Archive for November, 2007

Cities 2.0 – A New Generation Re-Invents America’s Urban Centers

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

My latest piece is the first in a planned series of articles in which I will explore the “Cities 2.0″ transformations that are re-shaping the fabric and topography of America’s urban centers.

This initial article, which was published in the Chicago Sun Times, focuses on the impact of today’s “Generation 2.0″ cohort of 25-to-34-year-olds and particularly points to

  • Ways in which today’s “re-invented” Gen 2.0 demographic definitely is not your father’s 25-to-34-year-olds.
  • How a convergence of powerful forces has spurred Gen 2.0 to concentrate in central cities at unprecedented levels, and
  • The impact that this generation is having on Chicago and other U.S. cities.

In fact, these changes in our urban centers connect very directly and in important ways to the changes in the U.S. economy that are placing a higher priority on innovation…and to recurring themes addressed by this blog.

Here’s a link to a JPG version of CHICAGO 2.0: A new generation reinvents Chicago as it appeared in the Sun Times on page 2 of the Sunday Op-Ed section a couple of days ago (Nov. 11). I’m including the JPG because the editor of the section, Tom McNamee, created terrific graphics to go with the piece and gave it a generous amount of real estate — full size, the package of article and graphics was just over 11″x17.”

For at least the next few days, you also can find an online version of the piece (with the complete text, but without the accompanying charts and great graphics) at
CHICAGO 2.0: A new generation reinvents Chicago

In addition, here are links to two of my previous pieces that address related issues and that provide somewhat different perspectives on these topics.

  • “A Few Minutes With…Richard Florida,” a Q&A interview about the “Creative Class” that I did with economist Richard Florida that appeared last year in REALTOR Magazine, the monthly magazine of the National Association Realtors.
  • My “Gold-Collar Workers” Op-Ed piece that I wrote about “human capital trends” for Crain’s Chicago Business almost 20 years ago (June 1989). To be sure, there are parts of the piece that I would change if I were writing it today, but I am willing to argue that its notions about “gold-collar workers” and the “NBA-ization” of the economy still have significant relevance to today’s challenges and opportunities.

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GPS Transformation – “High-Tech Rosetta Stone” re-shapes topography

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

Owen Shapiro and I just wrote an article and an Early Signals Briefing about the striking developments connected to the new generation of GPS tools and services that are exploding into the consumer marketplace.

Here are a few of the topline findings (which are based on data from phone interviews conducted by Owen’s research firm in early October 2007 of a national sample of 450 Americans):

  • Web-based mapping services have achieved striking penetration into the everyday lives of Americans and have eclipsed traditional paper maps as mainstream sources of information about the world. A strong majority (60%) report that they had used a geographic website (e.g., MapQuest, Google Maps) – in the weeks preceding the interview, twice the percentage that report using traditional on-paper maps..
  • New GPS-enabled personal navigation devices (PNDs) are leapfrogging past early-adopter growth and are surging almost directly into widespread, mainstream usage. Nearly everyone surveyed (94%) said that they have heard of GPS; almost one-third (32%) reported having used a GPS-enabled unit, including one in six (17%) who reported such use in the past month.
  • Look for pitched battles among incumbent (and newcomer) brands as they race for dominance in this burgeoning market as the GPS-enabled PND and consumer mapping marketplace roaring into a period of explosive growth.
  • GPS consumer-market turmoil is likely to gain energy as it continues to tap the “high-tech Rosetta Stone” qualities of GPS-enabled services, and the tumult could have significant spill-over effects on more technical, geographic information system (GIS) applications.

Here are a thumbnails of charts that illustrate a few of our findings (click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized graphic):

There’s lots more discussion and material in our article and in our “Early Signals Briefing on GIS/GPS.”

Here’s a link to the article, which was published on the Directions Magazine website on November 2.

Consumer Awareness Driving GPS-enabled Device Adoption

The Directions Magazine article was based on our “Early Signals Briefing on GIS/GPS,” which has numerous charts and more extended discussion that was not included in the Directions Magazine article.

You can get a copy of a PDF version of the Early Signals Briefing by sending an e-mail to gps@ljs.com.

Finally, I’m also putting together a more extensive “Emerging Trends Report on GIS/GPS” that will significantly expand on the “Early Signals Briefing.”

You can get a copy of the Emerging Trends Report when it is completed by sending an e-mail to that same address – gps@ljs.com.

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