gurgle, drip drip drip... it is the water that matters not the oil. the nytimes just published a series on the water crisis in india, this is what will destroy phoenix and denver too.
So how to attract jobs? taxes don't seem to be the biggest factor (look at LA, NY, SF, and Portland for high taxes). Colleges may be part of the issue. Housing prices? Or is it branding?
It can't be just suburban life in the sun or is it?
cheap office space? close proximity to other cities?
I read an article showed the connection between a city's success and the population of gay men in the city.
Statistically, the more gay men u attract to town, the more successful the city wil become.
I think that one way to make the city attractive to young people and make them want those jobs in the city is to add things like bike trails and public climbing walls and things that young professionals are into.
a sign of a healthy city (to me) is that it hosts lebowskifest and the rolling stones at churchill downs on the same weekend and that there's enough other stuff going on that i don't have time for either one. bike trails, i get it, but i wonder how many young professionals actually use climbing walls?
that was just part of that article about the gay men thing that mentioned elements such as climbing walls that change a citys appeal. My view of a city would be completely different if they implemented a public climbing wall than if they implemented another public fountain or running track.
"Cities are building sports stadiums, but talent wants bike paths. Business is not a spectator sport.
While professional sports are seen more and more as a way to achieve "major league" status and attract talent, our data suggests that there is little relationship between these big-ticket venues and high-tech workers. Many successful high-tech regions, notably Austin and Raleigh-Durham, have little or no professional-sports presence. The reason, I think, is that we're seeing the replacement of spectating with participating.
Knowledge workers don't want to devote an entire Sunday to watching football. These people are active. They want to participate. They don't want to stand on the sidelines. A lot of cities believe that they'll make it in the new economy if they get a professional sports team and build a downtown mall. They couldn't be more wrong.
It's almost like taking drugs away from an addict: No more stadiums. No more convention centers. What cities need to do is really simple: Make it fun. Create a music scene. Build bike lanes. Make sure that there are parks where people can play Ultimate Frisbee. Think about the city's historic assets -- the old buildings -- as cool spaces for hot companies.
Austin really gets it. Austin decided that it wanted to create a great place to work and a great place to live. So it leveraged its music scene and its independent-film community, and it launched strategies to preserve open spaces and control growth. Austin's mayor, Kirk Watson, understands that in order for the city to be successful, it has to promote a convergence between technology, Austin's music scene, and its unique, laid-back quality of life -- not one or the other.
Boulder, Colorado is another example. It didn't have a lot of new-economy resources. So it blocked off the downtown area to traffic, built a pedestrian mall, lured in a few cool retail stores, and there were people on the street. Now there's energy. The place is attractive. The small, simple things make a big difference."
As I said earlier, this topic fascinates me. My senior thesis (look it up, chaptertwo), was a bridge with a museum on it. It basically explored the concept of creating a structure that combined a logical piece of infrastructure with a unique, regional attraction, and what identity that could lend to an area. Think about cities that work well....NYC, Chicago, London.....one common link is that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to navigate these places by foot or public transportation. They are accessible to everyone who can read a map, and you get a great view on the way to wherever you're going as well.
i did. i mentioned infrastructure and how "right in the middle of america we have whole swaths of established infrastructure going to waste"
also, i agree with you, a, in that i feel kunstler is a bit harsh on the south...actually, i feel like alot his predictions are too pessimistic. as if he were only concerned with the "worst case" of a scenario planning assignment.
and i'm surprised no one commented on the "fuck for the boondocks" campaign in norway...i about died laughing the first time i read that.
I started going to INDY to see the brickyard race about 8 yrs ago and that city is much more urban than I had expected. A girlfriend of mine had a relative in a band there and we ended up at some cool dive bars. Every time I go there there is something new. My favorite thing unique there is race day - literally every front lawn is a parking lot for spectators within a mile of the speedway.
See also Madison Wis. / Iowa city for small, cool midwestern, artistic cities. Truely hidden gems.
I'll second "Mad-town" WI as a fun small city. And taking this topic title to heart, what about Reno, NV? Aren't they the self-proclaimed biggest little city in the world?
Small Big Cities
gurgle, drip drip drip... it is the water that matters not the oil. the nytimes just published a series on the water crisis in india, this is what will destroy phoenix and denver too.
So how to attract jobs? taxes don't seem to be the biggest factor (look at LA, NY, SF, and Portland for high taxes). Colleges may be part of the issue. Housing prices? Or is it branding?
It can't be just suburban life in the sun or is it?
cheap office space? close proximity to other cities?
I read an article showed the connection between a city's success and the population of gay men in the city.
Statistically, the more gay men u attract to town, the more successful the city wil become.
I think that one way to make the city attractive to young people and make them want those jobs in the city is to add things like bike trails and public climbing walls and things that young professionals are into.
a sign of a healthy city (to me) is that it hosts lebowskifest and the rolling stones at churchill downs on the same weekend and that there's enough other stuff going on that i don't have time for either one. bike trails, i get it, but i wonder how many young professionals actually use climbing walls?
that was just part of that article about the gay men thing that mentioned elements such as climbing walls that change a citys appeal. My view of a city would be completely different if they implemented a public climbing wall than if they implemented another public fountain or running track.
im trying to dig up that article
they didnt have lebowskifest on shomer shabbas did they???
"Cities are building sports stadiums, but talent wants bike paths. Business is not a spectator sport.
While professional sports are seen more and more as a way to achieve "major league" status and attract talent, our data suggests that there is little relationship between these big-ticket venues and high-tech workers. Many successful high-tech regions, notably Austin and Raleigh-Durham, have little or no professional-sports presence. The reason, I think, is that we're seeing the replacement of spectating with participating.
Knowledge workers don't want to devote an entire Sunday to watching football. These people are active. They want to participate. They don't want to stand on the sidelines. A lot of cities believe that they'll make it in the new economy if they get a professional sports team and build a downtown mall. They couldn't be more wrong.
It's almost like taking drugs away from an addict: No more stadiums. No more convention centers. What cities need to do is really simple: Make it fun. Create a music scene. Build bike lanes. Make sure that there are parks where people can play Ultimate Frisbee. Think about the city's historic assets -- the old buildings -- as cool spaces for hot companies.
Austin really gets it. Austin decided that it wanted to create a great place to work and a great place to live. So it leveraged its music scene and its independent-film community, and it launched strategies to preserve open spaces and control growth. Austin's mayor, Kirk Watson, understands that in order for the city to be successful, it has to promote a convergence between technology, Austin's music scene, and its unique, laid-back quality of life -- not one or the other.
Boulder, Colorado is another example. It didn't have a lot of new-economy resources. So it blocked off the downtown area to traffic, built a pedestrian mall, lured in a few cool retail stores, and there were people on the street. Now there's energy. The place is attractive. The small, simple things make a big difference."
read the article.. its worthwhile
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/42/pp_florida.html
Has anyone even mentioned infrastructure?
As I said earlier, this topic fascinates me. My senior thesis (look it up, chaptertwo), was a bridge with a museum on it. It basically explored the concept of creating a structure that combined a logical piece of infrastructure with a unique, regional attraction, and what identity that could lend to an area. Think about cities that work well....NYC, Chicago, London.....one common link is that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to navigate these places by foot or public transportation. They are accessible to everyone who can read a map, and you get a great view on the way to wherever you're going as well.
le bossman and you are the boss man, i think i said that about albucrackee further up the post. it is a town surrounded by sprawl and suburb.
i did. i mentioned infrastructure and how "right in the middle of america we have whole swaths of established infrastructure going to waste"
also, i agree with you, a, in that i feel kunstler is a bit harsh on the south...actually, i feel like alot his predictions are too pessimistic. as if he were only concerned with the "worst case" of a scenario planning assignment.
and i'm surprised no one commented on the "fuck for the boondocks" campaign in norway...i about died laughing the first time i read that.
Sorry puddles, sometimes my attention span doesn't allow me to follow through on those long posts. Good job in any case.
WonderK, my uncle did a thesis on a bridge building about 35 years ago at UC...
Wow, really? Small world.
small world. unless you have to clean it...
Wk & C2- my thesis was also hybrid infrastructure, too. just at the slightly larger scale of a watershed. WooHoo for synergy and mutualism!
oh, the venicians built a hybrid bridge/building 800 years ago. gotta love when modernists co-opt historical precedents as a new invention ;-)
Oh I didn't co-opt it, I cited it as a precedent. I cited the one in Florence too.
cool- any pictures available?
I started going to INDY to see the brickyard race about 8 yrs ago and that city is much more urban than I had expected. A girlfriend of mine had a relative in a band there and we ended up at some cool dive bars. Every time I go there there is something new. My favorite thing unique there is race day - literally every front lawn is a parking lot for spectators within a mile of the speedway.
See also Madison Wis. / Iowa city for small, cool midwestern, artistic cities. Truely hidden gems.
I'll second "Mad-town" WI as a fun small city. And taking this topic title to heart, what about Reno, NV? Aren't they the self-proclaimed biggest little city in the world?
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