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Good strategies from Ben Keenan for tapping into your creativity:
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SP: Do you have any strategies or tips on how we can be more creative?

BK: Sure, here are five:

1. Get the question right.

Before you consider the possibilities, you need to knuckle down and articulate the problem you are trying to solve in a single sentence. A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

2. Stop yourself from trying to solve things right away.

Years of rote education has drilled the question answer response into all of us.

You need to suppress that part of you that wants recognition and reward, and consider all the ways into the problem. Fill a page full of little boxes and try and put a thought in every box. Not an idea, but a thought, anything and everything that might solve the problem. Your goal is to fill the page, not answer the question.

3. Things won’t make sense after a while and that is normal.

We are not wired to consider possibilities when confronted with a problem, we are wired to jump out of harms way, that’s why the creative process makes you feel flustered, and like you aren’t getting anywhere. Understanding this helps you push through it and just keep going, it’s only after things stop making sense that the really interesting thoughts arrive.

4. Go do something else.

After you’ve a had a burst for an hour or two, go do an expense report, your time sheets, something that requires your full concentration. While you are applying conscious thought to this task, your subconscious will be sifting through all knowledge you’ve offloaded about the problem.

5. Keep a pen and paper handy.

Once your subconscious has done its job, the answers will come to you thick and fast. Usually, if we are not having any luck on a solution, I’ll just go at it for an hour or so at night, sleep on it, and an idea will come to me while I’m on my way into work the next morning. We all do this without realizing we do it, it’s why your best ideas often happen in the shower.

SP: Lastly, are there any resources / training links for people who are interested in exercising their creative muscle?

BK: There are many, I am a hoarder of them at my Thought Police site and I regularly tweet about them on @warmcola.
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smartplanet ben_keenan creativity reference how_to

For reference (great resource on urban planning history/ codes):
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This website is an anthology of the codes, laws and related documents that have created, or sought to create, particular urban forms. It is a searchable archive drawn from a broad array of historical documents. We have selected documents from around the world, and from all time periods.

We include both legally-binding codes as well as customary rules that may not have involved a governing authority. These documents provide a rich cultural resource for urban planners, architects, and all others involved in the construction of place.
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building_codes urbanplanning reference

Useful reference for ...
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The following table contains the names of over 100 companies and organization that have published their Employee Social Media Policies or Guidelines online
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socialmedia policy reference

Self-explanatory; great resource.
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In this post, we’ve compiled a list of businesses that have shared a peek inside their fascinating logo design process with the public. We hope it will get you started on your own.
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design logos creativity brainstorming reference

Do you have a (personal) manifesto?
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Manifestos are a powerful catalyst. By publicly stating your views and intentions, you create a pact for taking action. (Movements from the American Revolution to Dogme 95 film to the Firefox web browser were all launched by manifestos.) If you want to change the world, even in just a small way, creating a personal or business manifesto is a great place to start.
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99_percent behance reference manifestos creativity art

Cute reference page for "Tips":
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At 99%, Behance's think tank, we focus on what happens after inspiration — researching the forces that truly push ideas to fruition. Our profiles of proven idea makers, action-oriented tips, best-practices sessions, and annual conference are all designed to help you transform ideas from vision to reality.
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99_percent behance reference tips creativity

Design stuff, for reference.
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Here are 10 essential elements or aspects of good design that transcend context, industry, and geography.
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mit_techreview design reference lists tom_wujec bill_o'connor autodesk

"Revitalizing Cities is the third of three blog series on social innovation culminating in three Think Tanks organized by the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. The other two series explored Innovations in Health Care and Innovations in Education."

cities harvard revitalizing harvard_business reference series

JPEG of Victoria BC earthquake map.

victoria earthquake maps jpeg reference

Very good summary, ten points, for online/ offline integration.

public_participation reference online_commenting how_to

"Cisco Whitepapers" : ~16 papers on urban innovation, sustainability, mobility, transportation, work centers, urban energy, infrastructure, digital swarming, gov2.0, social networks, real estate.

reference urban_development cisco whitepapers urbanism

Five excellent articles on *placemaking*.

placemaking project_for_public_spaces urbanism reference

Great resource: list of upcoming urban studies conferences.

conferences reference urbanism

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Would the nostalgics and apologists of the “good old days” still hold the same views after viewing these vintage ads? This list may clash with the upscale world of Mad Men … but is far removed from our times?
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The list starts with the heading "sexism," and of course there's no dearth of material to choose from...

advertising ads lists reference sexism

Great article (self-explanatory title) by Kevin Purdy on lifehacker.

lifehacker productivity third_places reference how_to

Portal page for the UK's Public Art Online site: useful resource for public art news, case studies, research, planning, etc.

public_art reference

"Evolutionary psychology is one of many biologically informed approaches to the study of human behavior. Along with cognitive psychologists, evolutionary psychologists propose that much, if not all, of our behavior can be explained by appeal to internal psychological mechanisms. What distinguishes evolutionary psychologists from many cognitive psychologists is the proposal that the relevant internal mechanisms are adaptations—products of natural selection—that helped our ancestors get around the world, survive and reproduce. To understand the central claims of evolutionary psychology we require an understanding of some key concepts in evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. Philosophers are interested in evolutionary psychology for a number of reasons. For philosophers of science —mostly philosophers of biology—evolutionary psychology provides a critical target. There is a broad consensus among philosophers of science that evolutionary psychology is a deeply flawed enterprise. For philosophers of mind and cognitive science evolutionary psychology has been a source of empirical hypotheses about cognitive architecture and specific components of that architecture. Philosophers of mind are also critical of evolutionary psychology but their criticisms are not as all-encompassing as those presented by philosophers of biology. Evolutionary psychology is also invoked by philosophers interested in moral psychology both as a source of empirical hypotheses and as a critical target."

psychology evolutionary_psychology reference

There are lots of good pages with public speaking advice, but this collection of 15 tips by Danielle Laporte really rocks. For example, her last tip (#15) was new to me - it makes so much sense:
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15. Know how you want to feel when you're done your presentation.
Ultimately, you can't really control what the audience does and if try to, you're likely to fumble. I've had what I thought were hilarious stories that didn't get so much as a giggle. And I've had low-engagement audiences that swarmed me after I got off stage. You just don't know.

What you can aim for is how you want to feel. And when you anchor into that feeling, your energy gathers a momentum and you get into the magical flow. When I leave the auditorium, I want to feel like I connected, like I was divinely feminine, and innovative--on my personal edge. And if I did my best to be those things, than I can sleep well, even if I forgot to say thank you, or I tripped over a speaker, or got heckled by a bag lady.
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danielle_laporte public_speaking tips whitehottruth reference

Useful site with upcoming and archived webcasts; this is the section on Architecture, Construction, and Engineering.

research design brighttalk webcasts video reference architecture urban_design ecological_urbanism

I had no idea a Council on Tall Buildings existed!
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat studies and reports on all aspects of the planning, design, construction and operation of tall buildings. Also of a major concern is the role and impact of tall buildings on the urban environment. Our membership—uniquely interdisciplinary—includes some of the world's top authorities in their specific profession.
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buildings reference tall_buildings architecture urbanism