VegasChatter

The project's mission is to "transform Downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world by inspiring and empowering people to follow their passions to create a vibrant, connected urban core". By focusing on Arts, Music & Culture, Community & Coworking, Education, Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Urban Development, its goals are to:

· Bring Together Communities Of Passion
· Create Residential Density Of Greater Than 100 People Per Acre
· Add Density Of Ground Level Activities, Spaces, And Businesses
· Create The Coworking Capital Of The World
· Create The Shipping Container Capital Of The World
· Do It In Less Than Five Years

If the shipping container bullet jumped out at you like it did us, its based on the premise that urban revitalization is generally created from repurposing abandoned, rundown buildings. Constructing a city center out of an otherwise forgotten area. However downtown's greatest resource in its rebirth is empty land, leaving businesses that want to move with Zappos waiting for new structures to be built.

The Downtown Project aims to turn shipping containers into spaces new businesses can utilize to test concepts and grow their client bases before permanent buildings are ready. The containers can even be moved to different locations as needed. Weird, right? But the site points out it's a proven concept in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Copenhagen. Check out this Montreal restaurant as an example.

Then take a listen to what Tony has to say about the Downtown Project for yourself:

Tony's "other projects" Delivering Happiness, Zappos, and how new hires are offered money to leave, are all mentioned. As are a few "it’s awesome", "its so cool", and "that was so fun"s by the flirtatious Valley Girl. But if you can focus on the short skirt Tony's message, it provides a peek into what the future of downtown looks like from the mind of one of its biggest ambassadors.

Tony and the Downtown Project:

· Think of the city as a startup
· Want to amplify the culture surrounding Fremont East
· Believe downtown is more community focused than even San Francisco, where Tony has lived
· Believe a key driver of the community focus is being able to live, work, and play within walking distance
· Want to ultimately share what works and doesn’t work in their experience to help other cities build their communities

We're bummed to hear Tony already stole our doggie daycare idea but we'll let that one slide to brainstorm up other businesses. We're thinking shoe store is a good one to avoid. To learn more about the project visit the Downtown Project's website.

[Photo: SFGate]