Author: Smart City Memphis

As a general rule, governments and public agencies do relatively poor jobs of communicating. Unfortunately, that’s especially true for Memphis City Schools, and it’s regrettable, because if there’s any public entity who needs to...

Every one with Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools put on a happy face last week as they emerged from a meeting about an agreement for handling the students in the area to be annexed by Memphis, but the chances of...

Imagine a Learning City where everything – literally everything – is turned into an opportunity to teach something new and all day, everyday is considered a teachable moment.Kevin Crowley is director of the...

The announcement by Metrotimes’ cultural editor that she was leaving Detroit shocked some people there, but here, it feels unsettling, because all of us know someone who has said something like this. The question is: what...

It’s official. Memphis is weird.For those of us who decided to spend our lives here, that’s one of the things we like most about this place, but a recent report by Chicago-based CEOs For Cities (headed up by Memphian and founder...

It’s that special time of the year when we celebrate the past and commemorate important things in our lives. In that vein, it’s time to pause and observe the first anniversary of an important event in our community’s life –...

Cities have always been hotbeds of innovation. This week, our guests offer perspectives on innovation both from the past and the future.Steel Cities were once the very embodiment of innovation. Dr. Kenneth Thompson, associate...

Clearly, what Memphis needs is more gays and lesbians.At least that’s what we concluded from a recent report that put Memphis near the bottom of the nation’s largest 50 cities in a ranking of single sex couples and gay, lesbian...

It’s always a good day when our work leads to an article on page one of the New York Times, as it did Saturday, when it was reported that Atlanta was launching a new campaign to attract the “Young and Restless.”Basing its...

Memphis was a star of the Progressive Era a century ago, building a national reputation for parks, parkways and city beautiful programs that ushered in an era of economic growth.History does indeed repeat itself, but normally,...