CoolTowns in Utah?

Many people believe Utah may be the most entrepreneurial state in the country – its Mormon values for individual success being a factor.

Joe Alfandre and I visited three towns in Utah this week: Pleasant Grove, St. George and Logan. Pleasant Grove valued revitalizing its downtown, though more from a historic preservation point of view. St. George wanted to revitalize its downtown as a regional destination with some artistic, cultural excitement. They both understood the CoolTown approach to making that a reality.

The town that already had a CoolTown vision was Logan. It’s no coincidence that the president of the town’s 22,000-student university helped found the Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, NC* (see comments below for clarification). University administrators and city leaders alike embraced the notion that a CoolTown center would attract and retain the most innovative people, which is why the university renamed their R&D growth efforts as the Innovation Campus.

Image: The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. If it were vastly more affordable with more housing, workplaces and mom & pops, it’d be a CoolTown.

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