Edition 59

They say that “April showers bring May flowers”, but what do May flowers bring? Allergies, most likely. Achoo! We’re actually entering the nice part of spring in many locations around the northern hemisphere, and there’s much to be grateful for. In this edition of the Bright Brothers Bulletin, we’ve scoured the globe for tales of triumph, best-in-class urban planning, placemaking, marketing and more. Today you’ll find out why “red hot slop” is a winner for one brand’s social media specialists, how winning cities are looking to off-peak transit patterns to surprise and delight, some bad-ass, graffiti-fighting drones, grants for placemaking, and a look at tactics in urban planners’ tool boxes to help fight the summer sun. While these things may not be happening in your backyard today, we may all find ourselves in tree-shaded, reflective-coated, drone-serviced cities tomorrow, digging into big, fat bowls of red hot slop — and that’s kinda exciting, no?

Be cool,

– Your Bright Brothers Team

David Romako / Josh Yeager /  Brandi Walsh

Keen thinker, cultural observer and urbanist Diana Lind lays out the trends between office occupancy and transit ridership — and winning cities, like London, are leveraging transit for non-commuting purposes. The interesting nugget here is yet another qualifier, pointing towards the reinvention of former CBDs as multipurpose, mixed-use destinations offering more than just 9-5 housing for cubicle dwellers. Lauded urbanist Richard Florida points out in a recent piece by Bloomberg that downtowns are popular for dining, shopping, experiences, fun — and work. Does this all point to the need for districts to offer a wide variety of amenities, allures and attractions that aren’t all about business — to drive business downtown?  Looks like it to us!

Photo by Viktor Forgacs™️ on Unsplash

Anyone in the mood for a bowl of red hot slop? Apparently fans of the fast-casual restaurant chain Cava enjoy digging into their slop bowls and sharing on social. And Cava’s brand team leans into this trend heavily, along with sharing brand fan UGC and getting into their fans’ heads and mindsets when making media to share socially. We ❤ this brand’s approach, and one of the keys here is a fluid MO for content creation, with few rules, regs and approvals. The self-deprecating humor the brand team deploys works with its audience, and there are some telltale ways that place management practitioners can employ similar success when working with a passionate following. Question is, how many restaurants in your district serve up red hot slop, and would that fly on your social feed?

Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

… that flying, anti-graffiti drones may be coming to your city? The Washington State DOT recently approved new anti-graffiti measures which include a squad of graffiti-fighting robots. Drones are being used in all sorts of civic maintenance scenarios, like flame-throwing, trash-burning drones, and  fire-fighting, water-spraying drones. These new drones are the brain-child of a Tacoma-area maintenance worker who conceptualized the bots for fighting graffiti — especially in hard-to-reach places like high up on buildings and transit massings. You can peep a brief 21-second clip of a flying graffiti fighter in action here. The custom-designed drones are in “pilot mode” right now (pun intended) and if successful, may roll out as soon as next year to other cities around the globe. 

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Need money for placemaking? Many districts are struggling with budgets, and those that find the plurality of their funding coming from ailing and failing retail centers or now-depreciated office towers find themselves in a pinch. But fret not, grants to the rescue! The National Endowment for the Arts offers several grant-making programs that are perfect for downtowns and districts looking for additional cash to amp their placemaking efforts. Of note, two such programs are currently open for submissions. The NEA “Our Town” program provides matching grants of $25K – $100K for nonprofit orgs like yours, with guidelines recently posted, and an August 15 deadline to submit. The NEA “Grants for Arts Projects” offers share/matching grants of $10K – $100K, as well as sub-matching grants for arts orgs equaling $30K – $150K for eligible organizations. With a litany of uses from creative to tech to even AI applications,  grants are available that support artistic initiatives for HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Native American Institutions, nonprofits focusing on Hispanic, Black and Asian communities, as well as organizations that support inclusion of people with disabilities. Interestingly, the NEA is partnering with America250 to encourage arts projects that educate and engage communities in dialogue about the past, present, and future of our nation. The grants are available for a wide variety of artistic disciplines, and the deadline for the second round of grants is July 11th.  Be aware that the application processes for both types of grants is estimated at ~26 hours. But you have time, and big dollars are at stake for your community’s benefit. Good luck and may the best arts enrich our districts!

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

A recently published, peer-reviewed study out of Pacoima, CA is showing some advantages to painting urban streets with a reflective coating for cooling. Summer temps tend to bake urban asphalt, and by reflecting (rather than absorbing and re-radiating) the sun’s rays, parts of Pacoima showed cooling effects anywhere from 0.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. And while the Los Angeles-based neighborhood study noted some cooling effects thru the deployment of the reflective coatings, the article’s author also spoke with an associate professor of urban planning and geography, who posits that, “Shade — blocking the sun with trees, canopies, and tall features like walls and buildings — is by far the most effective way to cool people outdoors,” which can have impacts of up to 54 degrees Fahrenheit. But the tree shade you enjoy today, may not be viable in your region in several years. Another piece by Grist shows that cities are scrambling to find trees that will survive climate change. Areas that are today cool, moist and boggy may experience regular droughts and desert-like conditions in the near future, and vice versa, due to the disruption of weather patterns associated with global warming. Regardless of which way your local climate may shift, the article notes that, “Everybody is looking for the magic tree,” and getting that right is essential for cities looking to mitigate the effects of our changing climate. Urban planners and climate scientists have myriad tools at their avail for combatting city heat, but it looks like today, there’s no magic bullet (or tree) that can solely save us.

Photo by Alex Rodríguez Santibáñez on Unsplash

“Everybody is looking for the magic tree.” — Mac Martin, Texas A&M’s Forest Service