Interesting commentary here by Bob Yaro, as published by the Center for and Urban Future.  Mr. Yaro suggests that in order for the U.S. to compete with China's fast growing economy, it will have to take a more aggressive approach to building the urban infrastructure supporting it's mega-regions.  China is already beginning to invest heavily in things like high-speed rail and improvements in air and water quality.  The EU, Japan, Korea and China are all planning at the mega-region level with global competitiveness as goal, so the U.S. would be wise to do the same.

Once home to Wal-Mart in Wisconsin Rapids, a 120,000-square-foot big-box retail shell is now home to the Centralia Center for Senior Citizens.  The town has revived and reinvented this empty space that threatened to leave a hole in the middle of their community and the neighboring shopping area.

As this USA Today article suggests, “America’s big-box experience is entering a new phase”, with this same problem becoming a growing concern for many urban areas across the U.S. The need to reuse the empty spaces left behind as large-scale retail moves on or goes under and re-enliven activity centers is driving creative solutions, with some turning these “hubs of capitalism into centers of civic life”.

As Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Carson says: "Local officials today have to be problem-solvers to survive. It might help local public officials to think as far out of the box as they can."  

That will be an important sign of whether bus rapid transit, the value-priced alternative to light rail, actually works, according to Alan Hoffman, a San Diego-based transit consultant.  It may not be politically correct to say so out loud, he said , "but it's what I call the 'AYF Factor.' Attractive young females are the canary in the coal mine of public transit. They're sensitive to safety, and they want to be in a nice spot. If you draw them in, you are reaching a broad market. A whole lot of transit systems, when you look around, you notice certain populations are missing."

Reporting for the Star-Tribune, David Peterson writes,  "Buses can be as successful as -- in fact more successful than -- trains. But only if planners understand why they tend to be seen as the poor relation to rail, and take a series of steps to make sure they do for people what rail does."

Public officials will need to think like brand managers for a corporation. They will need to create an image of stylishness that goes from the buses and stations themselves down to the last detail. They will need to shave every possible second off a commuter's trip.

Watch today for the relaunch of Barack Obama's "urban agenda," documented in a 32-page blueprint. According to today's Wall Street Journal, the plan features an increase in the minimum hourly wage, a new White House office focused on metropolitan areas and $60 billion to establish a national bank to finance public-works projects.

Get highlights here.

The working age population of 18-64 is expected to drop from 63% of the population in 2008 to 57% by 2050.  That working population will be 55% minority in 2050, according to census estimates, a 21 percentage point increase from 2008.  More than 30% of the working-age population will be Hispanic by then.

What does that mean to cities?  If you are not developing all of your human capital to its fullest potential, you will be in trouble.  If you are not attracting new talent, you will be in trouble.  And if you do not find a way to extend the working age beyond 64, you will be in trouble.

A photo in the Thursday edition of The Chicago Tribune caught my eye.  The character Mr. Monopoly was standing on a large version of the game board for Monopoly Here & Now:  The World Edition.  Cities visible in the photo include New York, Sydney, London, Beijing, Vancouver, Shanghai and Hong Kong. 

If you live in Des Moines or any number of other mid-size U.S. cities, what are you supposed to think of it?  How threatened should you feel?  Can a city like Des Moines be important in the global economy?  What is its role?  How does it attract talent -- or can it?  How does it develop competitive advantage? How big is its playing field?

These questions are only growing more challenging for mid-size cities.

At predictable intervals, the press promotes the "new trend" of hordes of women leaving the workforce to raise their children.  The problem is it's just not true. 

Sixty percent of all women who have children work. 

A new Census Bureau report finds that women are waiting longer to have children and more women are choosing not to have children at all.  Twenty percent of women 40-44 have no children, double the number of 30 years ago.  And women in that age bracket who do have children have fewer than ever -- 1.9 compared with 3.1 in 1976.  The more educated women are, the less likely they are to have children. Hispanic women are bucking the trend, but the longer they are in the U.S., the more likely they are to have fewer children.

Making assumptions about women is more dangerous than ever.

The Chicago Public Library is on pace for a record number of items in circulation this year, thanks to soaring food and gas prices.  In July, CPL saw a 28% rise in the number of items "out."  Can we expect to see further consolidations and closings of big format bookstores?  I was in Border's yesterday (as I am almost every day), and it's hard to understand the business model of the Borders cafe jammed with people drinking one cup of specialty coffee and reading unpurchased books and magazines as if they were at a library.

A nice film on how bike sharing works in DC can be found here.  Portland, Oregon, is considering its own program, as is Chicago and a number of Southern California communities.  The biggest hurdles seem to be liability, resistence to more advertising on the streets (the way most communities are considering paying for their bike sharing systems), and the fact that some cities (Chicago) have already sold sidewalk advertising rights and are using that income for other purposes.

Newly hired president of Portland State University Wim Wiewel will join the throngs of downtown bike commuters tomorrow when he reports for his first day on the job. Wiewel will join Commissioner (and Mayor-elect) Sam Adams on the ride and a small reception will follow in the South Park Blocks.

Wiewel hails from the bike mecca of Amsterdam and his office says he is doing the ride in part to “promote and emphasize the alternative transportation research goes on here at PSU.”

More than half of PSU students, faculty, and staff ride their bikes, walk, or take alternative transportation to campus.  That is made easier by the fact that PSU is in the heart of Portland's thriving downtown.