Check out this CNN video of Detroit's terrific Ice House project. The two men managing the "collaboration with Mother Nature" are dousing the state-donated house with water to make a statement about the frozen housing crisis. It's their hope that this installation art piece will reveal a solution and show that there are plenty of uses for abandoned homes, whether they're used for recycled materials or turned into new homes. Check out the Ice House website. Wed Feb 3rd 2010 at 3:18pm EST |  How do economic crises affect inequality? In the past, inequality increased prior to economic crises, only to moderate during and after crisis periods. In the present crisis, many expected inequality to decline. Others, however, note that with job loss in the millions and unemployment above 10 percent, while investment bankers continue to rake in big bonuses inequality is on the rise. A new study by researchers at the Minneapolis Fed and New York University tracks inequality in the U.S. since 1970 (via Mark Thoma). I find that while income inequality has increased during the crisis, consumption inequality has declined. Recent evidence shows how the distribution of resources changes in recessions in complex ways.The bottom of the earnings distribution falls off substantially relative to the median, causing earnings inequality to increase in recessions.This increase is substantially mitigated by government and private transfers. This mitigating effect, together with the fact that households can use borrowing and lending to smooth income declines, causes the consumption distribution to typically move very little during recessions.The current recession appears somewhat unusual. So far, consumption inequality has declined sharply, perhaps because the consumption-rich have been disproportionately hurt by declining asset prices. Wed Feb 3rd 2010 at 10:15am EST |
 On July 13, 2009, I wrote this comment Pollyanna Has All the Friends.... Here we are exactly six months later and my premonitions have been born out. The Senatorial election in Massachusetts was an earthquake - make no mistake about it - and unless there is change there will be many more. Massachusetts was not just tea-baggers or the health care debacle -- the level of anger on Main Street is rising. This can be seen in the Bernanke renomination fight, which, though likely to be approved, is probably the last stand for what I believe is a Chicago School of Economics-driven flawed analysis of the current crisis. The anger will dramatically grow if, as I expect, the market takes another terrible fall during 2010. The Obama victory was as fundamental as that of Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s victory heralded the appearance of the mass production industrial working class on the political scene. He galvanized their demands into the New Deal. The result, after World War II, was U.S. global leadership. I suggest everyone read Roosevelt’s first Inaugural Address. It is a statement of vision, leadership, commitment to change, and a recognition that a new order was in birth. Many of us, me skeptically included, saw Obama as the harbinger of a different sector of the U.S. economy and polity, what Rich has called a “creative class,” moving into power. We all know what has happened since. Essentially, Obama felt it necessary to succor the old order, while not clearing the way for a new sensibility. In my estimation, President Obama has about one month to dramatically change course or I fear his presidency will, for all intents and purposes, be finished and the nation will have three years of dangerous drift, while a hurricane rages around us. These are the things I think he must do now: Military spending must be cut massively and the two wars in Central Asia must be rapidly wound down. Iraq appears quiet, but Afghanistan is ramping up and will be far more costly than Iraq ever was. As an example, it costs $400 to deliver a gallon of gasoline to our troops there, and $1 million per year for every soldier there! This is unsustainable.Money must be withdrawn from bailouts, maintaining unsustainably low interest rates, and subsidizing mortgages in a vain effort to keep home prices high.The funds saved must be redirected toward jobs programs of all sorts, a Greentech roll-out, the arts, infrastructure renewal, education, and research. Most of these are low-cost, high labor-intensity.Do you think my July premonitions are that far off where we are today? What is it that will be required to create a transition to a new order? Sat Jan 23rd 2010 at 9:18pm EST | This week, Forbes and Joel Kotkin released a list of the "world's smartest cities." "In today's parlance a "smart" city often refers to a place with a "green" sustainable agenda. Yet this narrow definition of intelligence ignores many other factors--notably upward mobility and economic progress--that have characterized successful cities in the past. The green-only litmus test dictates cities should emulate either places with less-than-dynamic economies, like Portland, Ore., or Honolulu, or one of the rather homogeneous and staid Scandinavian capitals. In contrast, I have determined my "smartest" cities not only by looking at infrastructure and livability, but also economic fundamentals." The list included: 1. Singapore 2. Hong Kong 3. Curitiba, Brazil 4. Monterrey, Mexico 5. Amsterdam 6. Seattle, Washington 7. Houston, Texas 8. Charleston, South Carolina 9. Huntsville, Alabama 10. Calgary, Alberta Are these really the "smartest cities?" Fri Jan 22nd 2010 at 8:31pm EST |
 Last week the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA) had its annual meeting in Santiago, Chile and launched the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) executive report. The annual meeting was held in a developing country for the first time. The meeting is a mixture of media events, planning meetings, and strategic decision-making. In addition, social events make this a welcome activity. The 2010 GEM executive report, in addition to reporting on the state of entrepreneurship in the world, had sections on the economic crisis and social entrepreneurship. The main finding was that entrepreneurial activity had declined in the developed countries but not in the developing countries. In other words, do not look to Europe to lead the world in the future. As a founder of the Hungarian team, the so-called transition countries are not going to lead either. The labor force of Europe is in decline and, therefore, Europe and Japan are in no position to provide entrepreneurial leadership in the future as they age. By the year 2050, most of the labor force in Europe will be aging and the under 40 labor force will be in the developing world according to my colleague Jack Goldstone at George Mason University. In other words, the creative, innovative and entrepreneurial talent will be in Brazil, Chile, India, China, and Indonesia. The developing world will have to provide the economic leadership for the market. While the world will be flat, hot, and crowded, the creative talent will also be in these places. GERA is uniquely positioned to measure and track the progress that the world is making in shifting the creative epicenter from Europe to Asia and South America. This seminal meeting of the GERA represents the first step of the association in this transition. After spending the first 10 years of this decade trying to figure out if Denmark is more entrepreneurial than the United States, we are now shifting to measuring the entrepreneurial progress of the developing countries. As Richard Florida said to me a few years ago, the young are the same all over the world. If that is the case they will surely be the leaders in the future. Wed Jan 20th 2010 at 10:05pm EST |  So last Wednesday I was invited to York University to come do a little guest lecture in a class called Creativity and Cities in Urban Politics and Planning 4800. Heather McLean, the courses professor, is a PhD candidate and member of the City Institute at York University but I first heard about her in an article entitled "Why Richard Florida's Honeymoon is Over." She teaches a cool course, with a cooler M.O: Subject the creativity discourse that is leading much of contemporary urban policy to some intelligent criticism. By looking at an old Wall Street Journal article and two very different conversations that emerged about it here on the Creative Class Exchange - one that is perhaps more celebratory of how the creative class theory is attributed to this situation, and one that I wrote that is perhaps a bit more critical of the role creative class theory might be playing - I tried to impart on them that it's really important that they bring their content to the table when looking at dominant theories, and to sift these theories through that content to see if they pan out. That content could be their cultural leaning, their ethnicity, age, political leaning, or whatever lens that they are most invested in, but it's important that they understand that they're empowered by that lens to see things that others who aren't as invested as they are don't see. They should ask questions about what they see. Or moreover, what they don't. Prepping to do that lecture brought me back to when I first met Richard, which is kind of an interesting story about the value of critique and about the mettle of Richard Florida as well I guess. So before all of this DJ/bureaucrat business I was a young(er) DJ/student/journalist writing for the Ottawa Xpress. In school I was studying cities, and for the paper I was writing music and reviewing books. Richard Florida was coming to town for the Tulip Festival, and his then new book Who's Your City? had come into the office to be reviewed. I'd just been into a lot of Richard's research journals, and the Elizabeth Currid stuff was just coming out too, so this was an interesting time to be talking. In all of the reading that I had done I really didn't see myself represented in the creative class - either as a Hiphopper, or as a North American Black person. So in our interview I respectfully stepped to him on those issues. From my article/review of Who's Your City?: "I am a rock-ist," he admits, "and my students have informed me of this, but I'm learning." As it turns out, Florida reveals that one of his future projects will look at the relationship between music and the city, and that he was already taking that opportunity to look at hip-hop culture... and then on race... How is the movement of the creative class affecting these [racial] communities? "Probably the reason I don't write about it [race] is that when I wrote about gay issues, I had a gay collaborator. So I felt, as a straight person, that I could then work on gay issues. It's probably a part of my age, I'm very sensitive when trying to weigh in on those issues." And while I'm the first to recognize that this isn't him leaping to engage that problematic, you ask him a direct question, you get a direct answer. At the end of the interview we kept talking about where I saw room for engagement within his theory, and eventually we started doing this thing that you're reading right now. Recently there has been a lot of good critique of the Creative Class and Creative City theories. Here in Ottawa at Carleton, Sarah Brouillette is studying the Commodification of Creativity. Profs like Heather and groups like the the Creative Class Struggle are keeping a critical voice in the discourse. And as much as there are things that I think it would be interesting to see Richard address, one thing I can say about him is that he's always willing to host me to address those things, and likewise with other critics. A good example is Ian David Moss' incredibly fine grained and detailed deconstruction of the creative class over at Createquity.com, and Richard's response to that criticism. Or while I was in Toronto visiting the MPI a few months ago I met Philipp Oehmke who had just spent time doing the interview that leads the article he wrote about the Hamburg squatters in Das Spiegel which captures the nuance of the situation really well. In this discourse the traditional skirmish lines seem to be skewed. All of the ire from the left seem to evaporate into a vacuum of hugs from what we thought was the right. In Hamburg the artists occupy, and the city sends talkers and crews to make sure the building is safe. In my interview, I ask this guy tough questions about the exclusion of race and Hiphop from his ideas and he invites me to answer them myself on his site. Coming from the "Fight the Power" generation, this is certainly not what I expected when challenging a dominant ideological discourse. Sometimes I don't know what the hell is going on myself. All I can say is that, for now at least, it seems to be as broad a conversation as you want to have. Yes there are still barriers but, surprisingly, listening seems to be an emerging trend. I think people are still correct to question the root of that - why are people listening? - but in my opinion, it's more important that people like those students are taking the time to grow and use their critical skills to make this discourse broad enough that their content and concerns can either find their place within this discourse or expose where improvement of it is necessary. That's a creative class if I've ever seen one. Music. Wed Jan 20th 2010 at 12:35pm EST |
 I was talking to a 60-year-old, retired entrepreneur at a party the other night. Successful guy, very sharp. I asked him what he thinks is next for Florida and he said he did not have much hope for Florida, mostly due to lack of visionary leadership. Then he said something that really struck me. He suggested that Florida is on a course to reset to its old state of being “cheap, sunny, and dumb.” That really struck me because while we are all talking about the great reset that is going on, I had not thought to ask the question, "What does Florida reset to?” And he may very well be right. At the state level, we are relaxing the rules for developers to encourage even more sprawl to try to kick-start our construction industry again. We are actually lowering impact fees in places. We are lowering protections on the environment. This seems like a reset towards “cheap, sunny, and dumb.” There are powerful forces and attitudes that could very well push Florida back into this reset mode. And that is pretty scary. While we all generally agree that this reset is needed and welcomed in some cases, we should be careful that we don’t reset back to a point so far back that we actually lose too much of our hard won progress. We all have to ask ourselves and our leadership what the plan and vision is for this reset. Each community is facing this and we act as if the reset is just something that will happen. That is not the case, yet I hear far too little debate as to how we actively shape the reset. Tue Dec 15th 2009 at 8:00am EST |  A massive congratulatory shout out and thank you is due to Devon Ostrom and the Beautiful City Alliance on behalf of the city of Toronto. With little but an imperative to act, a willingness to collaborate, and the long-suffering of an ascetic, this determined group of young people were able to establish some cultural sustainability within the city by successfully petitioning council for a new tax on billboards, with a percentage of the monies generated going to a fund for city beautification through local arts. The billboard tax passed a day or so ago, at $10.4 million in revenue annually along with the new bylaw! But don't take it from me. From Beautifulcity.ca: This massive step forward means that thousands of arts projects will eventually be funded and that many of the problems associated with excessive and illegal billboard signage are finally being addressed... It needed to be done this way to get it through Council at the amount necessary to compensate Torontonians properly for use of public space -- and not have a bunch of Councillor's personal projects and agendas eat away at the allotment. To be short, it was the best way to get a clean vote. While some councilors with their eyes on the corporate dollar are non-plussed right now, I can't imagine that this is really so bad for them. Canadian cities have a very limited set of tax-tools that they can use to generate income and a disproportionate amount of it comes from property tax. Moving in the direction of diversification in this way should be welcome, even if it feels pyrrhic from their perspective. Especially with all of the public buy-in. Not to mention the overwhelming media support. If you have some time, definitely read up on this initiative. It was a very, very long and tough battle that tested organization, commitment, and resolve but this alliance of artists and supporters got it done. I had actually been asked to depute on behalf of the alliance before the Toronto city council, but because things were constantly getting pushed back it wasn't possible. While I won't break out the full deputation here, I'll riff on what I wrote briefly to reflect upon the victory. So Mississauga, where my parents eventually moved to, is west of Toronto. This means to come into the city there were two ways to do it. Either by car taking the Gardiner Expressway, or by public transit - the bus-to-subway mission. Both ways gave you very different entries into the city and I loved them both. When you're flying down the Gardiner, just as you hit the curve by Ontario Place, there's this straightaway where the city just opens up, and it's pretty breathtaking. One of the things that can be seen is an impressive stretch of billboards on the left. I always liked reading the advice that would come across the Inglis billboard or seeing the new 3-D ones that the airlines would sometimes mount. I had no idea how or when they changed them, and that was cool to me. But then coming in by the subway there were other things to see, particularly the wall in between Keele and Dundas West stations. It was and still is one of the most famed graffiti spots in the city and a place where I saw some of the most iconic images of my young life. That space between those two stations was endearing me to the city every time I'd pass it by. The idea that there were people out there making the city more beautiful of their own volition made it seem more alive and vibrant to me. This initiative is a way to bring those two experiences of very different art into a mutually supportive relationship, and there's something about that that's really cool. Now, toasting to success, let's take a look around this beautiful city with the homie Drake: httpv://www.youtube.com/w... Thu Dec 10th 2009 at 3:14am EST |
 This week, thousands have flown across oceans or traversed continents to be in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference. There, politicians, scientists, rock stars, journalists, and academics will discuss reducing the carbon dioxide and monoxide humans are spewing into the atmosphere. It's intriguing to me that thousands of people, all theoretically committed to reducing their own carbon footprints, see a reason to be in Copenhagen, rather than listening in from home via technology. The actual scheduled events, speeches, etc. can all be viewed at home. A few bloggers and writers on site could provide additional context. Yet, thousands had to go for themselves. Two key reasons why they likely traveled reveals some workplace trends for the 21st century: 1. Making human connections in today's global economy trumps carbon concerns. A main reason why so many are in Copenhagen this week is to network -- to meet other world leaders, scientists, activists, journalists. Sharing ideas, comparing notes could result in new ideas and innovations going forward. Moreover, making new friends and allies never hurts. Finally, even knowing one's enemies better can be worth the trip. Lesson for workplace trends: Even the most ecologically committed will likely commute to the office regularly (even if they telecommute some days), as well as travel to business and client meetings. They'll do this not for the formal agenda, but for the informal spin-offs from unexpected encounters and conversations. 2. Being seen at the important meetings is crucial to many people's personal "brands." One reason leaders like U.S. President Obama and Canadian PM Harper are going is because a significant number of voters at home are concerned that their country's government is not doing enough to help the environment. Other aspiring green leaders would not be considered "players" if they were not there, mingling, networking, and being seen. Lesson for workplace trends: Image is important. And again, appears to trump carbon concerns. (I assume some at the climate change conference will "green wash" their trips by purchasing "offsets" involving planting trees in Africa -- but this is not the same as not flying or driving in the first place.) There are likely additional lessons, but those two stand out for me. Your thoughts? Tue Dec 8th 2009 at 9:21am EST |  The differences between the U.S. and Canadian housing markets astound me on a day-to-day basis. In my neighborhood in Toronto, housing prices are up and homes sell in a few days, some with multiple bids. In Detroit, where we visited for Thanksgiving, you can't sell - or in some cases, even give - houses away. Visiting Miami for Art Basel, the numbers of houses and condos on the market are staggering - stunning, brand new towers remain virtually empty. The Cleveland Fed reports on the key differences between the U.S. and Canadian markets (pointer via Marginal Revolution). Despite their many points of similarity, housing markets in the United States and Canada have fared quite differently since the onset of the financial crisis. Unlike the U.S., Canada has not experienced a dramatic increase in mortgage defaults, nor has any Canadian bank required a government bailout. As a result, observers such as The Economist have pointed to Canada as “a country that got things right.” ...The Canada and U.S. housing market comparison suggests that relaxed lending standards likely played a critical role in the U.S. housing bust. Monetary policy was very similar in both countries from 2000 to 2008, but housing prices rose much faster in the U.S. than in Canada. This suggests that some other factor both drove the more rapid appreciation in U.S. prices and set the stage for the housing bust. A likely candidate is cross-country differences in the structure and regulation of subprime lending markets ... But while subprime lending also increased in Canada, the subprime market remains much smaller than in the U.S. The most cited estimate is that subprime lenders had a market share of roughly 5 percent in 2006—compared to 22 percent in the U.S. (Mortgage Architects, 2007). Moreover, the Canadian subprime market never expanded significantly into newer products, such as interest-only or negative-amortization mortgages, whose popularity grew rapidly in the U.S. from 2003 to 2006. Instead, the Canadian subprime market mainly offered products popularized in the U.S. during the 1990s, such as longer amortization periods for loans (from 25 to 40 years), and mainly targeted near-prime borrowers. Securitization has also been less common in Canada than in the United States, with roughly 25 percent of Canadian mortgages securitized in 2007 versus nearly 60 percent in the U.S. The Canadian securitization market has grown rapidly over the past decade, rising from roughly 5 percent of mortgages in 1998 to over 25 percent in 2008 ... Perhaps the simplest story is that Canada was “lucky” to be a late adopter of U.S. innovations rather than an innovator in mortgage finance. While the subprime share of the Canadian market was small, it was growing rapidly prior to the onset of the U.S. subprime crisis. In response to the U.S. crisis, some subprime lenders exited the Canadian market due to difficulties in securing funding. In addition, the Canadian government moved in July 2008 to tighten the standards for mortgage insurance required for high LTV loans originated by federally regulated financial institutions. This further limited the ability of Canadian banks to directly offer subprime-type products to borrowers. There are also several institutional details that played a role. The Canadian market lacks a counterpart to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both of which played a significant role in the growth of securitization in the U.S. In addition, bank capital regulation in Canada treats off-balance sheet vehicles more strictly than the U.S., and the stricter treatment reduces the incentive for Canadian banks to move mortgage loans to off-balance sheet vehicles. Finally, as noted above, the fact that the government-mandated mortgage insurance for high LTV loans issued by Canadian banks effectively made it impossible for banks to offer certain subprime products. This likely slowed the growth of the subprime market in Canada, as nonbank intermediaries had to organically grow origination networks. Thu Dec 3rd 2009 at 10:49am EST |
 I recently had the opportunity to visit Milwaukee, WI, for the first time (thank you FUEL Milwaukee!). And visiting cities for the first time, to me, is particularly exciting. Arriving for the first time is a pure and unadulterated experience. First impressions matter and how a city presents itself to a first-time visitor is very important. I learned this from my friend Charles Landry. [caption id="attachment_13530" align="alignright" width="340" caption="Milwaukee Art Museum"][/caption] I arrived via the airport with the typical location outside of city. My host takes the highway toward the city. As we approach the Hoan Bridge, we pass amid the Port of Milwaukee. On both sides, there are mountains of bulk materials and cranes. While not beautiful, there is the appearance of activity and a muscularity that says “we work here.” As we crest the bridge (with its own very strange design element) I am startled because the city presents itself there in panorama. The city in the hills to the left, the waters of Lake Michigan to the right. And to the right, near the lake, your eye is drawn to the white sails of the Santiago Calatrava masterpiece at the Milwaukee Art Museum. It looks so different and unexpected in the tableau that one cannot help but to stare. Unexpected because this is the Midwest where modern iconic design is not the norm and that is not a shot; I am originally from the Midwest! More photos click here. While many question the value of “starchitects” and iconic design, I have to say that my impression of Milwaukee was and is shaped in no small part because of that building. It is different and it says something about Milwaukee that no amount of advertising and marketing could equal. It says in a profound way “we are not what you expect” and that Milwaukee is looking to the future and beyond the beer brewery image of its past. The building says it in a visible and demonstrable way that one cannot deny. Cities that are arguing over the cost/benefits of such iconic architecture should consider the context in which the new building will occur. In starchitect-rich Singapore, one more Calatrava or Libeskind is just keeping up with the crowd. In cities with a dearth of quality architecture (lots of those) or cities that need to redefine themselves in the 21st century, a new building can be a catalyst for new design and a whole host of other values. Tue Dec 1st 2009 at 8:08am EST |  About 14 months into the downturn in Canada, about 20 months in the U.S.A., and I've been examining how the recession has affected workplaces and what some longer-term implications may be. Today, I offer a Canadian perspective. I invite you to add your own. Next week I'll try to create an American list, or compare and contrast the recessionary experience in the two countries. Four ways the recession may have changed creative class workplaces in Canada The rapid spiral from booming economy to downturn in the fall of 2008 both forced and allowed many companies to re-focus, fast. Many quickly removed employees not seen as having a long-term future with the firm; they also sharpened scrutiny on various business lines or projects, canceling those not deemed likely to be profitable in the short term. In Canada, economists now say the job shedding happened much faster than in past recessions.For some employees, the “golden hand cuffs” came off and they have had an opportunity to move. For staff with bonuses tied to the profits of particular projects or the company generally, a down year can mean you’re not leaving as much money on the table if you quit. The significant increase in self-employed workers is likely a consequence of this. People are going out on their own.The government "may" start to recognize that North American economic future is in knowledge-work, high technology, more than old-style industrial manufacturing. In Toronto there are now more jobs in the Finance Insurance Real Estate sector (FIRE) than manufacturing (324,000 vs 316,000), and by early 2010 there will likely be more in Professional Scientific & Technical Services as well (at 315,000 now). Already, the financial services industry in Toronto has created an alliance to educate and lobby the government to provide a further boost to this successful sector.As in the U.S., women's jobs have tended to be less affected by the recession, which hit manufacturing and resource industries harder than service and knowledge work. This may be the start of a big shift in how families with children live and work as well.What else? Wed Nov 25th 2009 at 10:11am EST |
 Here's the abstract for a new paper on said with Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick. Economists have argued that individuals choose locations that maximize their economic position and broad utility. Sociologists have found that social networks and social interactions shape our satisfaction with our communities. Research, across various social science fields, finds that beauty has a significant effect on various economic and social outcomes. Our research uses a large survey sample of individuals across US locations to examine the effects of beauty and aesthetics on community satisfaction. We test for these effects in light of other community-level factors such as economic security and employment opportunities; the supply of public goods; the ability for social exchange, that is to meet people and make friends; artistic and cultural opportunities, and outdoor recreation; as well as individual demographic characteristics such as gender, age, presence of children, length of residence, income and education levels, and housing values. The findings confirm that perceived beauty or aesthetic character of a location has a positive and significant effect on perceived community satisfaction. It is one of the most significant factors alongside economic security, good schools, and the perceived capacity for social interaction. We also find community-level factors to be significantly more important than individual demographic characteristics in explaining community satisfaction. The full paper is over at the MPI site, here. Sat Nov 7th 2009 at 9:00am EST | New research by the Gallup Organization finds that 700 million people - 16 percent of the world's total population - would like to move to a different country than the one they currently call home. The first map below shows the percentages of people in various regions of the world that desire to permanently move to another country. The second map shows the places these movers would most like to relocate to. Gallup also compiled a very interesting index of potential net migration which compares "the estimated number of adults who would like to move out of a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who would like to move to it," as a proportion of the total population. Here are the top five and bottom five countries. Interestingly, the United States did not make the top five. Wed Nov 4th 2009 at 4:38pm EST |
 Today, we take it for granted the streets are there to move cars, and also to carry buses as well as cyclists, pedestrians, and the occasional skater, scooter-rider, and Segway user. The typical solution is to keep pedestrians on the sidewalk and paint lanes on the street to separate cars from cyclists or create express lanes for buses. But maybe there's another approach: Why not consider devoting different streets to different kinds of transportation? And surely cities need more green space and some are actually getting it. Inspired by the High-Line Park, by D.C.'s Rock Creek Park, and Toronto's extensive ravine system, I have been noodling about the possibility of creating linear green belts or what I like to think of as sliver parks through cities. I literally feel this when I walk through Toronto's ravines, or in the past when I cycled through D.C.'s Rock Creek Park. It provides a natural environment in the city and creates green zones for cycling, walking, picnicking, or other activities. But I thought this is far too pie-in-the-sky to actually be implemented or even proposed. So I was more than pleasantly surprised to see The New York Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff highlighting just such an approach coming out of a nine-month design competition for the Bronx's "faded" Grand Concourse. A proposal by the New York office of the international design firm EDAW that would create a strip of communal farmland down the middle of the Concourse verges on cliché. But it improves when you keep in mind the grittiness of some of the urban gardens in New York or Berlin and imagine them stretched out along several miles. A new light-rail line would run the length of the boulevard; traffic would be reduced to two lanes in each direction, down from the current six.A raucous proposal by the French team Nadau Lavergne Architects would pile more activities on top of existing structures to add density to the neighborhood and create unexpected urban frictions. Schools and cultural institutions would be stacked over apartment complexes, freeing up the street level for commercial use. A graffiti-covered streetcar would run up and down the Concourse, linking it to Manhattan. The Concourse would be packed with trees, transforming it into a linear urban forest. Part of what is moving about these proposals is that their approaches have become so familiar. Not long ago the notion of building farmland in the middle of a busy urban roadway would have seemed like madness; today it seems too obvious. So does the idea that segregating urban functions can drain the life from a city. Check out the terrific images from the project website, including this slide show. A full gallery of all the submitted projects is here. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Tue Nov 3rd 2009 at 12:00pm EST |  Do you live and work in the same building? In various North American cities in recent years, planners, residents, and others have introduced the notion that there should be more housing built that can also be a person's workplace. Live-Work differs from "mixed use," in which an apartment or condo tower may exist above an office or retail building, however apartment dwellers will not necessarily or even likely work in the commercial space below. Under these discussed Live-Work scenarios, a self-employed individual would work from home. The developer of the housing (and/or the municipal zoning) would need to make accommodation for this type of use. I've seen some older buildings converted into artist Live-Work spaces, designed for an artist to have a studio space often at ground level, and their home above it. Newer buildings have often been designed with an office beside the front entrance to the apartment or condo, theoretically allowing someone to receive a client without the client needing to see or enter the rest of the home. However, many units in "live-work" buildings simply have an office off the master bedroom. A few weeks ago in a casual chat, Richard raised the question of whether Live-Work capacity would be something that residents of future apartment buildings in downtown Toronto might require. Given shifts that happened during the recession in which tens of thousands of Canadians shifted to self-employment, one could wonder if this accelerated a trend toward more free agents. Live-Work might be a trend in both how we live and how we work. All this got me thinking about the attempts to implement Live-Work in Vancouver with some of the new towers (such as The Hudson or Shaw Tower), and how, according to some observers, almost no purchasers bought with the intention of having a home office (they just wanted to live downtown, either because they work in an office building, like the abundant amenities, or both.) In the case of artist Live-Work spaces, I read (I believe in Elizabeth Currid's book) that in New York these spaces are typically sub-let to lawyers, accountants, and others who love their locations and trendiness - and who have a lot more money. In both cases it may be that typical downtown workers (such as lawyers, accountants, bankers, etc.) end up wanting the live-work condos or artist studios and can afford to pay more for them. But these people work in an office building where they interact with myriad other people all the time. Most people I know who "work from home" as private contractors or consultants do so largely to avoid a commute and because they prefer to live in quieter, suburban, or exurban surroundings rather than in a dense urban area (in part they may prefer more distant living because of the ability to afford a larger home for the same money as a condo). So, I am wondering whether Live-Work places downtown (or in denser, urban areas) will grow in the future, or diminish - or stay the same, somewhat fringe phenomenon that they are now. Do you or any of your friends, clients, or colleagues live and work from a downtown apartment? Or from an urban artist-studio? Would you want to? Sun Oct 25th 2009 at 2:22pm EDT |