In This Months Business Monthly

I have a weakness for gadgets, particularly electronic ones. When the iPhone was introduced two years ago I openly lamented the fact that, as a Verizon customer with contract extensions that will take me to my grave, this cool gadget was unavailable to me.

I should know better.

The essence of hot technology is that it begins to cool off the day you acquire it. Within a year of the iPhone introduction, Apple rolled out the iPhone 4 significantlty lowering the temperature of the original model. The same thing is about to happen with the iPad. In approximately two months, analysts expect Apple to roll out the iPad 2.

I also understand the positive side of these rapid developments. Before long, technology that was once cutting edge becomes commonplace and the bar is raised for the next big thing.

This was true with many of innovations in community planning that The Rouse Company introduced in Columbia. Forty years ago, burying power lines was cutting edge stuff. Today it is mandatory in all new developments. Forty years ago planners didn’t give much thought to run off from impervious surfaces. Today the Columbia Assocation has a watershed program to get people to rethink their driveways and lawns.

Forty years ago Columbia was a laboratory for new technologies in community planning. The redevelopment of Columbia Town Center presents an opportunity to regain that mantle of innovation. To a development guy like me that's even more exciting than an iPad.

You can read this months column here.