Shopping mall developers are exceptionally good at what they do. They’ve spent the last few generations refining all the little design elements that make a place profitable for retail trade. Their buildings go up fast, return a profit for investors, generate tax revenue for local government, and create jobs. That’s why the same big box … Continue reading The Barlow
There’s plenty of blight out there. Inner city blight, failing suburban blight, long lost rural small town blight… empty storefronts, boarded up buildings, dead streets. There’s simply no government program that’s going to bring these places back to life. No Wall Street investment scheme is likely to revive these places. Developers have no economic … Continue reading Good Enough Urbanism: Faster, Cheaper, Smarter
Katie and Dave were new to the neighborhood and wanted to organize a fast, inexpensive, and effective event where they could get to know as many people on their block as possible. They used their home computer to print out flyers announcing a Sunday afternoon pot luck and knocked on all the doors within a … Continue reading Pop Up Pot Luck: Community Building on the Cheap
I’m in the process of filming a story about a woman who is opening a new business she’s calling the Locastore. Her goal is to provide a high quality alternative to corporate chain convenience stores that can be replicated and scaled up in many other rural communities. She will only be selling items … Continue reading The $100,000 roadside produce stand
Meet Alek and Anjali and their self-built mortgage-free Tiny House. They built their home while they were still living in Iowa and then relocated to northern California. They now live quite comfortably in the large back garden of a conventional home in exchange for maintaining the landscape. Anjali was determined to attend graduate school and … Continue reading Alek and Anjali’s Tiny House
Jeff Tyler is a regular guy in the suburbs who found himself out of work when the Great Recession hit his construction business hard in 2008. After a year and a half of unemployment wondering what to do he took a chance selling hotdogs from a roadside cart. He now has three carts and is … Continue reading Self Employment: Happiness and Prosperity During a Recession
Granola Shotgun 