Innovation

“Buffalo gentrification” is an oxymoron. It’s also real, close to the centers of talent production. We should pay more attention to this emerging economic geography hidden in the stereotypical Rust Belt.[read more]

the future of public transit?

With all-wheel drive and electric power, the Otobuxi can travel with quiet ease on narrow, residential streets. The vehicle can accommodate up to 12 passengers and does not require a driver.[read more]

investing in sustainability

The rise of so-called “green MBA” programs is a welcome addition to the business landscape. The “jobs vs. the environment” debate is over and it’s pretty clear that business, in general, is on board with sustainability.[read more]

empty valley?

Without immigration, Silicon Valley is dying. Migration is ephemeral, particularly international migration. Here today, gone tomorrow. Entire regional economies depend on the influx of talent.[read more]

solar-powered water pump

Can solar power help eradicate extreme poverty in the developing world? As we’ve shown a number of times, many social entrepreneurs think so, and are investing their time and money in a variety of technologies.[read more]

art meets infrastructure?

As a part of a midtown place-making project, the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission sent out a Call to Artists for four free-standing sculptures that could be used as public bike racks.[read more]

Braddock, outside Pittsburgh

When the numbers go down, the assumption is brain drain. The problem is lack of brain gain. But locals won’t hear of it despite the preponderance of data stating the contrary.[read more]

Rust Belt foodies

Talent leaving Chicago would skip over the Rust Belt and land in a coastal metro. Over the last decade, that pattern has changed as native daughters and sons returned home after cutting their teeth in a Big City.[read more]

bicycle innovation

Bicitec is a social venture that aims to ease labor-intensive jobs and provide profits for people from rural areas, by turning old bikes and recycled machine parts into new machines and selling them for an accessible price.[read more]

Indianapolis' cultural trail

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail is a significant project in and of itself, but it gains even more significance when considered in the larger scope of the transformation taking place in this Midwestern state capital.[read more]

 

a new urban planning model?

 

We in the modern world need not be bound to the primitive tools of the early surveyor, the primitive signal timings of the 1920s traffic engineer, or the primitive construction techniques of early carpenters.[read more]

The third coast

For a global city such as Chicago, brain drain isn’t an existential threat. What makes a city great are the outsiders who move there. Many people who are important look at a city as a place to try out new ideas.[read more]