Great Editorials

Two great editorials on our just released report on Michigan’s progress to a knowledge-based economy. One from Derek Melot at the Lansing State Journal titled “Will Mich. gain passion for learning?”. The other from the Kalamazoo Gazette titled “A tale of cool cities and economic revitalization”. Two headlines that get to the essence of what our work […]

Paying Attention to Young Talent

Terrific articles on Sunday in both the Grand Rapids Press and the Kalamazoo Gazette on the importance of young professionals to economic growth. Worth reading! The Press’ article is part of their terrific Michigan 10.0 series. That the issue of retaining and attracting recent college graduates is now on their short list of agenda items […]

Worth Reading

We are releasing our annual report later this week. My plan is to use these posts for the next several weeks to highlight our findings. So rather than wait to write a complete post on each, here are some articles I think are worth reading. 1. David  Olive wrote a fascinating column for the Toronto Star […]

Transportation Drives Growth

Terrific article by Christopher Leinberger in this month’s Atlantic. It’s about the increased consumer demand – in both cities and suburbs – for walkable neighborhoods linked by train. The article and his book the Option of Urbanism are worth reading. Leinberger is best in describing the changing patterns of consumer demand for housing and neighborhoods. […]

Does Economic Development Work II

Good series of articles in the Free Press on the state’s 21st Century Jobs fund. Worth reading. The lead article by Katherine Yung is titiled Bold Experiment Produces Few Jobs. Which raises again the question “is this kind of economic development effective?”  We are skeptical. The fund was to be Michigan’s latest big effort to diversify […]

Lets Grow, Not Shrink, Detroit

Detroit needs a growth agenda. And the rest of us need to support it. There is a clear pattern across the country: the most prosperous states are either rich in energy resources or are anchored by an even more prosperous big metro with a vibrant central city. As I have written previously it’s Detroit that […]

Detroit’s Assets

We spend all of our time bashing the city of Detroit, we forget that it has assets to build from. Three of the most important are Wayne State University, the Henry Ford Health System and the Detroit Medical Center. Tom Walsh in a recent Free Press column calls them Detroit’s new big three. Likely the […]

The New White Flight?

Real interesting article at Yahoo.com about a new Brookings Institution study. Its title: White flight? Suburbs lose young whites to cities. That it’s even possible that whites are moving into, rather than out of, central cities will come as a huge shock to many – particularly here in Michigan. Where far too many of us believe central […]

Is Richard Florida Right?

Thought provoking article in the American Prospect about the work of Richard Florida. It is critical of him on a variety of fronts, but particularly his selling his ideas in speeches and consulting to many small to mid size cities and regions who he now has decided have little or no chance to retain and […]