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Funded by a $467,000 grant from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Trust for Public Land

Parks are suddenly big business.

d Friends of the High Line,

reliance on non-municipal funding

property values along the park doubled within two years.

Since the city rezoned the area in 2005 to encourage development, nearly 30 new building projects have accounted for more than $2 billion in private investment, adding some 12,000 jobs, 2,500 residential units, 1,000 hotel rooms and nearly half a million square feet of new office and gallery space

Aping the High Line, then, is not merely about sustainable reuse or new park construction. It’s about sparking investment and increasing a city’s ability to attract new residents.

“Cities have really become aware that they are competing with each other for the businesses and well-educated mobile citizens that make cities work,”

choose green, walkable cities with great neighborhoods, great parks, good cultural institutions. I think the reason cities are investing in these opportunities is that they are really trying to position themselves to attract these people.”

ensuring the cars were in the storytelling

the series is aiming for something more subtle: instilling in viewers an affinity for Buick.

“Buick is enabling the entire experience

Russ Axelrod

Buick models, particularly the Regal, appear only incidentally in the videos, as in product placement deals in television shows or movies. Specifically, participants drive from one establishment or attraction to another in Buicks, but never mention the brand.

“If I’m a consumer coming to the site, the underlying message is that Buick gets me, that they understand what I like on a content basis, and if they understand what I like on a content basis maybe they’ll understand me on a vehicle basis.”

It is no coincidence that the brand is, through the series, encouraging a fresh look at cities at the same time its ads encourage a fresh look at its cars.

“Buick is sort of trying to reinvent itself in the eyes of the consumer,”

Cities are reinvigorating themselves and being discovered in a new way, whether it’s Miami or L.A. or New York, and that’s what Buick is trying to get across as well.”

Buick has been the company’s fastest growing brand

“We talked about Detroit, and we love Detroit, but it’s not in the original batch of cities because we do quite well there as it is,” said Mr. Casmon of Buick. “Los Angeles, Miami, New York — in some of those markets we don’t have as strong a position, and we’re hoping to reintroduce the Buick brand to that audience, especially those who drive imports who are not familiar with Buick right now.”

Who is your decision maker? Who is your champion?

Is this a product they could sell or is it for operations?

In CFD, more so that any type of sale, you are not selling a product. Because nothing is built yet (or at least finished), you’re selling your ability to solve a problem for a group of individuals. Those individuals are probably looking at that problem a lot differently than you are, and through the lens of many conflicting or ambiguous goals. Rather than speculate and depend on your own understanding of the problem, you have to get into their heads. In short, you have to ask AND listen. They will tell you. But you will miss it if you’re not open to it. In the words of one of the world’s great innovators, Steve Jobs, you have to go in with a Beginner’s Mind.

The easiest way to get a customer to pay for development is to know that they’re facing some major change or challenge, and they have no other choice but to find a solution.