Ann Arbor has it all: the University of Michigan, great shopping, bars and restaurants and amazing concert venues. It also has a vitality that few college towns across the country can boast. It's the kind of city that draws in undergrads and then keeps them for good.
Toss a rock into the air and it'd be hard not to hit a cafe, bistro, or high-tech startup. From its ever-thriving summer
Art Fair to its venerable
Film Festival, the city consistently tops national quality of life surveys --
Forbes,
Money/CNN,
Sperlings, the list goes on and on. Its school system is first rate, green spaces dominate the landscape and nearly 70% of the population holds a college degree. This small but mighty city is Michigan's leader in innovation.
By: Terry Parris Jr., 5/14/2008
The future is here! Or, at least, it's being developed here in Ann Arbor. Internet2 will revolutionize the information age, allowing the seamless delivery of information across the globe. Its implications are vast and wide, transforming everything from astronomy to media to medicine. Think the world's small now? It's about to get a whole lot smaller.
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By: Terry Parris Jr., 5/7/2008
First it was bread. Then butter and cheese. Now it's veggies. Zingerman's lives up to the saying: "If you want to do something right, do it yourself." Case in point: The six acres (expected to grow to 100) at Cornman Farms, where 'authentic' produce is grown to fill the dinner plates at Zingerman's Roadhouse. Come and get it!
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By: Amy Whitesall, 5/7/2008
It's one thing to improve the look of your customers. It's quite another to improve the look of your neighborhood. And yet, that's just what Wendy Batiste-Johnson has done with her downtown Ann Arbor boutique. While street after street fills up with chain-store restaurants and retail, Possh proves that locally owned businesses can not only compete but become community tastemakers.
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By: Jon Zemke, 4/30/2008
Green construction may be all the rage but the truth is very few buildings actually achieve a smaller carbon footprint. And then there's the Ann Arbor Architects Collaborative (A3C). Retrofitting an 80+ year old storefront in downtown, the 25 year-old firm has spared no detail in its quest to create a model for urban sustainability.
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By: Amy Whitesall, 4/23/2008
Whether it's web optimization or life optimization, Linda Girard has the kind of vision, energy and confidence others look up on Google. Co-founder of the successful Internet marketing company, Pure Visibility, she's translated a Life 2.0 philosophy into Web 2.0 business savvy.
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