Brian Libby of the Portland Architecture blog posted about how Portland Ranked #5 In "Best Cities For Design" List. The list was compiled by RMJM Hillier, one of the world's largest architecture firms.
The rankings were based on ten criteria: public transit systems, LEED certified or registered buildings, art and design universities, museums, sustainability rankings, architecture awards, employees in creative industries, housing and community design awards, and buildings on the National Historic Register. MJMH then commissioned a public opinion and research firm to interview over 1000 residents of those cities on architecture and design issues and incorporated those results into the research to determine the final rankings.
Richard Florida (the man who coined the phrase "creative class") wrote a column in the Globe and Mail titled The days of urban sprawl are over ... but not for the reasons you think. The point of the article is that:
Rising energy costs may be the proverbial straw that is breaking the camel's back, but the geographic transformation we are living through is driven by something far bigger than high prices at the gas pump.
He says:
We are now passing through the early development of a wholly new geographic order - what geographers call "the spatial fix" - of which the move back toward the city is just one part.
... in today's idea-driven economy, it's time costs that really matter. ... it makes little sense to waste countless collective hours commuting. And, according to detailed research by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, commuting is among the least enjoyable, if not the single least enjoyable, of all human activities.
Thus, urban cores are again becoming centres for technology, jobs and economic growth. Leading-edge companies are recognizing the value of an urban location.
While we are in the early development of this new economic geography, one trend is clear: The history of economic development and of capitalism revolves around the more intensive use of urban space. The coming decades will thus probably see greater concentrations of people, increasing densities, and further clustering of industry, work and innovation in a smaller number of humongous cities and mega-regions globally.
This article isn't specifically about Portland, but I wonder if Portland will be helped or hurt by this trend. Two ways is could hurt are, a) a "brain drain" where the best and brightest are lured to larger cities with more opportunities, or b) a swelling population that eventually dilutes the essence of Portland.
I don't really think we're at risk of losing our Portland-ness, and I'm pretty optimistic about the estimated influx of people that are expected to move here over the next ten years or so. More people means we'll have more opportunities and can support more ambitious projects and ideas.
It's looking like Uwajimaya is going to happen, which is really exciting. Mike Thelin describes it best over at Portland Spaces:
... a 40,000-square foot store capped by 140 units of low-income housing and possibly a restaurant in what's currently a surface parking lot between Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Streets Davis and Couch. This development would give Old Town what it most needs: a reason for people to go there.
