketball courts - which leads to today’s story.

I present the medieval city of Dubrovnik, Croatia as a model urban fabric for a CoolTown.  I’ve never been there and I’ve never heard

read more…

Cool town on the surface…

One of the country’s leading institutional investment groups, Federal Realty came upon a progressive city, San Jose, resulting in the European-inspired, pedestrian-oriented Santana Row.  They even made sure it had a state-of-the-art fiber optic infrastructure.  However, there is little local economic development focus (fundamental to a CoolTown):  no office space, no mixed-income housing, and no emphasis on entrepreneurial/local retail tenants.  However, it’s a great

read more…