Revitalizing Las Vegas via the Downtown Project

2012-10-22T16:40:00-04:00

Richard Florida...thinks it needs a “robust community process,” in which an outside group could help build consensus with the surrounding community and create a plan that takes their wishes into account. “You can have serendipity,” he said. “But when you’re building a community, you also need a strategy.”

Timothy Pratt profiled Tony Hsieh and his Downtown Project for the Sunday NYT Magazine. The project began when the chief executive of Zappos decided to lease the former City Hall, instead of buying land and building the typical Silicon Valley corporate campus. In order to provide an attractive urban community for his employees, Hsieh went one step further and started the Downtown Project, a $350 million urban experiment to build "the most community-focused large city in the world". The goal is not R.O.I. but maximizing R.O.C (Return on community) and increasing "serendipitous encounters".

Dead End on Shakin’ Street

2012-10-18T14:43:00-04:00

because they (NPR) always seem to believe they are saying something really fresh and profound about a place or a “scene” when they tag it thus. But the real force behind our mania for the vibrant is the nation’s charitable foundations. For organized philanthropy, “vibrant” seems to have become the one-stop solution for all that ails the American polis.

Thomas Frank comments on "vibrant cities" and on their fallacy in an article for the Baffler. The role of arts and creative class in most recent euphoric city makings are closely analyzed and exposed. "Vibrant" equaling to "thriving" and hollow?

Somewhat related "Gin Fizz Urbanism"

Archinect - News

Revitalizing Las Vegas via the Downtown Project

Dead End on Shakin’ Street