Peter Kageyama met Richard Florida in 2003 and it changed his career path. He had started a web development firm in 1995, but once he and Florida met the game was changed. Over time, his work became heavily focused on community development, talent attraction/retention and creative industries development. He puts on the annual Creative Cities Summit, produced the documentary “Charles Landry and the Art of City Making,” and recently just released a book called For the Love of Cities that focuses in part on Detroit.

In the book he discusses the notion of “lovable cities”– the idea that in some places people become more invested in the social being and welfare of their city, creating a stronger tie between the city itself and its people. In many ways, Detroit has a lot of this lovin’ going on, and Peter discusses a few local efforts in the book– Sean Mann’s Detroit City Futbol League and Kate Daughdrill’s Detroit SOUP to name a couple. Both initiatives demonstrate non-traditional ways in which once can strengthen the bond between people and place. The benefits of such strong relations, as Kageyama points out, is that “we open up new possibilities in community, social and economic development by including the most powerful of motivators— the human heart— in our toolkit of city-making.”

Peter’s book is available, signed, for the time being, at Bureau of Urban Living, but something in me says this will not last long. If you miss the book at Bureau, stop by Leopold’s and Greg can probably order it for you. If all that fails, buy the book on Amazon.com.

If you miss all that, catch Peter speaking at the upcoming Rust Belt to Artist Belt Conference on April 6. He is giving a talk around lunchtime. Pick up your tickets for that event and check out the full schedule.

Chatter is circulating about the approach of the 2011 Detroit City Futbol League season. I know, you’re saying there’s 18 inches of snow on the ground, stop talking about soccer. But it’s impossible. In case you missed out on the action last year, the league consisted of teams represented by neighborhoods throughout the city of Detroit. Teams battled it out over a nine game season with a finale championship Copa Detroit. The crowning victor last year was the Villages, a conglomerate neighborhood on the east side.

That being said, 2010 League Champions and Copa Detroit runner-ups, Woodbridge have already started an off-season training schedule in the frigid cold with a tire circuit and light calisthenics regiment. Teammates gather four times a week at 5:30am for practice. Says AO “Bowling Ball” Wood, star right winger well known for his 18 inch bicep circumference and the ability to complete the tire circuit bare-footed in the winter cold, “It’s what needs to be done.” No further commentary was offered.

Sean Mann, League Commissioner and founder, recently reported discussions with the mayor’s office about getting more teams participating from all corners of the city. Given the amazing turnout last season, it seems as though the excitement level surrounding the league will only increase. Stay tuned to the DCFL website for more details.

Been real busy this week prepping for Maker Faire– building the giant easel for the user-generated mural that will be part of the setup and printing some brand new posters and tees that will be for sale– and running suicide drills up and down Woodward prepping for the Copa Detroit this weekend. You should probably come out for both events.

In the meantime, check out this article from the Free Press with all kinds of goodness in it about Detroit. If reading isn’t your thing, then check out this video that Model D did about the Detroit City Futbol League and, well, you guessed it, the approaching COPA.

Hah. Surprise! Detroit is cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what’s really perplexing is that the AHA! moments that make me think to myself, shit, what a cool town! sort of happen a lot. At least every few days. Right, this is something you come to expect from someone that consistently writes about good things in Detroit. I remember moving back to Detroit and being almost overloaded with palpable coolness, and I would think to myself eventually this will fade away slightly, that is, some of sex appeal would wear off. But by God, nearly two years later I still feel like I am AHA’ing the shit out of so many days. Today it came via a website called Lemonade Detroit. Well, the website for a film called “Lemonade Detroit”– a film about the “disarming resilience of those who are moving Detroit beyond automobiles and into an era of entrepreneurism.” Ummm. Cool. So I read more, and more and more. I mean, holy crap. Lots of cool stuff. I think that “Lemonade” film is on to something though. The fading of the automobile and the rise of Detroit’s creative and entrepreneurial culture is fascinating. It just feels like there is a consistent energy building. Momentum is gaining. We are gaining traction. Something’s gonna happen people! There are too many things mixing together right now for us to not experience an explosion of sorts. The kind that will make us look back and fist pump.

Breaking News: In the Detroit City Futbol League, Woodbridge clenched the league championship after edging out a 2-1 victory over New Center last night. The squad looked good on the pitch, getting through the rain and slippery field to pull out a victory and taking the crown as league champion for the inaugyral season in the DCFL. Quite an accolade after all. See the final standings here.

The Detroit City Futbol League continues to make the news as it brings together neighborhoods, friends and those just looking for an excuse to drink and watch soccer. Donna Terek did a nice article and video in the Detroit News this past weekend covering the league. So far, the standings are as follows (team/wins/ties/losses):

Corktown 6/1/2
Downtown 4/2/2
Cass Corridor 4/2/2
Hamtramck 4/2/2
Woodbridge 4/1/3
Midtown 4/0/4
Hubbard Farms 3/2/3
Mexicantown 2/2/4
The Villages 2/2/4
Green Acres 2/2/5
New Center 1/2/5

As the season nears its end this week, each neighborhood is vying for the higher seeds as the Copa Detroit Championship tournament approaches on July 31. Ohhhhhhhhh yeah. On that Saturday, all teams will compete for the COPA DETROIT, a day-long tournament crowning the champion with an actual trophy (that you can drink out of nonetheless) on Belle Isle. There are going to be taco trucks, BBQ, drinks, live music, an emcee, confetti cannons and a whole lot of other stuff that has yet to be revealed. It’ll surely be a fun time for the whole family and all proceeds are benefitting ThinkDetroit/PAL. Whoo. Check out the Facebook event invite, and come on out for the tourney.

Even at 9am this morning, the streets and an occasional bar were fairly crowded in Detroit. Yeah, the Social Forum is in town and it’s had quite a positive effect already if only for the increase in people walking around and exploring the city. Inside Park Bar this morning at 10am, however, it was less a crowd in town for the Social Forum and more a hungry pack of eager soccer fans catching Team USA play Algeria. With the World Cup being played in South Africa, kickoff time of 10am was a little earlier than usual (note: this would bear no effect on sales of well whisky shots throughout the course of the morning). A fairly decent throng of Detroiters crowded around the bar and in nearby booths to take up all seats on the floor. Jerseys and team scarves were present, even a couple business suits in the bunch. As Landon Donavan popped in the winning goal for USA with 2 minutes left to play in regulation, chants and cheers erupted from all corners of the bar. The Park Bar prides itself on covering the World Cup action extensively, so if you’re in to watching the games with an exciting crowd, this is your spot. After the win today against Algeria, Team USA advances. Meanwhile, Detroit’s own soccer league (that actually plays their games on the World Cup turf from when the tournament was here in ’94) is pushing along with Corktown still leading the standings with Downtown, Cass Corridor and Woodbridge trailing in second through fourth respectively. To catch a little bit of the action, make sure to go to the league-wide championship tournament– The Copa Detroit– on July 31st out at Fort Wayne.

The Detroit City Futbol League– Sean Mann’s successful go-around forming a soccer league with teams represented by neighborhoods in Detroit– has been getting lots of attention and seeing a great deal of success in its first season. On Mondays and Thursdays, the old World Cup field at Belle Isle (after the World Cup in 1994 at Pontiac Silverdome, the sod was cut up and taken to Belle Isle) is loaded with friends and fans of the league cheering on teams from all over Detroit. And fear not, competition is getting stiff out there, folks. Teams represented by Corktown, Woodbridge and Downtown have all been vying for the top spot as games round the corner in to week 6 of the league. Saturday, July 24 will be the culmination of the season with the Copa Detroit taking place– a day-long tournament to crown the winner of the league. It wil be a grand spectacle of sorts with more and more details emerging about the championship day. Stay tuned and check out this video that the Free Press did covering the league.

So yeah, I did wake up listening to Led Zeppeling this morning. “Tangerine” to be exact. And quite frankly, by the time “The Crunge” came on (it was on shuffle) I was sweating profusefuly and wildly fist-pumping. Then I read this article, a piece in the Detroit News making a case for bringing in immigrants by the cartload to revive Detroit. What came to mind? “IMMIGRANT SONG”. And trust me, two cups of coffee deep and things got downright terrifying. But anyway, there’s something to be said about this immigrant plan– they are much more likely to get a PhD, “189 percent” more likely to start a business and be involved in the high-tech industry. Chances are the Detroit City Futbol League will be much more stacked in terms of talent, too (as a related aside, if you are interested in playing in the league, sign up here). Not a bad thing. So clearly caffeine + immigrants + Led Zeppelin = a better Detroit. Easy peasy.

The Detroit City Futbol League is getting the ball rolling (had to do that) on their inaugural season come May. The idea of the league is to create co-ed soccer teams representing different neighborhoods in Detroit. Interested in playing? Sign up here. And, well, if you are in Woodbridge and want to play on that team, get a hold of me (philip@detroitlives.org) as I was shortlisted as the Woodbridge captain. Check out the Facebook page for more info, too. It’s sure to be a good ‘ol time, bringing together a lot of different folks in the spirit of some friendly competition.