Author: Smart City Memphis

Cities are like elephants. They get more economical with size. That’s the conclusion of Dr. Geoffrey West, president of the Santa Fe Institute. Together with ecologist Jim Brown of the University of New Mexico, he is...

In light of today’s lively discussion, here’s the link to the Shelby County Schools’ high school attendance zones.

U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald was wrong in her ruling about Shelby County Schools.She criticized the county school district for not taking race into consideration when it created its school attendance zones.The truth is:...

Little more than a week ago, we wrote about the hardening attitude of state government about the 17 high-priority schools in Memphis City Schools and prospects for some dramatic action by the governor.In response to the post, we...

Memphis never seems to have so little energy that it isn’t willing to fight an old battle one more time.The current archetype for this tendency is taking place at the National Civil Rights Museum, where, 16 years after being...

Exploring what it means to be a Creative City has been a regular topic on Smart City. This week we’ll visit with Lynda Dorrington who is leading her own creative city movement in Perth, an isolated city on the west coast...

In pursuing that elusive quality – vibrancy – that regularly seems at the heart of successful cities, Memphis, like many mid-sized cities, searches often for the magic of big projects and major public investments.The irony is...

Art Wolff is a pain in the neck.As he once put it, he set out to be one and he’s gotten awfully good at it.For almost 35 years, he has upbraided mayors, disabused city and county engineers of any notion that they are godlike and...

We’re guest blogging this week on CEOs For Cities’ blog and putting the posts here as well:Memphis Tourism Foundation is launching its first website in a few days and along with it, a new approach to improving the...

We’re guest blogging this week on CEOs For Cities’ blog and putting the posts here as well:Dr. Aaron Shafer represents the talent that so many cities are concentrated on attracting, but for now, Memphis has him.He’s...