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Memphis is a shrinking city. We’re not talking about the slight decrease in the raw population numbers since 2000. Rather, we’re talking about the practical impact of significant population losses in the traditional city – represented by the 1970 Memphis boundaries. It’s these areas whose neighborhoods need to be healthy and whose success is crucial [...]

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My next few blog posts will focus on a corporation that single-handedly transformed an entire region suffering from economic depression. The story behind this corporation celebrates the magnificent achievement of the human spirit seen in one man’s courage to rescue a community from the economic ruin brought on by a civil war. However, first allow me [...]

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Many political leaders and grass roots organizations in Memphis today are advocating “smart growt,” “sustainable development,” and something called “new urbanism” as an answer to the ills of “urban sprawl,” which robs the core city of its vitality and extends costly urban services over low density settlements (can you say unfair tax?). Some people say [...]

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Sometimes it seems almost impossible to overstate our city’s ability to tap into its rich vein of unworthiness to produce public policy that’s the civic equivalent of fool’s gold. As a result, we often end up trying to select from a group of bad options or the familiar feeling that we have been painted into [...]

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Pittsburgh is the nation’s surprising comeback city.  From its industrial past, Pittsburgh has become a city of Eds and Meds, with an unexpected focus on the environment.  My guests today are part of the green transformation underway in Pittsburgh. Scott Bricker runs  Bike Pittsburgh,  an organization committed to making Pittsburgh’s streets increasingly safe and accessible [...]

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Normally, for a billion dollar economic opportunity, Memphis will do just about anything. For a lot less, we gave The Pyramid to Sidney Shlenker on little more than a promise and a few architectural rendering. That house of cards collapsed in bankruptcy with $16 million in debts. A few years earlier, we believed that we [...]

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Whenever I talk about good food in Memphis, I am frequently met with surprise—from natives and visitors alike. There’s plenty of great food here (and I’m not talking about barbecue right now), but it’s a “use it or lose it” situation. There are plenty of other good things in Memphis too and the adage applies [...]

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 The importance of increasing the college attainment was on the marquee at FedEx Institute of Technology tonight and the stars turned out to put it front and center on the city’s agenda.\ Last night, Leadership Memphis announced that the 30-year-old organization has set increasing college attainment as its priority.  It was an especially gratifying evening [...]

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When I went to planning school in preparation for a mid-life career change, I assiduously avoided anything having to do with transportation planning.  Sure, I understood the connection between new road construction and urban sprawl, but the subject seemed designed for engineers whose idea of fun was debating different traffic forecasting methodologies or figuring out [...]

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Our colleague Carol Coletta, president/CEO of CEOs for Cities in Chicago, will speak Wednesday about “What Makes Cities Successful – Talent and More” at FedEx Institute of Technology at University of Memphis during an important event sponsored by Leadership Memphis. As you know if you are just a casual reader of this blog, we are [...]

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In April 2008, Green for All hosted the Green Jobs Conference in Memphis, thus helping to cement Memphis’ future in taking a critical look at what green jobs means to our economy. A loose definition of green jobs is that they are quality jobs that can adequately support families and also help to improve the [...]

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 Perhaps what local government needs most is a Department of Connecting the Dots. While one public agency talks about creating a workforce that can compete in the knowledge economy, another gives tax freezes to companies that perpetuate low-wage, low-skill jobs. While one government launches a “sustainability agenda,” no government seems able to rein in sprawl-inducing [...]

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Recently, INNOVA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, was selected for TNInvestco Status, granting the organization $20 Million in credit allocations from the State of Tennessee*.  In the current economic climate, this ground-breaking program provides vital stimulus funding to help jump-start the Memphis and Mid-South economy and to create transformational new companies and [...]

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Outside Memphis, all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. Out in God’s country, people have higher educational attainment, higher incomes and little poverty. So, what in the heck happens to all these superior people when they enter the voting booth? Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman.  [...]

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First, I would like to thank Smart City, Carol, Tom, and everyone for allowing me to post on Smart City’s site.  Smart City is a don’t miss part of my reading every day.  I hope that I can contribute event just a bit to the creative thinking that Tom has helped to stimulate throughout and [...]

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Memphis …  one hot city. And I don’t just mean the heat. Memphis has long been known for it’s incredible restaurants and talented chefs. If you live here, you know these local jewels and will likely agree how food-fortunate Memphians are. I’m proud to call Memphis my home. I’m proud of the local talent in [...]

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Portland State University is in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon.  It flanks the city’s gracious park blocks, is the terminus for the city’s street car line, and is taking a  leading role in Portland’s sustainability and economic development success.  We’re talking with PSU President Wim Wiewel on his partnership with Mayor Sam Adams and [...]

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This post was published in November as Memphis magazine’s monthly City Journal column by Tom Jones. It’s a familiar day for Shelby County Sheriff Mark Luttrell. In the early morning hours of a sunny weekday, the county’s leading Republican is the only Caucasian in a church meeting with an African-American congregation. Across racial and political [...]

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In many ways, cities are like corporations attempting to win customers and capital (residents and businesses) away from others. And, like corporations, cities attempt to improve their position by learning from the success of their competitors and by building on their own unique assets. These two types of strategies don’t always go hand in hand [...]

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There are few subjects on which Memphis Mayor A C Wharton is more passionate than our city’s narrative. He recognizes its power as more than a marketing tool, but as the thread that holds together the fabric of One Memphis and binds all of us together in common purpose. For a couple of years, he’s [...]

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The budget hearings taking place in Nashville this week make it all too clear that times are tough in Tennessee, and the decisions that state government is being forced to make will be both difficult and painful. Our hope is that these decisions are not disastrous. So far, pre-kindergarten, one of the best reasons to [...]

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