Live in Copenhagen

Posted by Carol Coletta on September 21, 2008 |

Our colleague Joe Cortright has been working in Copenhagen where they hope to emulate our CityVitals work.  Joe emailed us from there:

"The irony of course is that the cities work spectacularly well, and the
economies are functioning at a much higher standard, with much less
inequality and poverty than in the US.  Except for space--living space
and parking space--the standard of living is now plainly much higher
here than in the US.

"Copenhagen has a superb new metro system that gets you from the airport
to downtown in less  than 15 minutes, with trains arriving every 3-4
minutes.  Its all automated too--no drivers.  Small, but fast and
frequent trains.  I used to think Portland was bike friendly, but we
can't hold a candle to this place.  Even the 60-something director of
the development agency, a former minister of finance for the nation,
says he bikes to work about half the time.  This same fellow told me
about his son who is an architect, working on retrofitting central city
housing (designed for the elderly) for families with small children. 
They would be awesome…

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Living Well Is Best Business Investment

Posted by on July 08, 2008 |

Loved this pull quote from Metropolis article on Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë: "Delanoë would rather spend money improving the urban experience than sweetening deals to attract business investment. He knows that living well is the most effective business investment."

One of the mayor's priorities has been to "blur the line separating affluent Parisians from their often less privileged neighbors. To breach the physical as well as psychological barrier that keeps Paris locked in and suburbia loced out, he wants to create a series of attractive meeting grounds over the dividing lines."

CEOs for Cities, with support from the Chicago Community Trust, has just begun a study on methods of economic integration, with results due in November. Perhaps we need to add Paris' methods of strategically situated meeting places on our study list.

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