“Providence Effect” Can Most Definitely Benefit Coworking

by Robert Orr, Contributor @ The Bourse – New Haven’s Coworking Loft

The small scale incrementalism of the “Providence Effect” can most definitely benefit Coworking. The synergy of individuals getting stuff done in shared workspace, AKA coworking, is the happy bedfellow of the synergy of bustling small scale incremental urbanism. Bustle is the small scale stuff where Taleb’s messy antifragile world of disordered relationships flourish. Most definitely, it’s not the silver bullet “project” stuff born out of the cash and fossil energy flush 1980s that still captivates so many planners and economic development officials grasping today at lost causes.

So then what’s hot in bustling American urbanism today? Do a search and you’ll find hot cities pop up: Austin, Portland, Charlotte, Denver, Atlanta, Oklahoma City… Why is there never anything in New England?

…but not so fast cowboy. There’s something called the … Read More »

Economic Development – What are They Thinking?

by Robert Orr, Contributor @ The Bourse – New Haven’s Coworking Loft

Economic Development seems a total mystery when it comes to American cities. For those who bring enthusiasm and energy, fresh ideas, and hard cash to sorely “wanting” urban blight, but end up bashing their heads against inscrutable, intransigent and impregnable municipal policies that leave no choice but to walk away licking one’s wounds and scratching one’s head, Aaron Renn offers a poignant diagnosis in his blog Urbanophile. Renn answers the question:

Do Cities Really Want Economic Development?

by Aaron Renn

Ask any civic leader the number one thing they want for their town and “jobs,” economic development, is what they will likely tell you. Yet when you look at the incredibly poor economic development track record across America, despite various untold billions of public dollars pumped into projects ostensibly … Read More »

by Robert Orr, Contributor @ The Bourse – New Haven’s Coworking Loft

In these blogs, we have often drawn comparisons between coworking and the cities within which coworking is located. Here is another post inspired by the decline and regeneration of Rome, back from ashes. Rome’s experience as a city in decline for centuries, then sudden regeneration can offer lessons to modern American cities still struggling in decline on how they too can come back from ashes.

Back from Ashes – “Coworking” Glimmer in the Decline of Rome

One can draw parallels between the decline of American cities, such as New Haven (the largest city in Connecticut until 1935), brought on by the insidious cancer of automobiles in the 20th century to the decline of European cities, such as Rome, brought on by the insidious cancer of the Black Death in the 14th century. … Read More »

What’s all the Fuss over New Urbanism?
Posted by Robert Orr, Master of Coworking New Haven @ The Bourse Coworking Loft

Frequent posts on The Bourse Coworking Loft blog address issues of urbanism since urbanism is considered a key component of Coworking. Coworking is based on the fact that enterprise and imagination find far greater productivity in the company of like-minded people, just like the success of enterprise and imagination of people living in the thickly settled environment of cities.

New Urbanism, as a movement, has been a 30-year unearthing of those qualities which contribute to successful urbanism. Successful urbanism is simply those places that make it really worth it to be human.

Although architects initiated the New Urbanist movement thirty years ago, and architects succeeded in attracting a host of other professions to the … Read More »

Online Tool Helps New Hampshire Municipalities Examine the Cost of Sprawl
 Reposted from EngagingCities, written by GENEVA FAULKNER

Urban planners can often find it difficult to assess the impact of sprawl in their municipalities. Calculating future infrastructure needs and the various fiscal impacts of different land use decisions can be challenging and time consuming. Enter New Hampshire’s new Cost of Sprawl tool (www.costofsprawl.org). The New Hampshire Cost of Sprawl (NHCOS) is an internet-based model to examine the impact of land uses and sprawl on municipalities in New Hampshire and allows planners to get a sense of the fiscal impact of certain land use patterns on municipalities. Created under the auspices of the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (NHOEP) and developed by RKG Associates, Placeways, and Urban Interactive Studio, this tool is geared toward town planners in New Hampshire.

Model creation involved two major and interrelated challenges. The first … Read More »

A Day in the Coworking Life of Today’s Fashionably Flexible Women

Reposted from Workshifting, written by Roberto Romualdez

Today we have a guest post from Roberto Romualdez. Roberto is Head of Wear to Work designs at New York & Company, advocating for fashionable yet functional wear-to-work clothing. NY&CO is a leading specialty retailer of women’s fashion apparel and accessories that provides perfectly fitting work blouses, dresses and tailored suiting options.

Many women in today’s workforce work remotely. Some work for Fortune 500 corporations or startups; others are self-employed. Regardless of whom they work for or what they do, many of these professionals are privileged with the right to choose where they get the job done.

The workshifting lifestyle emphasizes results over the traditional time-stamping mindset, meaning virtual professionals can work from any location at any hour of the day – or night. They rely on the flexibility that technology provides.

So … Read More »

The Next Workplace Revolution – Coworking

Reposted from The Atlantic Cities, by Anthony Flint

Telecommuting was supposed to change everything.

Powerful computers, video-conferencing and services like Skype would allow employees to work from home, and home could be anywhere. Traffic congestion would be reduced, and the traditional workplace model – and thus the office real estate market, in both urban and suburban locations — would be transformed. A wired world was poised to change the way we think about cities.

The trend has indeed played out in an incremental way. The US Census Bureau reported that the number of Americans working from home soared 41 percent in the last decade, to 13.4 million. That’s 9.5 percent of all workers working from home at least one day per week as of 2010, up from 7 percent in 1999.

Workers have for many years arranged to do business at “third … Read More »

Reposted from Startup Professionals Musings, by Marty Zwilling

5 Key Ingredients of Satisfaction for Entrepreneurs

Building a startup is hard work for low pay, it’s risky, and it requires total responsibility to make it work. Yet, many entrepreneurs are the happiest people I know. On the other hand, I know many unhappy individuals who are always partying, have minimal commitments, and little responsibility. I suspect the real parameters of happiness have eluded these people.

According to one of my favorite authors, Brian Tracy, in his book “The Power of Self-Discipline,” happiness is not even a goal that you can aim at and achieve in and of itself, but it is a by-product that comes to you when you are engaged in doing something you really enjoy while in the company of people you like and respect.

He defines the five key ingredients of happiness that … Read More »

Take a Walk on the Fun Side

Reposted from Shareable: Cities By Jay Walljasper

Taking an evening stroll in Austin, Texas. Photo by atmx under a Creative Commons license.

 We all know that walking is good for us. It sheds calories, tones muscles, and clears our minds.

But taking a regular walk also reminds us of what  we share in common with others. The classic example are the warm weather countries where an after-dinner stroll—the passegiata in Italy, the paseo in Spain and Latin America, the volta in Greece—is as much a part of the culture as sunshine or siestas. In towns and even large cities, people amble around the same set of streets each evening. The shops are usually closed so the purpose is not shopping and errands, but to connect with their neighbors and enjoy their surroundings.

Writer Adam Goodheart described this scene near the main square of … Read More »

reposted from Serendipity Labs

What Grownups Want from Coworking

The proliferation of urban, hipster coworking facilities with their down-market, countercultural vibe has generated quite a bit of interest lately. Hundreds of community-centered “workplace catalysts” are now serving up exciting community workspace choices to independent, creative class workers who have absolute freedom to choose how, when and with whom they work.

Meanwhile, in the corporate realm, alternative workplace initiatives are liberating hundreds of thousands of middle and senior managers from traditional centralized offices. A generation of workers is being un-tethered from their desks. As companies rush to downsize and reinvent the centralized workplace, emancipated corporate workers are finding themselves working from home. Yet, over 80% of corporate workers still say they would rather not work from home due to isolation, distractions from work and interference with home life.

As an alternative or adjunct to working … Read More »