Bottom up citymarketing

I advised the Dutch city of Venlo on their economic profile. They are struggling with their image as a city for drug tourists. And they're the city of Geert Wilders, the Dutch right-wing populist politician who leads the polls at present. But, there's a lot of creative energy in Venlo as well. One of Venlo's most creative entrepreneurs is Marcel Tabbers, active in the creative Q4 inner city neighborhood. Usually it's the authorities that start a positive promotion campaign to put their city in a favourable light. Usually this doesn't work. People see it - in the end - as propaganda. Marcel and his colleague Miel Theeuwen started a bottom up citymarketing campaign called 5x5x5. With 3 other people they had 5 to start with. Each one approached 5 other Venlo-citizens who in their turn approached 5 'Venlonaren' each. Everyone makes a webcam statement about something they personally like about Venlo. Tabbers and Theeuwen thought that it must be possible to find at least 100 people in Venlo who are positive about their city. The promo movies will be put on YouTube and on a special site www.5x5x5.nl. The 5x5x5 initiative has been nominated for the Dutch Citymarketing Innovation Award

10 most walkable cities

The Daily Green (http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/most-walkable-cities-460708) lists America's 10 most walkable cities. You can argue about the selection, but here it is anyway: San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Portland. I mean, there's a lot of other things you can say of LA. But here it is a case of potentially walkable neighborhoods when people take the car.

Walkability strongly increases the liveability of a city. Some of the cities have a real trackrecord in Walkers Paradise scores. The ranking was made by Walk Score (www.walkscore.com) which ranks neighborhoods in 40 US cities as to their walkability. Very Jane Jacobs - this is the street ballet. With a walkability score of over 90, you're a walker's paradise. New York city has 38 walker's paradises. 3 NY neighborhoods have 100% score: Tribeca, Little Italy and Soho.

Walk Score is a recommendable site.

Creative Detroit

Small creative businesses are budding in Detroit. Recession, empty spaces and nothing to lose make a lot of people creative in former Motown. An interesting article in The New Yor Times. This is both about new business concepts and community building

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/us/10startup.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes

Economics of Happiness

An interesting article by Carol Graham of the Brookings Institute on measuring happiness for economic reasons. Compare this to the chapter on the geography of happiness (Shiny Happy Places) in Richard Florida's Who's your city?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123101153.html

Perm: uniquely hidden, formerly forbidden

I spoke at the 5th Perm Economic Forum last september, months before the fateful nightclub fire. 700 people are invited each year to speak on the economic future of the city and the region.

Perm is a strange city. 1.1 million people and Russia's 3rd city. It is the last European city before the Ural mountains and Asia. Boris Pasternak wrote Dr Zhivago in Perm and the city was an important crossroads in the vastness that is Russia - it is 4 timezones from Western Europe to Perm. And there's another 7 east of Perm in Russia.

In Soviet times, the city was a no go area. Foreigners were not allowed there due to the defense industries. This explains why so few people speak English in Perm. There was no reason to learn anay other language than Russian. Now it it open, but way out there anyway.

Perm wants to be a creative city. But talent only is attracted by quality of place. So, what's the quality of Perm? It is not a buzzing city with a bustling nightlife. Perm can only be Perm and what makes Perm unique is this hidden, forbidden, outback quality. A place out there with excellent research and a world renowned ballet.

The adventure is outside of Perm, in the vast openness of the landscape. The wide and lazy Kama river meanders thru a landscape with wilderness and great stories. If Finland can combine this quality of outback research and wild nature, why couldn't Perm? Why not combine research quality and adventure trips?

The big point to make is the element of trust and safety. Changes should involve the people themselves and this is not the Russian way. There is a great income gap between those working in the oil and gasindustries and those unfortunate ones that don't. And the terrible tragedy at the Cripple Horse nightclub is not comforting that things will change for the better.

Building trust and building on the pride of the great history of Perm is the way to start. What makes Perm really different is this unique background and soviet atmosphere, but quality of place and quality of opportunities should be improved first before anyone other than participants to the 6th Perm Economic Forum will make the trip far out to thus intriguing place.