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Since the early 1990's tens of thousands of lofts, apartments and condominiums have been completed, started or announced in newly thriving downtown neighborhoods. Residents represent all constituencies -- singles, young professionals, young marrieds, middle-age professionals and empty nesters -- anyone who wants to be close to museums, theater and sidewalk cafes. Residents are lured by the romance of wide-open interiors and spectacular views. While many of these units are in new buildings, the most spectacular spaces are not on the fringes, but in the heart of Downtown in salvaged warehouses and factories. With their tall ceilings and dramatic views, these converted lofts epitomize the New Urbanism of the 1990's and beyond.
If you are interested in the urban/loft lifestyle, this is the section to get more decorating, space and furniture ideas, books and magazines about the urban lifestyle, and more. This page is divided into the following sections, and you may skip to any section by clicking:
Cool Links & Sites:
Check out the UrbanStore - Books, magazines and other products to help you achieve the urban lifestyle!
WalkScore - Find a walkable neighborhood or rate your neighborhood on its walkability. With gas at $4 a gallon, there's never been a better time to live in a walkable neighborhood. Walk Score ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to help you find a walkable place to live. Read 138 Walkers' Paradises or What Makes A City Walkable.
Quiz - Is Loft Living Right for You? - Thinking of making a move from the suburbs to downtown? Take our quiz and find out if loft living could be right for you.
Lofty Ideas - The premiere online destination dedicated to open concept living. Whether you are a fan of the Lofty Ideas television series on HGTV or an admirer interested in loft living, an interactive discovery awaits you. Featuring images and information from your favorite Lofty episodes, Lofty on-line includes tons of design tips, a comprehensive listing of lofty-related resources, and question forums.
Cool Town Studios - We help people build communities. We link several million dollars in investment capital with proven, innovative real estate developers. The goal is to build an urban infill project that serves as both a model and anchor for future surrounding development designed to attract creative, entrepreneurial markets that significantly increase quality of life and local economic development.
Urban Mecca - Join one of the oldest and largest online communities for African Americans and those interested in urban content.
Books:
Check out the UrbanStore - Find even more books, magazines and other products to help you achieve the urban lifestyle!
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Get Urban - The Complete Guide to City Living by Kyle Ezell
The best and most complete book on Urban Living I have ever heard of! This is a new book designed to teach Americans about the benefits of city living, and an upcoming revolution...A coast-to-coast interest in choosing to live, love, and...REGROW America's cities. Inspires young people and old who are tired of the suburbs and ready for the glittering lights of city living to "Get Urban!" and move back to the city for community and cultural action. Helps people "Get Urban" by discovering their urban lifestyle in the kind of neighbor- hood that fits their tastes, attitudes, and preferred environment. Order through Amazon.com! |
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HITTING BOOKSHELVES FEBRUARY 6, 2007
Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track
Hot off the presses, by Urban Living founder Shelley's friend and fellow writer, Melissa Joulwan - a.k.a. Melicious of the Hot Rod Honeys!
The 1950s phenomenon of Roller Derby is back in full force, and it's definitely not your grandma's game anymore. With leagues in more than 100 cities across the country, a national tournament, and major sponsors, the new wave of the sport has gone mainstream. No one is better qualified to tell the story of Flat Track Derby's astronomic rise than Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan. A founding member of the Texas Rollergirls, she's helped redefine what it means to be stylish, sporty, and sexy.
From the minute she first laced up her skates and wrapped herself in her alter ego, Roller Derby has given Melicious a confidence boost, and she shares the positive impact the sport has also had on girls -- young and not-so-young -- who tack posters of her to their bedroom walls and lace up their own skates.
Complete with photos, profiles of Rollergirls across the country, and suggestions on how to develop a Rollergirl name and persona, this unprecedented tell-all comes from the woman who's watched the sport evolve from an underground Friday night event to a bona fide national phenomenon.
Visit Melissa's website: Rollergirl The Book to read about author appearances, terrific and hilarious blog entries by Melicious, and more information about the Rollergirls!
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If you like Get Urban, or you are considering retirement or a second home, you'll love Kyle Ezell's new book: Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters.
Ruppies-Retired Urban People-are cropping up all over the country. The populations of city downtowns are exploding nationwide. Also known as "active retirees," Ruppies are quickly becoming a big part of that population. Downtown living can help them stay active both physically and mentally while keeping them entertained in the process.
Retire Downtown lists the top 20 cities for Ruppies across the nation, with a wealth of facts on each area and a breakdown of each environment.
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Intown Living : A Different American Dream
After decades of abandonment, cities across North America are experiencing a renaissance. A new generation is seeking greater excitement and diversity than the typical suburban subdivision offers and many people are instead looking to make their homes in lively urban environments. In Intown Living, authors Ann Breen and Dick Rigby document this movement, arguing that if properly nurtured, it could help slow current patterns of sprawling development and help revitalize America's cities. They illustrate the many benefits of city living and offer strategies and encouragement for public officials and private developers to team up and expand central city housing opportunities. |
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Lofts: Good Ideas
Although loft living once meant converting old industrial warehouses, today it has evolved into a style and approach for modern living spaces. This new volume in the Good Ideas series provides more than 50 recent examples of contemporary lofts from around the world, ranging from remodeled industrial buildings to old farmhouses and garages transformed for today's lifestyle. With 800 photographs, Good Ideas: Lofts is an incredible value for anyone who dreams of owning or living in a loft.
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Lofts : Living in Space
This book provides the history of loft inhabitation, as it went from bohemian refuge to a symbol of millennial cool during the past fifty years. Plenty of gorgeous color photographs illustrate this volume, providing inspiration from a variety of styles. |
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Loft
Short on words, but long on inspiration, this book is fabulous. If you want a book on lofts, this is it. From stark minimalism to chic downtown habitats, this book is for those that love lofts. |
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The Art Studio/Loft Manual: For Ambitious Artists and Creators
Three million creative people in this country need adequate studio space. Almost all of them have limited funds. Eric Rudd has written the first practical book to help creative people find, secure, fix up and finance great studio space. No one graduating from art, design, music or theater school should go out into the real world without absorbing the information in The Art Studio/Loft Manual. Seasoned artists and creators will welcome the ideas revealed in this manual. |
Magazines:
Check out the UrbanStore - Find even more books, magazines and other products to help you achieve the urban lifestyle!
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Metropolis Magazine
Metropolis examines contemporary life through design--architecture, interior design, product design, graphic design, crafts, planning, and preservation. Subjects range from the sprawling urban environment to intimate living spaces to small objects of everyday use. In looking for why design happens in a certain way, Metropolis explores the economic, environmental, social, cultural, political, and technological context. With its innovative graphic presentation and its provocative voice, Metropolis shows how richly designed our world can be. Great resources including an Urban Journal section and free bi-weekly email subscription. |
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New Urban Living Magazine
Monthly topics include living, homes, communities and New Urbanism. Can read articles and past issues online. New Urban Living Magazine carries profiles of communities, features, award-winning homes, quality of life articles, home and outdoor tips, resort features, community tips, event coverage, book reviews, plus much more. |
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Dwell Magazine
is the Founder of Dwell. Deam founded the magazine in a response to the experience she had while building her own home. After working with her architect she went back to school to learn more about design. Her studies helped her communicate with her architect and she developed an avid interest in promoting innovative design and architecture in the US. The magazine has a community and a shopping section online, which are very helpful. |
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City Journal Magazine
A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute. City Journal is the nation’s premier urban-policy magazine, “the Bible of the new urbanism,” as London’s Daily Telegraph puts it. During the Giuliani Administration, the magazine served as an idea factory as the then-mayor revivified New York City, quickly becoming, in the words of the New York Post, “the place where Rudy gets his ideas.” The Public Interest goes further, calling City Journal “the magazine that saved the city.” But City Journal is a national, not just a local, force, with a readership that spans the U.S.—and an especially enthusiastic audience in the nation’s capital. |
Find even more books, magazines and other products to help you achieve the urban lifestyle at our bookstore, UrbanStore.
Furniture/Interior Design:
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Atom - Downtown St. Louis
Furniture, home accessories, rugs, lighting, art, handbags, jewelry. |
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Urbanscapes.com
Fun & funky loft style furnishings, lighting, accessories & kitsch for our "urban retreat". |
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ManhattanLoft.com
This is the place to find contemporary furniture. The Manhattan Loft style is modern urban, contemporary, and right on retro. |
For newspaper & magazine articles relating to urban living around the country, please check out our Resources Section! You might also find useful our Mortgage Section and our Moving Section.
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