urban storytelling

Citybrands: the Power of the suppressed archetype

2011-12-21T12:39:00.001+01:00

In hard times, look for the archetype that is suppressed. It fulfills needs people crave for, but that are not being addressed by other brands. When a brand is able to address these needs, it will unleash an incredible power. The same holds good for cities and their citybranding. In these complex times of crisis and uncertainty it is the archetype of the Innocent that is having a really hard time. The Dutch neighboring cities of Deventer and Zwolle have a strong case for the Innocent. Here's why.

Last month, the mayors of the picturesque former Hanseatic towns of Deventer and Zwolle, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, signed a covenant to cooperate on the theme of Modern Devotion. In the late Middle Ages, Modern Devotion was a reformist religious movement that started in The Netherlands in these two towns.

The cooperation speaks of lectures, exhibitions and reviving the movement. But the complete scope of its possibilities could be far greater. Zwolle has many resident artists that have a devotional streak in their work. Deventer boasts a highly successful nostalgic Dickens Festival (http://www.dickensfestijn.nl/) each year in december. It drew 100,000 vistors last year and 120,000 in 2011.

The Innocent city
Goodness, morality, mysticism, nostalgia, faith and optimism are qualities attributed to the archetype of the Innocent. The Innocent as a brandarchetype is visible in Christmas, Disney or movies like E.T. or Forrest Gump. But could it be visible in cities? Why not?

Both Deventer and Zwolle have a strong case to brand their city as the Innocent city. The authenticity of the experience people have, goes deeper than modern devotion. It touches upon a level of the soul that goes beyond the nostalgic morality of A Christmas Carol. It is about the yearning for paradise. It is about the promise that paradise can be here and now. It is also about the promise that if you fall from grace, you can be redeemed.

When mayors realize what potential they have in the urban story that lies below the stories they tell, they will strike gold. And the world as it is now, needs an innocent city.

(the picture of the Dickens Festijn is used by courtesy of vvvdeventer.nl, the Deventer Tourist Board)

Chrysler's Eminem Superbowl commercial uses archetypal power

2011-12-05T12:56:00.001+01:00

Chrysler's Superbowl commercial 'Imported From Detroit' featuring Eminem is much talked about. Rightly so. It's also as much about branding Detroit as it is about the new Chrysler 200. What makes the commercial powerful and spinechilling is the use of archetypes. It's the story of the Hero standing up after countless blows and persevering, despite a sea of troubles.

Some compare the Imported from Detroit commercial to Batman - the black avenger driving in to save Gotham City. Others say it reminds them of Rocky. All acknowledge its power. A voice over recounts the many blows that Detroit has had to suffer and the pride the city has in its mastery of carmaking. Then, Eminem drives the new Chrysler into the city centre and ends up with a gospel choir in a theatre, expressing pride, faith and hope for the future.

Observe the use of the colour red (the Hero colour) in the commercial, which is originally called Born of Fire. Listen tot the staccato beats (Hero music). The commercial also uses the 4 levels of the Hero story.

The Call: a challenge beckons. Detroit needs you to help defend the city.

Level One: the development of competence and mastery, expressed through achievement. The voice over claims the mastery of Detroit in making great cars.

Level Two: doing your duty for your community. Eminem drives into the city, ready to fight for it.

Level Three: using your strength and courage for something that makes a difference to the world. Eminem joins powers with hope and faith, expressed in the gospel choir. He points his finger at you: "This is the motor city. And this is what we do." Make no mistake, we know what we stand for and will fight for it.

The Chrysler commercial makes use of the Hero archetype, powerfully and consciously. The Hero and also the Explorer archetypes have been used for cars for a long time, but Chrysler makes a difference in addressing all 4 levels. If they want to go on making this difference, Chrysler should stick to the archetype - which they appear to do, judging from their Imported from Detroit merchandise. If you want to order an Imported from Detroit T-shirt, the site says: Can you prove it? Do you have the guts to wear it? Very powerfukl stuff indeed

Branding cities by archetypes

2011-12-02T12:26:00.001+01:00

How do you define the identity of a city? Is there a workable method to say something essential about something so complex as a city? Maybe there is. Over the past few months brandstrategists Brandfriend and I have been testing a method based on Jungian archetypes. This is not a novel approach in the field of brandmanagement. Check the groundbreaking work done by Margaret Mark en Carol Pearson in their book The Hero and the Outlaw. What's new is applying their archetypal branding theory to cities.

Brandfriend and I have tested the citybrand archetype approach on the Dutch twin cities of Nijmegen and Arnhem. Geographically close (a mere 10 miles) and well linked, they are also rivals in anything from soccer and festivals to attracting talent. The brandarchetype test revealed a Jester (Nijmegen) versus a Ruler archetype (Arnhem), exactly pinning the differences down to their specific character.

Archetypes play a vital role in myths and legends. They personalize our hopes, fears and our endeavours to make an imprint on this world, bring order to chaos, be part of a community or explore the unknown. Archetypes have dominated storytelling ever since man could tell stories. Many are familiar with the work Joseph Campbell did in the field of comparative mythology and the hero's journey. All truly great movies explore this journey-theme and make use of archetypes.

Brands are storiesWhat are brands other than stories told? The world's best brands, as Mark and Pearson pointed out, know the archetypal power of their brand. Ben and Jerry's is the Jester brand - making fun and having a good time. Nike is the archetypal Hero brand, honoring the great sportsheroes in their flagshipstores which are none other than temples full of stories on heroism. Or Apple, who started out as the Revolutionary brand challenging the status quo, but who are now the Ruler themselves determining design and standards.

Citybrands are, well .. citystories If brands are about storytelling, citybranding should be about urban storytelling. The test is devised to provide input for the archetypal brand story of a city (or region for that matter). The test that we have developed lets people score on statements, questions, pictures and videoclips. Questions on the perceived character of their city, on the stylepreferences of the people, on the perceived organizational cultural values of their city and on the archetype of the city itself.

As branding is about positioning, we have people compare their city to another they know well. It makes for easier scoring when you take this approach. And it is more fun as well. We tested a live audience of 160 people from the cultural sector to have them determine the personality of Nijmegen as a creative city. Nijmegen comes out of the test as a 'loveable Jester'- a person who likes experiment and fun, caring for others as well. This was exactly the picture that came out of earlier in-depth interviews we held with nine well-known people in the Nijmegen cultural sector. Arnhem, on the contrary, was seen by Nijmegen creatives as a mainly Ruler archetype - structuring and deciding, focusing and acting. This is exactly the opposite of Nijmegen - something that was always felt.

What good is it?

Now you have your brand story, what are you going to do with it? Well, it is a compass for authentic citybranding campaigns. When you know your archetype, you know the motives of your people and brandmovies can tap into that. But it is also a guide for policymaking. The cultural values of a city - cultural in the sense of 'the way we do things around here'- determine which policy approaches would work and which won't.

Arnhem focuses on fashion and design. This is not only economically justified, but going for product leadership in specfic sectors fits the Arnhem archetype. If Nijmegen would go for a specific cultural sector, it wouldn't work. Their focus should be on the experiment and making experiments more successful, regardless of what sector the experiment is in.

Within short we will have an online version of the test as well, but right now we'd love to test more cities and position them on a wheel with the 12 archetypes. This will provide a deeper insight into the truly authentic

stories that cities can tell.

Roy's power point gastcollege branding 2011 02-25

2011-02-27T13:09:00.001+01:00

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Roy's power point gastcollege branding 2011 02-25

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Citybranding: Eminem en Chrysler in Detroit

2011-02-21T00:08:00.004+01:00

De speciale Superbowl commercial die Chrysler voor zijn Chrysler 200 maakte is een geweldig stuk citybranding voor Detroit. Geen flashy filmpje op 5th Avenue of een glossy rit langs Sunset Boulevard, maar Detroit wordt hier opgevoerd als decor. In het meest donkere uur van de veelgeplaagde stad, rijdt Eminem binnen als de Dark Knight die trots en geloof terugbrengt naar Gotham City. Gewaagd en veel besproken, maar ook meer dan 6 miljoen keer bekeken op You Tube. Zie hoe de rit eindigt bij een gospelkoor: de ziel van Detroit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

Studenten inzetten voor citybranding onderzoek

2011-02-02T13:18:00.006+01:00

Studenten Branding van de Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN) kunnen voor uw stad of regio een merkonderzoek doen en merkpaspoort opstellen. Vanuit mijn docentschap Citybranding bij de HAN Faculteit Economie en Management is het mogelijk om een groep van 5 studenten dit als praktijkopdracht in het kader van hun opleiding te laten doen.
Het is gebleken dat een dergelijk onderzoek een uitstekend vertrekpunt vormt voor het denken over de identiteit van een stad of regio. Ook in het kader van beleid voor de creatieve stad zijn merkonderzoeken zinvol. Daarnaast kan een merkonderzoek dienen als onderlegger voor nieuwe citymarketing campagnes.
Zo heeft een groep studenten recentelijk een zeer goed ontvangen merkpaspoort voor de regio De Liemers gemaakt. Een nieuwe groep gaat binnenkort aan de slag met een onderzoek voor de gemeente Doesburg.
Voor meer informatie, bel Roy van Dalm op: 06 53 53 72 87

Creatief Zwolle, stad in transitie

2011-01-31T13:54:00.006+01:00

De barokke bovenzaal van brasserie De Harmonie in Zwolle was meer dan vol afgelopen vrijdag. Wat heb je dan een geweldig werk als je daar voor meer dan 100 mensen mag spreken over wat jou inspireert in steden. En dat samen met wethouder van cultuur Nelleke Vedelaar - een inspirerende vernieuwer met frisse ideeën. Waarom heeft Arnhem nooit zulke wethouders?
Het creatieve cafe was georganiseerd door KIZ Zwolle, het platform voor de creatieve stad. Wie is Zwolle eigenlijk als creatieve stad? Mijn gevoel na de levendige discussie met de zaal was dat Zwolle in transitie is. Aan de ene kant heeft de stad nog steeds haar Calvinistische doe-maar-gewoon DNA. Aan de andere kant zijn er zoveel initiatieven dat het gewoon wachten is op een doorbraak.
'Zwolle wordt nooit Amsterdam', riep een man op de tweede rij. Nee, dat klopt en dat moet je ook niet willen. Zwolle wordt geen Amsterdam omdat Zwolle Zwolle is. Waardeer wat er is en vernieuw vanuit het goede dat er is.
Het beste dat Zwolle kan doen is vrije ruimte creëren: fysieke ruimtes waar je functies kan mengen, ruimte voor nieuwe ideeën, regelruimte in agenda's, beleidsruimte in beleid.
Ik moet altijd denken aan wat Charles Landry zegt: een creatieve stad is een stad waar mensen kunnen denken, plannen en handelen met verbeeldingskracht. Ik pleit voor vrije ruimte voor verbeeldingskracht in Zwolle. Overal. Van het gemeentehuis tot de inrichting van kantoren. En Zwolle heeft KIZ en Nelleke en daar geloof ik in.

People and Passion, not bricks

2010-12-15T11:42:00.005+01:00

Earlier this week I was at the farewell party of Liesbeth Jansen, director of The Westergasfabriek (http://westergasfabriek.nl) in Amsterdam. In 18 years Liesbeth turned this 19th century, red brick former gasworks site into the cultural place to be. And this was an area of Amsterdam no one in his right mind would want to go to.

Why did this work, when so many other sites are just buildings with creatives where nothing else happens? Or where you feel you are left out, because you're not cool enough. As far as Liesbeht's concerned, it's focusing on the right people, on passion and always on the content and not on the bricks. "I prefer to work with the people who are madly in love with this place. Because it is their passion that made the Westergasfabriek a success." Temporariness is also a big thing: content moves on - it is there and then it's gone. Movement and change is everyhting. From circus shows for kids, big events for the tech savvy media crowd, low and high culture, creative industries and picnics for the people living in the neighbourhood.

Organize where the passion is and trust people. Letting go of masterplanning and developing as it goes along. Liesbeth knwos it, Jane Jacobs knew it: but who dares?

Why do cities recover so fast (or not at all?)

2010-12-09T13:23:00.003+01:00

Business Insider ranks the world's Top 15 of losing cities because of the recession. And the World Top 15 of fast recoveries. Take Istanbul. They were #44 (in growth) before the recession. They sank to #143 during the recession. And now they are the world's #1 in recovery after the recession. Why? Local employment is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, Business Insider says. Most Chinese cities rose, fell and rose again somehwere in the World Top 10. But Istanbul shows incredible resillience. Turkey has a young population, Turks are entrepreneurial, these things would probably matter. But what makes this city work is what most interests me. Should get hold of the report.

2010-12-09T12:57:00.000+01:00

Sshh, don't mention the population crash

2010-05-20T13:35:00.005+02:00

I met Fred Pearce, author of Peoplequake (Volksbeving in Dutch) yesterday in Utrecht, for an interview. For those who are not familiar with Pearce: he is one of Britain's leading environmental journalists and authors.

In Peoplequake he exams all aspects of demography. I interviewed him mainly on the future of European cities. There's a population crash coming towards us and we're pioneering it in Western Europe.

The fact that the whole global population will reach a tipping point about midcentury and go into a rapid decline isn't mentioned a lot in the media. Pearce tells me why: "Demographic researchers tend to hush it up. They say it would endanger their funding." The population crash is politically incorrect and even taboo as a topic.

As for Europe, Pearce says: "we will have to redesign the whole concept of cities and make them work for a shrinking, greying population."

The main reason for the continuous drop in fertility is the feminist revolution. Pearce: "Women can now choose between a career and children. Increasingly, espcially in countries like Italy and Germany, they go for their careers. Our main goal should be to complete the feminist revolution with adequate facilities that make it possible for women to combine career and children and an attitude that makes it possible that both partners share parents' responsibilities."

Fred Pearce compares the differences between Italy and the Nordic countries. "In Scandinavia these theings have been taken care of. Fertility in the Nordic countries is down only to 1.8 child. This allows for a gradual and copable decline in population. In Italy it's 1.3 child - a catastrophe. You can imagine what this will mean for the sustainability of cities in the long run."

Photo update Dresden

2010-05-18T15:35:00.003+02:00

I've just created a series of photos of my recent trip to eastern Germany. I made a Dresden series first, on Flickr. Use the tag Baba Reizen. There's a lot more to this city than its magnificent baroque centre. Check it out.

Stalin built this city

2010-05-10T15:03:00.007+02:00

The city of Eisenhüttenstadt ('steel factory city') in the eastern German state of Brandenburg is a strange anachronism. Stalin had it built in the early 50's for the blast furnace workers. A perfect workers' paradise in, well, Stalinist style.

There was no economic reason to have a blast furnace there other than to make a political statement. The furnace cannot run on the brown coal from the region - the cokes had (and have) to be imported from elsewhere. This makes Eisenhüttenstadt (or Stalinstadt as it was once called) a cathedral in the desert.

Ever since the wall is gone, the area is subject to the market economy. Out of the 56.000 inhabitants, only 30.000 remain. The others have gone to get a job somewhere in the west with some future perspective.

The old Stalinist blocks of flats have been restored in a wonderful way. The outside city rings of former soviet style flats are all being demolished and the people move closer to the old centre.

The future of Eisenhüttenstadt may well be that of a shrinking open air museum city, a relic of a different time and age. The city has an interesting museum of everyday GDR life and internet companies sell Ostalgia-products online to communist retro collectors around the world.

They may have been weird times to have lived in, but they make great stories. And out of great stories you could make a new living.

136 places missing and the land is still moving

2010-05-10T14:34:00.007+02:00

Just came back from an awesome trip to eastern Germany. The Lausitz region on the German-Polish border is full of stories. Ever since 1924 up to 136 villages and towns have been demolished to make way for brown coal quarries. It started in the Third Reich, went on in communist times and is expected to continue to at least 2030.

The only difference is: in the former GDR you got a notice on your frontdoor saying you have to be out by Monday next. Now, Vattenfall - the giant Swedish energy producer - compensates people for the loss of their homes. Like the town of Horno that fought 30 years against its obliteration from the Lausitz map. They lost. Then they could rebuild their village in the same manner some 20 miles further on, on the outskirts of the town of Forst. What arose there is Neu Horno (new Horno). It is so perfect it looks like the towns my daughter used to construct in The Sims computer game.

At the same time Vattenfall quarries the land for brown coal, creating lunar landscapes everywhere. When the mining stops, these giant craters get turned into articifical lakes for recreation. There will be 23 of them, connected thru canals.

The landscape changes all the time and towns and villages will keep disappearing. It is a difficult thing for the inhabitants: they are economically dependent on an employer who pays for their salaries and demolishes their houses at the same time.

Never doubt that a small group of committed people

2010-04-03T22:27:00.004+02:00

Lately I've been combining my work on cities with a process of dialogue tables throughout my university in Arnhem, The Netherlands. We talk about professional culture and our passion for teaching. It was just a new way of doing things. Now, after a few months of dialogue sessions at lunchtime, it is not only the staff that is taking part, but also management, hr and even the board. What I see is that, slowly, the dialogue - introduced to think about the space we have as professionals - is becoming the space. The dialogue ís the change.

So, I thought, why not start a dialogue in your city? So often when I speak about urban creativity at conferences, the creativity seems to end once the conference is over. Mostly the conferences themselves aren't even creative. They are only about creativity. It's just cities talking to other cities. It's like looking at a powerpoint on how to swim.

I invited Peter Senge to my university a few years ago. He gave a presentation for 400 people at our city music hall and made everyone sit around tables and go into dialogue. You know what happened? Many people got angry. They just wanted to look at a managementguru to tell them what to do the next day when they got to the office.

But if you want change and you are not prepared to sit around a table with 3 or 4 others and look eachother in the face, you don't want change. If you want change, real change in your city, you let your people start dialogue tables. Just start with a few and then train the people at your table to become dialogue leaders. And so on.

I know there are cities where they did this. And it is the test. If you want real change, you better start doing things with the people, instead of for the people. 'You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all of the people all the time'. Now, if a small group can really get this thing going, who knows where it will end. Quote Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Turning malls into greenhouses

2010-03-09T23:13:00.003+01:00

Here's a great story. In the US, they are turning partly empty shopping malls into (sub)urban greenhouses. Now this what I call innovation. Growing organic veggies in malls and selling them on the spot. Read the original story on Cleveland's Galleria Mall here: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/galleria_has_gardens_now.html.

The people who started the Gardens Under Glass project in Cleveland are thinking of bringing in urban gardeners, starting an education centre and inviting sustainable producers.

Real estate experts predict the decline of the 'single use environment', like the shopping mall. This initiative is turning malls into multi use environments. Great idea

Studiereis Berlijn voor beleidsmakers

2010-03-03T11:19:00.004+01:00

Berlijn: identiteit als wapen in de stedenstrijd

Overal in de wereld concurreren steden met elkaar om bewoners, bedrijven, bezoekers en bollebozen. Om als stad aantrekkelijk te zijn, is je identiteit belangrijker dan ooit. Iedere stad dient te kijken naar zijn eigen, onderscheidende identiteit waarmee het kan concurreren. Maar, waar kijk je dan naar in een stad? Hoe ontdek je wat een stad uniek maakt? En, tenslotte: hoe bepaal je vervolgens wat jouw stad uniek maakt?

Berlijn is drie dagen lang onze casus, inspiratiebron, laboratorium en werkplaats. Bij thuiskomst heb je scherpere inzichten en kun je betere keuzes maken in de positionering van je eigen stad of streek.

Deze studiereis wordt georganiseerd vanuit de Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen. Voor meer informatie, neem contact op met Roy van Dalm: 06 - 53 53 72 87 of mail: roy.van.dalm@inter.nl.net of roy.vandalm@han.nl

The Future of Cities

2010-03-01T21:58:00.004+01:00

I'd like your ideas on this one. I have an idea that a picture of The Future of Cities may be slowly evolving from a cloud of books and ideas and I'd like to know your views. I've put together some books and articles I've been reading lately and cannot quite figure it out, yet.

1. Peoplequake by Fred Pearce: in this brandnew book Pearce describes an emptying Europe due to demographic changes. Sure, we'll be greying but there will also be few of us left in Europe due to a dramatic drop in fertility. A country like Italy will have only 8 mln. inhabitants at the end of the century. And Germany, Spain and Greece are going in the same direction. Pearce foresees a continent run by the elderly - tribal elders.

2. The Matthew Effect: successful cities will keep on growing, less succesful ones will be drained of more people and rural areas will be totally abandoned. 'To those who have will be given even more and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken from them.'

3. The Great Reset by Richard Florida (out April 27). The forming of the Megalopolis - great urban conurbations that will increase in size, talent and importance. If you're not close to a succesful city, you're out of the game. Green cities will have the future. Pearce also writes about this issue- about cities also being the resolution to the environmental problems they themselves have created. The large urban centres will also determine the economy, no longer countries.

4. J.H. Crawford - Carfree Cities and Carfree Design Manual. Attractive pictures of great liveable communities without cars. Interesting utopias.

If you consider all this, also remembering Robert Kaplan's words that the European future will be in city states, then what is the picture you get? What other sources do you have to contradict these ideas or add complementary ones?

Will we be heading for thriving European, green city states surrounded by urban wasteland and deserted countryside and run by tribal elders who have turned to slow living and preserving what we have instead of inventing new things?

The feminization of cities

2010-02-19T21:11:00.003+01:00

I am totally amazed by Fred

Pearce's new book Peoplequake. It was published beginning of February and caught my eye because of an article in The Guardian on the population demise of former east German cities. Peoplequake describes the history of eugenetics, family planning and policies and demographic shifts.

Our planet may be crowded today, but by the end of the century many countries will have shrunk dramatically in population. Countries like Italy, Germany or Greece will be practically empty.

Pearce wonders what this demographic population crash will do for the future of European cities. An interesting insight into now is the feminization of cities. Women are taking the lead (also in numbers) in how the economy of cities is being run - from public office to service jobs.

When Richard Florida writes about the creative economy and the economic reset following this present crisis, he hardly takes into account demographics. Greying and aging nations: it all sounds familiar, until you see the naked facts of shrinking populations. I wonder how we could make a creative economy work with fewer and far older people?

Roys PowerPoint Gastcollege Minor Brandmanagement HAN

2010-02-11T13:38:00.001+01:00

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Roys PowerPoint Gastcollege Minor Brandmanagement HAN

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Identity as a weapon in the battle between cities

2010-02-11T13:33:00.003+01:00

The city is the place where money, products and ideas come together. No wonder cities all around the world compete with eachother for the favours of inhabitants, business, visitors and talent. This calls for urban attraction strategies. And in order to be attractive as a city, your identity in this competition is more important than ever. The future of cities lies in their distinctive character, not in a karaoke strategy copying others.

By Roy van Dalm

Globalisation has created a level playing field for cities. Or so we thought. For, the playingfield may be levelled, but the players are certainly not equally distributed across the turf. Talent and capital have a tendency to concentrate and multiply in some places and be drawn and sucked away from others. In the global competition between cities we get to see what we call the Matthew Effect: to those who have shall be given and in abundance, but from those who do not have anything, even what they have shall be taken.

The effect is a diminishing number of fast growing and flourishing cities, and a growing number of cities on the losing side. On this effect in the US, urban specialist Carol Coletta, from the CEO’s for Cities network, told me that out of the 51 American megaregions only 16 are growing. The other 35 are actually shrinking. This concentration of capital, creativity and talent poses a definite threat to middle-sized cities. Do they have the power and critical mass to withstand the competition? Take the extreme example of the eastern German city of Hoyerswerda. This former socialist model city was the fastest growing city of the German Democratic Republic. Until the wall fell. Now it has shrunk from 70.000 inhabitants to barely 35.000. Everyone with any talent and ambition has long since left. Empty tenement buildings are now being inhabited by wolves, slinking in from across the Polish and Czech borders. And this is Germany, not some third world country.

Stay away from karaoke
In order to be successful in this fierce competition, cities need to have – what Simon Anholt calls – a competitive identity. ‘Dare to be different’ says Carol Coletta. In many cases however, city authorities do not go for distinctive character, but for karaoke. They choose to imitate for instance the concept of the creative city, believing that artists and designers are the cure to all urban ails. But the real point of the creative city is that creativity is used not as and end but as a means to address urban challenges.

If a city wants to succeed, it should follow the concept of what I call the Triple A City: Authentic, Activating, All-inclusive. It has to be authentic in the stories it tells about itself. It has to stimulate people to be actively participating. And it should include all people. In the end this means that every city eventually can only succeed by being itself.

Written for: Future Cities Forum Ostrava

Bottom up citymarketing

2010-01-13T10:36:00.003+01:00

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

2010-01-11T23:09:00.002+01:00

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

2010-01-09T23:58:00.002+01:00

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

2010-01-04T12:03:00.003+01:00

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

2010-01-04T11:32:00.006+01:00

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.

The psychological make-up of a city

2009-11-30T12:58:00.002+01:00

I wonder what the best approach would be to determine the psychological make-up of a city. In Oslo and Warsaw I took the following approach. I asked some key cultural innovation drivers to describe their city to me as if it were a person. 'If Oslo is your friend, what would he/she be like?' This is a branding approach, making personae for a product. The problem is that cultural innovators are just one group to ask. Probably, immigrants would have a completely different picture of the city. Carol Coletta (CEOs for Cities) told me in Tilburg that she liked the idea that Manchester described itself as a collection of short stories, because the city (or any city) is too complex to make 1 single story. Is that the risk of all citybranding? That no single idea can capture something as organic and complex as a city?

Talking Heads on wheels

2009-11-23T19:48:00.005+01:00

I just saw on Planetizen (http://www.planetizen.com/books/2010) The Top 10 books on urbanism. One was a really unexpected title: David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries. Whadda ya know? The former Talking Heads lead singer cycles thru a number of cities, sometimes with planners and politicians, musing on the built environment. They quote him, cycling thru Berlin, pondering on the non-human scale and utopian atmosphere of the city. Something else

Hidden stories

2009-11-23T15:54:00.005+01:00

Keizerslanden in the Dutch hanseatic town of Deventer is a typical 60's/70's neighbourhood.

It's spacious, green and almost completely monofunctional. All looks peaceful and quiet, but it tops most of the social issues lists. Poverty, unemployment, isolation. You name it. Everyone of the 9.000 people there have a story. And the stories are untold. Because the stories are hidden. The housing corporation asked me to do a brainstorm with them. We came up with festivals, hiphop workshops and battles with the kids, a plave for good coffee and a conversation. I pointed them to the work of David Barrie in Britain. Most important, I believe is not what, but how you do it. Any event they choose should be designed, by designers and artists working closely together with the people at Keizerslanden. get the pride and energy going.

Vankovka Foundry

2009-04-23T20:50:00.003+02:00

Had a visit to the Vankovka Foundry in Brno. Old foundry turned into an artgallery. Beautiful space - they have flexible panels to make quick partitions. The art looked good. And there was a Zanussi fridge and washingmachine show. Even that was pallatable in a setting like the foundry. Our group was joined by Gregoria Todaro who works for the city of Melbourne as a planner. She took 5 months off to go to Europe. We were talking with Dan Sequerra who was active for the Creative Industries Cluster in Sheffield if it would be

a good investment to have more creative spaces. Zulfi Hussain said he might be more interested in Poland. Czech authorities are not so co operative, but the beer and the buzz at Vankovka are great. Best brownfield development in Czech.

Working in Brno

2009-04-22T06:46:00.002+02:00

I'm in my hotelroom in Hotel Bila Ruz in Brno, going over my notes for the speech at Future Cities Forum today. Met Monika last night and she had great news: the fantastic art deco Scheibler powerstation in Lodz will get UNESCO world heritage status. At last! If ever you could see a miracle place - it is this cathedral of steam. And Monika, Kris from the Lodz Art Center and Agnieszka Wlazel from River Cities, Warsaw, will be getting together in september for as conference on creative cities development.

My Estonia

2009-04-17T21:12:00.002+02:00

On May 1st appr. 100.000 Estonians will take part in a national brainstorm day. An incredible We-Think act. Up t0 400 locations will be opened for open space brainstorm to make Estonia a smarter country. There are 18 topics, ranging from creativity and entrepreneurship, to transport and being fit and healthy at an old age. Speaking of wisdom of the crowds! Last year 50.000 Estonians held a national clean-up day last year, and this Big Think is the follow-up.

http://www.minueesti.ee/?lng=en

A cathedral devoted to steam

2009-04-14T00:02:00.003+02:00

This is Scheibler's art deco powerstation when we were there in april last year for the

Ksiezy Mlyn Vision of the Future Conference that Monika organised. We is: Edwin Verdurmen from CASA Arnhem, Peik Suyling from YD+I, Amsterdam and Liesbeth Jansen from Amsterdam's unrivalled Westergasfabriek.

David Lynch: from Moscow to Lodz

2009-04-13T23:40:00.004+02:00

Missed David Lynch in Moscow. He was at the Gerasimov Institute for Cinematography last week. Got the news via Zhjenja. One of his favorite spots where you can see him annually is the Camerimage Festival in Lodz, Poland (www.pluscamerimage.pl). Lynch is there every autumn. He bought the EC1 powerstation (see pic.) with a Polish businesspartner, to turn it into an academy and studio. We'll probably drop by Lodz when we're in Warsaw in May. Lynch always has a green chair with him to sit down and ponder over wonderously surrealist places. And Lodz is full of them. When he saw the older art deco powerstation once owned by Scheibler, he decided to do something in Lodz. Scheibler's powerstation is one of the most magical places in Europe, but hard to get in nowadays. Lodz innovators like Monika Dziegielewska are trying hard to preserve it, maybe as a UNESCO heritage building.

New Juice for Arnhem

2009-04-13T22:48:00.004+02:00

New media artists and students from ICA Academy Arnhem will go underground for the New Juice festival (http://www.newjuice.nl/) They will be deep into the city's historic underground network of cellars. Arnhem had a thriving underground scene in the early 80's with punk, new wave and squatters claiming the city. Let's see it get back in 2.0. Ever since creativity got accepted by policymakers, be aware. It's time for the subversives and edge types to go for creative chaos once again!

Cold Turkey Transition

2009-04-07T12:30:00.003+02:00

Urban areas that are abandoned because of the crisis and foreclosures are returned to farmland. These places have to be turned into self-sustaining communities, like the Transition Town movement that started in Totnes, England. Only this is transition cold turkey. This is not self-willed. No choices here. But it is the only way to survive and be ready for a new future. What to do? How to do it? Do we have these developments in Europe too?

Suburban Wasteland

2009-04-07T11:39:00.003+02:00

The economic crisis is turning some American cities into ghosttowns. Really. Cities like Detroit have enough empty lots to fill the city of San Francisco. In between acres and acres of complete emptiness, some communities still function. Cities like Flint are even turning abanboned parts back into farmland. Meanwhile crowds have left the city and travelled far out into suburbia , areas without even transport or connections.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/5/716761/-Im-old-enough-to-remember-their-lies#

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09095/960370-109.stm

How do you weather a perfect storm?

2009-03-19T12:34:00.000+01:00

Cities can be hard hit by the recession. So, what about Warsaw? The number one business city and building site of eastern Europe has seen severe setbacks of late. And all just when the phoenix city was unleashing its creative potential. I'll be back there in May, trying to find out what the urban innovators are up to. What would you do when you are out of a job?

Warsaw has a borderline personality

2009-02-16T23:02:00.000+01:00

Did you ever hear someone speak of their city as a borderline personality? I did. Creative change agents in Warsaw speak of their city like that. And they still love it. Warsaw is a freaky city in a way. It has a beautiful old part, but it only dates back 50 years as it was built from scratch and rubble and reconstructed meticulously, like Montgomery Clift's face, after the war by the Russians. Then there's the part that is called the center and which is an almost American grid lay out of endless thru-roads, shiny offices and malls that pretend progress and development. Then there is the Parisian area that connects the two, where the palaces and best churches are. And then there is the part across the river, across the bridges that span the Vistula. It's Praga and it's original, pre-war and huge parts of it are run down. Some of it to such a degree that Polanski could shoot The Pianist there without much extra dereliction added. Still, Warsaw gets under your skin. If you are willing to look beyond business and the malls there is a lot of counter culture going on. There is a city of talent and 'can do' out there for those who want to look well. I love Warsaw and I can't say why. It just sticks to you in the energy of the people. It is bubbling to the surface. If, in the 21st century, a city's future is its face, what would the future be for a city with many faces?

The war on talent is over. Talent won

2009-02-12T12:00:00.000+01:00

The war on talent is over. Talent won. This is the slogan of the World Talent Forum in Pamplona. But leaders around the world still manage to fight our current crisis by investing in infrastructure or bailing out companies, instead of investing in talent. Just spoke to my old friend Richard Florida. He said this is not a Depression, it is The Great Reset. Our whole economic and societal systems are being reset for the creative economy. The city or region that gets the message that if you invest in the development of talent and everyone's creativity NOW , will be far ahead of everyone when the crisis is over. Is your city going to get it? Or are you trying to keep farming alive when everyone around you is building factories. 'There's something happening here and you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?'

A Talent for taste

2009-02-11T23:57:00.000+01:00

The Spanish region of Navarra, where I am now blogging from Pamplona, is trying to figure out what it should do about its talent. There is research here. There are artists and designers. But, walk thru one of the narrow cobbled streets of this city and you know where its best talents are. You can smell it from the bars, bodegas and restaurants: this is a region with a knack for good taste. It's brimming with great cuisine and best of all are the pinxtos - tapas, but then more elaborate. Petite works of art; great creations for the palate. And they cost next to nothing in bars like Niza (a national pinxtos prizewinner) or bodegas like Otona. If I were to promote Navarra I would have a slogan like 'Come to your senses, come to Navarra'.

Moscow XXL

2009-02-11T00:05:00.000+01:00

What's authentic? I was in Moscow a few months ago. The British Council ran their wonderful The Network Effect programme. Take the Seven Sisters in Moscow. Seven huge Stalinist highrises put up by uncle Joe himself. Everyone says they're so authentic of Moscow. But they date back only to the fifties and Stalin had 7.000 buildings and 368 churches demolished to make room for his skyscrapers and towering housing blocks. Moscow was built to impress. Everything is larger than life. So is downtown Manhattan, but that has a streetlevel life of its own. Moscow is muscles. It is supposed to say: hey, we're the greatest. If the city needed a new slogan, I proposed to name it Moscow XXL. 'Cause that's what it is.

World Talent Forum in Pamplona

2009-02-10T23:46:00.000+01:00

I've just arrived in Pamplona, Spain. It's 5 degrees and pouring. The Maisonnave hotel in the old city is on one of the narrow streets where they run the bulls during the St. Fermin festival in July. But now it's wet and quiet except for my neighbour's noisy television. Tomorrow the Agora Talentia (www.agoratalentia.es) will start, the word's first global forum on talent in the creative age. Just had a fabulous tapas dinner with Ann and Paul from the Lisbon Council and speakers from all over the world. We talked on the war on talent in times of crisis. Yes, sure: that war is over; in the sense that talent won. But will young talent get a chance to change Europe as it is? How can cities thrive in these times? We sat in a circle and had tapas the way Hemingway had, as he was a regular at the Josetxo (www.restaurantejosetxo.com). Sam from Massachusetts talked about 'the dark side of meritocracy.' Our cities are full of very eager people and creativity is a great thing, but when it comes to banking and accountancy: please be reliable and dull. So, what do you think? Will the crisis bring about a counter-globalisation thing? Like, all banks becoming nationalized an regionalized. Like, people lending money to eachother. And in an eco way: selfsustaining energy regions that produce their own energy, supply it to a regional power staion that distributes it back? And talking about food and food miles: will we rely on small circles of regional production that reduce transport? If that is so, the city and the region will become even more important. Not only as a nucleus of economic activities and talent magnet, but a selfsupportive City State 2.0.