Craig Agranoff

TV Marketing Personality, Persuasion Marketing Consultant, Author of 3 Marketing Books & Adjunct Professor. My tweets are my own opinion.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

Myth: More homes = more traffic chaos.

Reality: Dense developments near jobs/shops mean shorter commutes & fewer cars overall.

Blocking them forces sprawl, which actually clogs highways.

Evidence shows infill eases congestion; let’s embrace it!

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@brianbreslin Sometimes corruption and poor leadership also leads to areas remaining downtrodden.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

I’ve always laughed at couples who start dressing alike and people who somehow resemble their dogs.

Then I started thinking about neighborhoods.

Live somewhere beautiful and well maintained long enough and you start expecting beauty and maintenance.

Live around neglect long enough and eventually some of it becomes invisible.

Environment trains expectations.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

There might be no better tourism advertisement than seeing people who actually live somewhere enjoying themselves.

A crowded neighborhood restaurant does more for me than a restaurant billboard.

People walking downtown do more than a downtown slogan.

Families using a park do more than a professionally produced video about quality of life.

People are remarkably good at recognizing when a place is genuinely working.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@Trace_Cohen Oh it’s happening soon! https://t.co/lGPVYQvlr0

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@brianbreslin @shinsyotta I would like to remove that word after urbanist and instead change it to genius or hottie or something.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

Here’s a city planning question I hadn’t considered before:

Why does a parking lot have to do only one job?

If we’re already spending the money to build it, could the same property provide parking while also storing stormwater underneath, adding shade and taking some pressure off the drainage system during a major storm?

Cities of the future are going to have to squeeze more usefulness out of the infrastructure they already have.

Parking lots seem like a pretty good place to start experimenting.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

Good point, especially for us in Florida. I’m definitely not suggesting the same solution works everywhere. Sand, groundwater and maintenance all matter.

I’m really more interested in changing the question. If we’re spending millions on infrastructure anyway, what else can we make it do for us?

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

Yes. That’s really the larger point I was trying to make. Maybe solar works at one location and stormwater storage at another. Maybe both. I just think cities should start asking what else a piece of infrastructure can accomplish before spending millions to build it for one purpose.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

That’s a fair question, and obviously it won’t work under every parking lot. Utilities, groundwater, soil and drainage all matter.

My larger point is really: if we’re rebuilding infrastructure anyway, why aren’t we routinely asking what else it could do?

Sometimes the answer will be stormwater storage. Sometimes it won’t. But I’d rather ask the question.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@AussiePeteC From the parking lots on the surface?

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@MauraAlwyen The cities that plan for the future will be light years ahead as the time comes for change. And change IS coming! I have so much more to say in the topic 😇

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@MountainsGuy1 So many good possible uses!

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@MauraAlwyen Parking lots will look a lot different in the near future and it’s surprising how many cities are closing their eyes.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

@gatortakes Agreed. Silly most don’t.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

The strongest brand statement a city can make isn’t a slogan about innovation. It’s letting people see innovation actually happening.

Construction fences. New restaurants. Restored buildings. Experiments. Entrepreneurs trying strange things. Public spaces full of people.

You don’t have to tell me your city has momentum if I can see it from the car.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

There is something strange about asking a consultant to bring you new ideas while writing 70 pages explaining exactly what you want them to do.

I’ve responded to enough RFPs over the years to know what firms eventually learn: answer the question that was asked.

Even when you think there may be a better question.

That’s completely understandable from the city’s perspective. Government needs specifications, accountability and a fair way to compare proposals.

But there has to be some room in the process for a firm to say, “We understand what you asked us to do, but based on our experience, we think you should consider doing this instead.”

Otherwise we may be hiring experts and then rewarding them for agreeing with us.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

One thing I’ve noticed about successful places is that people don’t seem to need a reason to be there.

They go for coffee and stay. They walk around after dinner. They sit outside. They bring someone visiting from out of town.

That’s a completely different economic animal from a commercial district where everyone arrives with a specific purchase in mind and leaves immediately afterward.

One sells things. The other sells being there.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

I’ve watched cities worry endlessly about whether there is enough parking immediately in front of every business.

Meanwhile some of the most economically successful places in the world make you park somewhere and walk past 30 businesses before reaching the one you came for.

I’m not anti-parking. Especially in Florida, you obviously need it.

But maybe the goal isn’t always getting someone from their car to their destination as efficiently as humanly possible.

That little bit in between might be where a lot of commerce happens.

[Craig Agranoff @Lapp]

We usually think about density as building taller. There is another version.

Take land that has already been developed and make the least productive parts of it productive.

Parking lots. Oversized setbacks.
Dead corners. Unused frontage.

Some cities could add a surprising amount of housing without expanding their footprint very much at all.