It’s not often that you hear a headline like that, and I’m not sure it’s ever been claimed actually, but the real estate development firm, Renaissance Downtowns is committing to indeed, crowdsource downtowns. Not only that, but they’re focused on attracting creatives, with the help of CoolTown Beta Communities.

“Renaissance intends to address the needs of the Creatives by engaging this emerging market through crowdsourcing methodologies that have lead to the success of many technology offerings such as Amazon, Google and Wikipedia.

To address the changing needs of the American consumer, communities will have to provide the following attributes:
• Active, more engaging environments
• Artistic and cultural scenes
• Vibrant 24/7 economy filled with energy
• Preservation of a place’s history
• Tolerance (openness and diversity)
• Economic sustainability and environmentally sensitivity
• Multi-use transit oriented options
• Proximity to Mega Regions”

As CEO Don Monti puts it, “Our goal is to understand what the market truly wants, and deliver that to them.”

Focused primarily in the Northeast, the Renaissance team has established a unique Unified Development Approach of public-private partnerships with cities that are transitioning from the industrial economy to the knowledge economy. Renaissance provides the capital for development, at a scale of up to 1500 new walkable downtown residences.

Many of these cities are repositioning their downtowns to better attract knowledge workers to not only compete, but survive. If you’re associated with one of them, you may want to give the development team a call, as they’re in the reconnaissance phase of identifying which cities to invest in.

This isn’t a photo of what’s in the neighborhood of Broadmoor, New Orleans, but it represents the kind of place people do want. The Broadmoor neighborhood in central New Orleans was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, but it inspired NOLA YURP (New Orleans LA, Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals) to do something about it – see New Orleans creatives take the initiative to rebuild.

Through its network, the group identified a sponsor developer from the triple bottom lined Green Coast Enterprises, who in turn suggested a few buildings/sites for YURP members to consider crowdsourcing. Working with the diverse local neighborhood group, the Broadmoor Improvement Association, they voted on an abandoned two-story historic convent building (pictured) owned by a church that was willing to offer a community-friendly lease.

They then voted on a desired use for the ground floor – a coffeehouse/cafe that also serves as entertainment space – and are now working with a commercial broker to secure a tenant. Why would a tenant be interested in such an arrangement? For one, the group is committed to establishing a following of loyal customers (ie a beta community) to ensure the business’s success, and second, because it’s viewed as a primary benefit to the surrounding community, as mentioned, the lease terms are very attractive.

The good news is that the effort was featured in the city business paper. Unfortunately, the writer took the YURP term a bit too literally and titled it, Former convent could be born again as yuppie hub. It’s not what you want to hear in an economically-challenged area, but the group is dedicated to ensuring the local residents and culture is inherently reflected in the third place that is eventually created there.

Your participation is welcome (from wherever you are) at the Destination Broadmoor beta community site.

In the industrial age, we’ve been subjected to an economy and culture dependent on mass-produced ‘hits’. Why? Because catering to everyone else wasn’t cost effective. Thus, the economy grew around companies like Wal-Mart, Blockbuster and Microsoft. However, thanks to the information age and the internet, reaching ‘everyone else’ is suddenly cost effective, witness the rise of Amazon, Netflix, Linux and iTunes, where there is something for everyone and participation is open to all.

Check out the chart to the left – the red represents the ‘Big Head’; the hits. The yellow represents the ‘Long Tail‘; everyone and everything else. Notice how the area in the long tail is much larger than in the big head – the sum of many small markets is worth more than a few large markets. That’s your potential market, that’s the long tail of your organization’s audience that’s looking for a way to participate in what you have to offer.

Bubbly provides the tool that will not only provide access to that long tail audience, but will help to establish them as an enthusiastic community committed to the success of your organization by letting them participate in defining what you have to offer.

Up until recently, crowdsourced placemaking only made it to the front page of this website. Sunday, July 27, 2008, was a seminal moment as it hit the front page of the fifth largest newspaper in the U.S., the Washington Post in the article Online, a Community Gathers to Concoct A Neighborhood Eatery. The story, written by food writer Jane Black, is focused on the crowdsourcing of a green, healthy, education and community-oriented restaurant in Washington DC called Elements, which has been profiled here a few times.

I actually think this is one of the best crowdsourcing articles for a number of reasons:
- It quotes Jeff Howe, the person who popularized the term crowdsourcing and has a book coming out very soon.
- It quotes a New York-based restaurant consultant. You can’t get much more qualified than that.
- It quotes two of the crowdsourcers; the future restaurant customers. When was the last time you got to read about what they think?
- It quotes, ahem, yours truly, and the owner, Linda Welch, which leads to my favorite part of the article:

“When Welch told him about her plans, Takemoto suggested crowdsourcing the restaurant. “I said, ‘Great!‘ “ Welch remembers. “ ‘What the hell is that?‘ “

If you’re a creative in Washington DC, then CreativesDC is just for you: “A beta community of free agents, entrepreneurs and creatives in DC,crowdsourcing places, events and scenes that inspire conversation.”

CreativesDC launched July 11, 2008 with two ‘gatekeeper’ members organizing a kickoff party on July 23.  Via the viral loop word of mouth system, the community has reached over 600 members one year later, with six events spawning crowdsourcing initiatives, such as a triple bottom line live music nightclub.

What’s the point? One longtime wistful request of the innovators in DC has been a forum to meet one another, even collaborate. What CreativesDC provides is not only an opportunity to provide that, but the means to create, as stated, the actual places (eg a design-oriented coworking site), events (eg monthly happy hours) and scenes (eg an active daytime entrepreneurial population) that represent those collaborations – via its groups. This can easily be replicated in other cities.