SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 25, 2005–
Jump Co-Founder Dev Patnaik to Speak on Going Beyond Master Planned Communities to Emergent Communities at Two Leading Urban Planning and Building Conferences.

Dev Patnaik, co-founder of Jump Associates (www.jumpassociates.com), a strategy firm specializing in discovering new opportunities for growth, will speak on reinventing real estate development at the upcoming Big Builder conference in Las Vegas on November 2, and at the upcoming Urban Land Institute annual meeting in Los Angeles on November 4. Using its expertise in social research to understand people’s needs, Jump is working with architects, real estate developers and government officials to create vibrant, desirable communities that evolve with the needs of community members over time.

“Emergent communities are built with the needs of the community in mind. Community members actively shape what their community becomes over time, so that it becomes a vibrant community that is highly valued. We use social research methods to gain insights about people’s needs so that developers can build communities that make work more livable and life more workable,” said Patnaik. “Moreover, by using the science of proxemics, we can create communities that promote better human interactions or that have defensible spaces, making them safe and desirable to the community.

“We’re working with visionary government officials, builders, and town planners to help them better understand people’s needs, so that they can revitalize communities by creating truly desirable places to live and work,” added Patnaik. “It’s a logical extension of the work we do with clients such as Nike, Sony, or Daimler Chrysler. We help clients get closer to their customers, and develop real empathy for them, so that they can create unique solutions for people that become defensible and sustainable paths for growth.”

Jump Associates specializes in helping companies identify new sources of growth. It is working with real estate developers to create highly desirable, highly valued communities. Using social research methods, proxemics, and proprietary methods like network analysis, Jump is helping developers move from development to revitalization, to engendering community, and to building work spaces that focus on enhancing productivity. This approach is valuable for any community seeking revitalization, from brown field spaces, to town centers damaged by natural disasters or to companies looking to increase top-line revenue.

“Effective community planning and design can have a lasting positive impact on our world; imagine work spaces that increase the productivity of people or homes that make kids smarter and actually reduce divorce rates,” Patnaik said. “It’s more than saving time, and reducing stress and pollution by minimizing commuting. It’s about revitalization and making work more livable and life more workable.”

At the Big Builder conference, Patnaik will be the keynote speaker of the Production Architects Luncheon, where he will discuss the principles behind emergent communities and how to brand and market them so that developers are welcomed into cities and towns.

About Jump Associates

Founded in 1998, Jump Associates specializes in discovering new opportunities for growth. We work with visionary business leaders to identify new markets, reinvent existing categories, and develop new sources of revenue. We then work to make that vision a reality — developing new opportunity maps, customer profiles, product and service concepts, market development roadmaps and channel strategies.

New opportunity development requires us to draw upon a variety of disciplines. We use social research techniques to reframe business problems in terms of what keeps ordinary folks in the world up at night. We use design methods to help companies connect with those people’s lives through compelling new products and services. And we use business planning techniques to create actionable roadmaps for sustaining success over time. Working hand in hand with some amazing clients, Jump has helped companies to dramatically increase their market share, deepen customer devotion and drive top-line revenue growth.