The Mondragon Model
Our friend Aaron Shafer is one of Memphis’s most imaginative thinkers, and lately, he’s thought a lot about how the Mondragon model could be applied to our city. It is a provocative idea and its applicationsin...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 22, 2009
Our friend Aaron Shafer is one of Memphis’s most imaginative thinkers, and lately, he’s thought a lot about how the Mondragon model could be applied to our city. It is a provocative idea and its applicationsin...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
This week on Smart City, we’re talking about big ideas and big change. First we’ll talk with Tim Brown, CEO of the design firm IDEO. His new book, Change By Design, shows how the techniques and strategies of design...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
Thankfully, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park maintain their vigilance over City of Memphis Engineering’s plans that promise change and deliver more bad ideas for its detention basin in the midst of our city’s most...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 17, 2009 | Economic Development
To continue with yesterday’s theme of human capital and entrepreneurship, we’ll follow up with some comments made to Leadership Memphis last week by Portland economist Joe Cortright. “What you tend to see in economic development...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 17, 2009
The following are the recent Memphis and Shelby County Industrial Board’s tax waivers and the companies’ revenues: Smith & Nephew: Taxes Waived – $6.2 million over 15 years Annual Revenues – $3.8 billion...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 16, 2009 | Economic Development
It’s not tax incentives. It’s not 50-priority plans. It’s not massive infrastructure investments. It’s not recruitment strategies for big businesses. In the end, economic success is only about one thing – human capital. It...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
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 –...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 13, 2009 | Economic Development
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...
Read MorePosted by Smart City Memphis | Dec 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
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...
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by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis. Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, City Journal columnist at Memphis magazine, author of two books and a museum exhibition, and consultant on public policy and strategic planning. He has written articles for MLK50, The Commercial Appeal, and USA Today. The blog was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal said it “provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solve the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas.” If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.