Making ‘planned spontaneity’ easier
If there’s one thing that appeals to our audience, it’s planned spontaneity – making spontaneous decisions to go somewhere or do something”, aided by the web’s “physical and virtual web of no-frills airlines, always-on phones and PDAs, affordable hotels, last-minute/find-and-seek websites” as described by Trendwatching.com.
Well, here’s a CoolTown tool to plan some spontaneity in your neighborhood or favorite district – via our urban vitality engine. I’ve hinted at it for quite a while now, and it’s finally ready to check out. Try out the beta site at midcitylive.com (pictured.) It’s a snapshot of the happy hours, live performances, dinner specials, dancing and special events going on in a certain district or neighborhood (rather than an entire metropolitan area – who has the time or interest?). It’s most useful feature is that it lays out all these happenings like a TV guide – except that the ‘programs’ are a bit more interactive with a little more soul, shall we say.
This first example is a neighborhood commercial district in the heart of Washington DC, but it can be customized for any other district in any sized town. We’re even working with Kennedy Smith, who ran the National Main Street Center for 20 years, to help independent-business-oriented districts use this to compete with the chain-driven strip malls, big boxes and regional malls. Contact us via the right column for details.
Would you use this tool? Speak your mind below…
About The Author
I’ve been thinking about community websites for a while and I’ve noticed that most business associations haven’t gone nearly far enough in using the internet to promote local events, products and services. I live in Vancouver near the commercial drive area, and rely on the independent weekly for entertainment listings, though smaller, free things to do often escape listing. I’ve often thought some sort of cooperative catalog would be an excellent idea for certain districts. Nearly everything you’d ever need is offered within some of these places, but you still find residents traveling to suburbs to purchase items that they may not know are available close to home. A print or web catalog with a sample of items from each store as well as sales and specials would go a long way.
Anyway, I think the mid city live website is great, and would love to see something like it in my neighborhood.
-Michael