Add Des Moines, Iowa to the list of successful downtowns. Yesterday’s article in the New York Times hits on several salient factors critical to success. The list of recent projects in downtown Des Moines is impressive. In late 2010, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield will open a 600,000 square foot headquarters in downtown Des Moines. Two years ago, Nationwide Mutual Insurance completed a 1.2 millon square foot campus. The 34,000 square foot Pappajohn Education Center, part of the University of Iowa, opened in 2006, as did a new public library. The new John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park brings…

It had been seven years since I last visited Portland, Oregon, and fully ten since my original visit. I was very excited to see what had changed since 2003 in this bastion/laboratory of urbanity, and frankly I needed inspiration. It was time to return, and this time by bike. I actually arrived by train, the 7:30 Amtrak Cascades from Seattle. I highly recommend it for those traveling between Portland and Seattle, although there was a bit of a delay as out train had to wait for a BNSF freight train to pass – Amtrak must find a way to stop…

I have seen the future and it is coworking! I just got back from Seattle, and besides enjoying some typical midwinter rain and riding their shiny new light rail from Sea-Tac airport, I checked out an office concept that may serve as a future model in many urban areas. This particular space, called Office Nomads, occupies the top floor of a renovated two-story building in the trendy Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. My friend Bart is one of more than 50 “nomads” that rent a space at Office Nomads. The basic idea of coworking seems to be quite simple –…