We don't hear a lot of the word ‘revival’ anymore these days, towns, cities, resorts and even local industries all needing it. High-technology revival for historic city is always good challenge for economists and planners to take on. Many geographical revival or innovation programs do not achieve the results that they wanted because of a reason.
The best way to design ‘revival’ programs is to use the disciplines of consumer/end-user innovation to inspire revival developments from the outset. By applying the discipline of consumer–driven innovation to create and experiential destination effect’, premium visitors, customers and/or residents can be attracted to spend time and money in the destination. Premium consumers, of course, attract premium operators who, in turn, exercise ‘upwards pressure’ on the developer to deliver premium space and a quality environment. The ‘all-round uplift’ ensures that better revival outcomes are achieved. A sustainably competitive destination is one where consumer thinking drives the planning: the brand deal is as important as the land deal. The same approach could apply to areas as opposed to the entirety of a town or city.
Contrary to popular belief, companies make location decisions based primarily, but not entirely, on economic factors. Earlier the first half of the 20th century, economists believed that firm location decisions were based on minimizing transportation costs and maximizing profits. Over time, they realized that the decision-making process involves more complex aims and a wider array of economic factors such as labor, agglomeration, and space. These economic factors still significantly influence firm location decisions, but have changed due to several shifts in industrial North America. Technological advances have decreased production costs in all sectors of industry. In factm the high-tech sector is less cost-sensitive than other industries, has different labor needs, and prefers to be near centers of higher learning. Cities have learned that more jobs are created from existent firms than new start-ups, and thus emphasize the retention of existing businesses rather than the attraction of new ones. The importance of experiential factors has thus increased; this is especially true for high-tech firms and generation Y.
Developer and designers should be thinking about how different sections of the town/city /resort could develop in such a way as to appeal to different audiences, and how that development could be encouraged. Essentially, there needs to be synergy between all elements of the experience and the customer base for that experience. The public realm, the size of units, the type of retail offer, the type of food and beverage offer, the type of brands, the events, social activities etc.
Developer and designers’ job is to create a new mythology combining the best of a local history with the promise of a new and social techno-centric but human future. They need to put their imagination to work, first to start with defining the persona, setting, and emotional and action dimensions of a town, resort or city. The result will be a complete “story vignette”, new lexicon, design standards and a clear description of what people would experience. Developers should be pushing further, to another level of experience management — architectural vision, expressions in sensual.
I am kind of happy to see that design minimalists are shifting a little to the side of modern and a little art deco. One concept I like is Sou Fujimoto Architects’ design of the next generation house within a small but functional 13’ x 13’ x 13’ cube. I guess you can make it bigger. The house looks as if it was built from strategically placed Jenga blocks. he blocks are actually cedar logs laid deliberately to create spaces for sleeping, eating, seating and storage. Spaces were left to house modern angled glass as windows. I want one of this as Idea Couture offsite retreat.
