One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is related to readers seeking to buy homes that fit the vibe of what this site is all about. For years, I really had no answer for them. Finally, Brent Roberts, who worked for one of the most innovative, creative developers in the world, Streuver Brothers (see triple bottom line industrial loft redevelopments here and here), decided to strike out on his own and suggested providing that very service.

Long story short, Brent committed to the principles illustrated and presented via the 1400 vignettes on this site, licensed the brand, combined that with his model of providing sincere customer service and launched CoolTownLivingDC. It follows the crowdsourcing model of building its service based on the direct input of its initial customers, especially as described in this entry, Here Comes Everybody. Thus, until at least the end of November as he fine tunes the service, he’s promising a third of his commission back to his first clients under the new brand.  He’s also already been helping people find homes for a few years.

By all means, this is not being presented here as the start of a company, but the beginning of a model for other realtors around the country to learn from if they want to truly relate to urban creatives, especially since this service is only available in the Washington DC area. What makes the service unique:

- Only homes with a Walk Score of at least 75 will be provided or listed.
- Special attention will be given to finding ‘not so big’ homes, at ‘not so big’ prices.
- Those who want to crowdsource their own homes will be exclusively introduced to such ongoing opportunities, even initiating them.
- Clients will be invited into social networks where they can network with others in their neighborhood to crowdsource third places they feel should exist, but don’t.

You may be noticing a lot of bicycle posts lately, reflecting a trend of low cost, low energy, low maintenance transportation as gas prices have reached a new plateau. The same is happening for housing, as cities and developers partner to build homes at price points (and thus sizes) that those in the workforce (ie from teachers to police officers) can actually afford.

San Francisco leads the way in this regard, first with attainably-priced Cubix Yerba Buena and its efficiencies, and now a trio of new affordable housing developments (government subsidized) downtown, one of which includes market-rate units. They are as follows:

125 Mason Street, Tenderloin neighborhood: 81 apartments of one to four bedrooms, presented in an 8-story building fronting 14 stories behind it, with rent starting at $1079/month.

Railton Place, Tenderloin neighborhood: 110 units in a nine-story building catering to youth leaving foster care, adults recovering from substance abuse and formerly homeless veterans, paired with a community center featuring a full-court gym, indoor pool, computer labs and a dance studio. Keep in mind this building and its amenities serve, and is embraced by, the local community.

Mosaica 601, Mission District: 151 units in four stories that reflect the neighborhood fabric, including 93 family apartments, 24 studios for formerly homeless elders, and 34 condos (21 for first-time buyers, 13 at market rate). Fitting the Mission’s creative vibe, 12 ground-floor spaces will be reserved for light industry or design production along a cobblestone alleyway.

The thing to remember is pricing relevance. The median home price in San Francisco is $749,000, so having units starting at $279,000 (Cubix Yerba Buena) brand new is an unprecedented opportunity. In other words, take any median home price of a city and reduce it to a third - that’s significant.  Read more about the trio of developments in the SF Chronicle article, Housing projects benefit more than just tenants, which speaks to how the buildings enhance its surrounding community.

If you’re looking for a model of a government agency that’s looking out for creatives, your first stop should be New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT), as has been stated several times on this site. Behind every progressive organization there’s a leader, and that’s DOT Commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, who not surprisingly commutes to work by bike. Kudos to Streetfilms for providing this interview that every transportation decision-maker or advocate should watch.

There’s no shortage of inspired articles on this site documenting the DOT’s commitment to establishing pedestrian-first places in New York City:
Streets to plazas examples.
Summer Streets pedestrian-only Saturdays.
The pedestrianized Broadway Boulevard.
The Streets to Plazas Program, one of the most compelling programs in the U.S., but not mentioned in the video, which goes to show they’re focused on results.

Click here for the Sustainable Streets plan she mentions at the end which summarizes the DOT’s vision.

Here’s a pretty significant sign of the times - both the University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving every single one of its freshmen a free personalized bike. They’re not cheap clunkers either, the bicycles provided at the University of New England retail for $480. Turns out cheap bikes aren’t well taken care of.

Sure, the argument is that students are paying for it somehow, but the universities are benefitting financially by avoiding the construction of costly parking garages (they really are a budget crippling expense since they have no inherent educational return on investment) as well as providing the social benefit of a more humanized walking, biking culture and physical fitness as well - as one student put it, “Maybe instead of gaining the freshman 15 I’ll lose it.”

One motivation for the personalized bikes is that on-campus bike sharing programs often resulted in theft and vandalism, so perhaps ownership would provide better security.  It’s also a great program for alumni donors to contribute toward, to help sponsor bikes for everyone.

Has it made a difference? 75% of Ripon College freshmen brought cars with them last year. Only 25% did this year. Now that’s making an impact.

Read more about this and university bike sharing programs in the NY Times article, With Free Bikes, Challenging Car Culture on Campus.

What makes the Dining Hall in the Little Creatures pale ale microbrewery such a popular destination in Melbourne, Australia? It could be that it converges two kinds of places creatives crave into one they can relate to - a third place.

The Beerhouse: - In Germany, the beerhouse is the standard. Characterized by long wooden communal tables and Germany’s famous Hofbrauhaus, patrons enjoyed themselves as if they were at an indoor picnic, while dancers, singers and musicians provided a truly festive atmosphere.

The Loft: - Owing to tradition, beerhouses are typically in historic buildings, but the Little Creatures Dining Hall is a contemporary interpretation. Converting a light structure warehouse, there’s a definitive loft-like vibe with the open airy feeling of the high ceilings, the rawness of the exposed ductwork and steel structure, and even a mezzanine of more intimate spaces, just as you would find in a residential loft.

The third place: - However, it’s the combining of the two that provides a remixing of not only the beer drinking experience, but more importantly, a social experience that feels fresh and current where one can meet friends (and strangers) on a regular basis.

Thanks to Springwise for the reference, and photo by snazzsmemoirs.

It starts out as a vastly familiar story. As the industrial economy grew and manufacturing jobs moved to the outskirts, many of Wichita, Kansas’ historic downtown buildings were boarded up, with vacancy rates up to 70%. Now an evolution to a knowledge-based economy is bringing people back to the city center, and as we know, the creatives will seek out the natural cultural districts first.

The premiere natural cultural district in Wichita (which may surprise you in that it’s the 51st largest city in the U.S.) is Old Town, the historic downtown district spanning 20 blocks of brick-lined streets. What was once the aforementioned abandoned zone of buildings is today the downtown’s hot spot, with public plazas and loft residences (pictured), vibrant street life and bustling restaurants and nightlife venues.

Following the successful formula of starting with restaurants first, the city then enacted a TIF district to re-invest taxes back into the sources that generated them, followed by a partnership with the county to invest $4 million for street improvements, brick paving, boardwalk preservation and the restoration of the building for the new farmer’s market.  This also included two large public plazas for civic events and social networking.

Housing developers followed with the first mixed-use residential loft development in Old Town, Mosley Street Place, then spurring 40 condominiums, 160 apartment conversions, more than half of which were attainably priced, a restoration of what is now the Hotel Old Town and the Old Town Warren Theatre, and an Old Town Square Addition (pictured) featuring mixed-use buildings with shops, offices, apartments, green public space, a splash park, a new CityArts gallery… you get the idea.

Image: Old Town Plaza, Wichita, Kansas by Keith Wondra.

On July 15, 2007 Paris launched the world’s largest bike sharing system with 10,000 bikes (now 20,000), inspired by the same system in Lyon, France, which inaugurated May 2005. On August 13, 2008, Washington DC launched the first bike sharing system in the U.S., albeit modestly with 100 bikes. Just about every major city is now considering a bike sharing system, so now’s a good time to have found this concise video explaining how the bike sharing system works, with some energetic motion graphics and music that capture the progressiveness of its intended population. You gotta feel the vibe in order to get why people want this. If only the narrator could lose the lilt…

As is now well known in bike sharing circles, the system is financed by an advertising corporation in return for the city allowing them to run ads in public transit spots, which also shares in the revenue. According to wikipedia, in Paris, the ad firm JCDecaux paid start-up costs of about $115 million, employing 285 people full time to operate the system and repair the bikes. The city receives all revenue from the bike sharing program plus a fee of about $4.3 million a year. JCDecaux is allowed to advertise on half of the 1628 city-owned billboards, the other half reserved for public-interest ads.

Read previous entries on DC’s SmartBikeDC and Paris’ Velib bike sharing programs.

Would you pay $40/year to use a bike sharing system like this? The first 30 minutes are free.

The Creatives Cities Summit 2.0 was held in Detroit, Michigan, October 12-15, 2008, the sequel to the first one in Tampa in 2004, hosted by Creative Tampa Bay. The purpose? Provide models for growing a creative economy. Why Detroit? It was more a case of Detroit needing the summit more than any other city, and by that token, having the most aggressive leadership to get there - see Michigan Governor Granholm’s Cool Cities Initiative. Still, creative is better demonstrated tangibly rather than through policy.

Perhaps it’s helpful to highlight the baby boomer-oriented keynote speakers that represent the content of the summit:

John Howkins - Author of The Creative Economy and proponent of intellectual property laws.
Richard Florida - Creativity economist and author of Rise of the Creative Class, Flight of the Creative Class, and Who’s Your City?
Bill Strickland - Based in Pittsburgh, one of the most extraordinary community organizers of our time, especially for centers that train people in creative professions.
Tom Wujec, Autodesk - Author of Return on Imagination: Realizing the Power of Ideas, an expert in visual communication, demonstrated via capturing the entire conference.
Doug Farr - Author of Sustainable Urbanism, and the green development expert for the event.
Ben Hecht, President/CEO, Living Cities - Founder of One Economy Corporation, assisting 150,000 low-income people throughout the world.
Charles Landry, COMEDIA UK - Author of The Art of City Making, based on The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators.
Carol Coletta, President/CEO, CEOs for Cities - Host of the weekly public radio show Smart City, which is often referenced on this site.
Diana Lind - Editor of the quarterly magazine on progressive urban innovations, Next American City.
Majora Carter, Co-founder, Green For All - Established one of the first urban green-collar job training and placement systems, and continues to do so.
Pier Giorgio Di Cicco - A widely published urban philosopher and poet.
Dean Kamen, Founder/President, DEKA Research & Development Corporation - Holder of 440 patents, including the Segway, and focused on transitioning university talent into the creative economy.

See their full bios here, and check out the CEOs for Cities blog for summaries of the ideas presented at the event.

On one hand you have freeways being dismantled for public parks (eg Portland, Oregon’s west waterfront) and on the other you have parking spaces temporarily turned into public spaces (eg Park(ing) Day). Somewhere in between you have streetside parking for cars being replaced by an inviting, rather fun dedicated bike lane, such as the one featured in the Streetsfilm video above in Boulder, Colorado.

The big deal with dedicated bike lanes is that it actually feels like bikes are prioritized, especially when they have their own traffic signals. Going one step further is a contra-flow bike lane, which goes against auto traffic, and obviously there’s more extensive landscaping to ensure it’s accessible only to bikes.

Boulder, Colorado is a nationally-recognized biking capital, and this dedicated bike lane is a model for the future. However, if you want the best benchmark for dedicated bike lanes in the world, visit the Netherlands where you’ll see these kinds of bike lanes throughout the country.

There are few better authorities for comparing the thousands of neighborhoods, streets and public spaces than the American Planning Association, especially since their vast membership represents just about every one of these destinations. Thus, special attention should be applied to their annual Great Places in America, with ten designees in each of the three aforementioned categories. However, they choose new recipients each year, and this is its second year, so you may want to check out their 2007 winners - scroll down to see them here.

How does can this apply to your city, neighborhood? Not only do these provide great models, but the site also lists the detailed criteria for how these were selected.

You can easily see the 30 choices on one page at their Great Places in America 2008 site, so rather than list them all, here’s a review.

Great Public Spaces - You can’t go wrong with this list, particularly since they didn’t have public spaces as a category in 2007.

Great Neighborhoods - The ones with a more urban vibe include Charles Village, Baltimore, Maryland and their deeply strong sense of community; the revitalization of new to complement historic downtown Salem, Massachusetts; the arts community in Echo Park, Los Angeles; the college-life-infused Greater University Hill in Syracuse, New York; the loft conversion movement of Old Town Wichita, Wichita, Kansas; and the beautiful quaint architecture and cobblestone streets of Society Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (pictured). The others on the list are more small town family/retiree oriented.

Great Streets - Looking at the entries that fit the tone of a freshened natural cultural district at a more human scale, these are the historic, nightlife rich 7th Avenue in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida; the historic fishing waterfront of Commercial Street in Portland, Maine; the true urban of Washington Street in Boston; and the creative urban hotspots along West Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky.