Cities that suffer from various brand stigmas or problems often want to give themselves an image makeover. Even cities that are doing well can fret about how their brand is faring versus the global competition. This had led some cities to ask whether or not they need to appoint a creative director, as in the private sector. For example, see this article about Birmingham, UK. Tyler Brûlé, whom I mentioned yesterday, listed appointing a creative director as one of the five things he would do as mayor of a city. As he put it, "All strong brands … [Read more...]
Picture-Perfect Portland?
Portland is one of the most-praised cities in contemporary America. But is the hype real? To some extent, it actually understates the case. Portland didn't invent bicycles, density or light rail -- but it understood the future implications of them for America's smaller cities first, and put that knowledge to use before anyone else. The longest journey begins with a step, but you have to take it. Nobody else did. In an era where most American cities went one direction, Portland went another, either capturing or even creating the zeitgeist of … [Read more...]
Learning to Love “Naptown”
Indianapolis has long chafed under the memory of being mocked by out of towners and bigger markets as “India-no-place” or “Naptown”. As with many nicknames, the actual origin of the term “Naptown” is in dispute. It has variously been attributed as an insult implying a sleepy, boring town; coming from call letters of WNAP radio; or originating in 1920's jazz from the so-called “Naptown sound”. Given that the “nap” syllable occurs in the long Indianapolis, a short form or diminutive is implied. Whatever the case, the word Naptown has long … [Read more...]
The City as a Platform
I've seen and heard a lot about the notion of a "city as a platform". I haven't seen a lot of great definitions of exactly what is meant by it though, so I thought I would explore various dimensions of the concept a bit. Let's take a look at the actual definition of the word platform, of which there are several: a raised horizontal surface or stage a document stating the aims and principles of a political party the combination of a particular computer and a particular operating system a military structure or vehicle bearing … [Read more...]
The Importance of Social Structures to Urban Success
There seems to be a popular belief that what it takes to create an industry cluster in bioscience or whatever is to pair research with commerce. That is, to find an academic institution doing cutting edge research, and connect it with venture capital and entrepreneurs to start companies to commercialize it. Soon enough, you have a "cluster" of businesses that takes off like a rocket. This is the perceived Silicon Valley model, and no company epitomizes it more than Google, which was started by two Stanford students to commercialize their … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Blizzards
[Since it's winter and snow clearance has been in the news lately, I thought it was a good time to rerun this piece looking at the different expectations people in different cities have for public services, and how regardless of where you fall on that, everybody's feeling the pain right now.] Photo Credit: flickr/meryddidanJanuary 1979 saw one of the worst blizzards in city history hit Chicago, dumping 20 inches of snow, closing O'Hare airport for 46 hours, and paralyzing traffic in the city for days. Despite the record snowfall, the … [Read more...]
Place Is the Space by Ben Schulman
West Oakland - Photo Credit: nullboy - Creative CommonsIn 1974, the jazz musician/philosopher Sun Ra released the film Space is the Place, his avant-garde sci-fi fantasy about the salvation African-Americans were to find in colonizing outer space. Ra’s vision grew out of his personal philosophy regarding music’s ability to act as both a literal and figurative catalyst for transformation. In Space, music becomes a delivery vehicle to the cosmos, a remedy for the ostracized, poverty-stricken African-American communities stuck in urban ghettos. … [Read more...]
Louisville – An Identity Crisis
Following on from my article on Cincinnati, I'll now take a short 100 mile trip downstream to another old river city, Louisville. Louisville came of age in a similar era and traditionally viewed itself as a sort of little brother to Cincinnati. However, while Cincinnati was once the Paris of the west, Louisville never held so lofty a position, so it lacks Cincy's grandeur. Luckily, it also appears to be missing some of the dysfunction. See here the river city tradition as the Belle of Louisville steamboat fires up. There were obviously no … [Read more...]
The Mark of a Great City Is in How It Treats Its Ordinary Spaces, Not Its Special Ones
Cities turn to starchitecture in order to create iconic images to symbolize their city and its aspirations to the world. Famous buildings can, as with the Bilbao Guggenheim or the Milwaukee Art Museum, even come to symbolize a city itself. Such buildings or spaces also fulfill the human need for the spectacular, and for sacred space in the community. Similarly cities create "gateways" to mark the entry to special districts, or engage in various "placemaking" initiatives around branding. We frequently see, for example, the main street, plaza, … [Read more...]
People for Urban Progress and the New Grass Roots
I'm starting a new feature on the blog today in which I'll periodically profile great examples of positive urban change coming from the new grass roots. Today I'm featuring People for Urban Progress (PUP) from Indianapolis. One day back when I had an apartment in Indy's Fountain Square neighborhood, I popped into the local bike shop, Joe's Cycles, and saw two people having a conversation with Joe about a project they were working on to make bicycle bags out of reused fabric from the roof of the RCA Dome. I was intrigued and so introduced … [Read more...]
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