With downtowns reviving, the next challenge for cities will be to turn around declining neighborhoods. The playbook hasn’t been written yet, but we know who will be its authors: the residents.
A Reservoir for Civic Progress
How can a community learn from its civic projects and build on them? Does it retain knowledge and build relationships, or does it watch good ideas make a splash and evaporate?
How a Leader Assembles a Winning Team
An important early step in the success of a great civic project is finding the right people to guide it. And for that, you have to know what it will take for the project to succeed.
What Smart Mayors Can Learn from the Turnaround of Central Park
The rescue of one of America’s greatest urban parks holds important lessons for local government officials everywhere about working with nonprofit partners, patience, and trading power for results.
How Communities Can Thrive in a Post-Newspaper World
How can local governments communicate if the only sources of information left are the social media? They have to create an army of informed and engaged citizens willing to speak up when others spread rumors and falsehoods.