New research by MDRC shows that students who graduate from career academy high schools had significantly higher employment and earnings (11%)  than similar students eight years later.  The difference, researchers believe, may be the fact that students see what real work is like and build a network of… more

Here's one of the happiest, most exuberant videos on the web.  Where is Matt?  Everywhere.

"Today's policy makers should be aiming to intervene early, when neighborhoods first start to fray, Philadelphia housing chief Carl Greene says. 'If you don't intervene when vacancies start to pop up, then the whole block becomes unstable," he says. "It becomes a safe haven for antisocial conduct.'"

How tough is… more

Saturday, I attended a press conference with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley at the city's Riverwalk. Although he was there to recognize the new Riverwalk vendors and the artists selected for a major temporary exhibition, the media, of course, asked him not a single question on topic. Instead, they quizzed him… more

If you are not getting CEOs for Cities latest blog feeds on our site or on a blog aggregator, such as NetVibes, there are two actions you need to take.

If your site is not updating, clear your cache. That will clear the problem immediately, and you will not experience… more

Last night, I shared the stage with the very impressive Keith Parker, who heads the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), at Wake Up Wake County's forum on transit. A committed group of volunteers in Raleigh, North Carolina, whipped up 300+ citizens to attend an evening forum on transit plans… more

Today's New York Times points to further evidence of the waning appeal of exurban living in the age of $4 per gallon gas in Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise.

CEOs for Cities Senior Advisor Joe Cortright was quoted in the piece and the CEOs for Cities'… more

I agree with Business Week's Bruce Nussbaum's assessment of John McCain's announcement of a $300 million contest for a better car battery.  Nussbaum lauds the idea and writes, "There are many ways to incentivize innovation. VC money. Government money. Corporate R&D. Labs (government and private). Serious prize money and… more

Here's how the New York Times describe the Carnegie Hall concert of Joao Gilberto: "...it is also very clearly an urban music, working its subtleties within confined spaces and rigid limitations, like an apartment dweller intent on not disturing neighbors."

A heavy two weeks of meetings with urban leaders in cities across the country left me with several thoughts:

Urban leaders are scrambling to figure out how to respond to high gas prices, and transit is a priority for mayors everywhere. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has made… more

Senator Barack Obama just finished his speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami. Here is some of what he said:

"Change comes from the bottom up. As a community organizer, we were focused on the place that could do the most and the fastest to make a… more

Lots of great ideas in this New York Times Magazine article about the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV. From "mini-neighborhoods" and "vertical suburbias" to growing "tomatoes 10 kilometers high" this group is making sure that cities are "not just habitable, but preferable."

Interesting front page story in Wall Street Journal Friday asserts that the rising costs of shipping will force some manufacturers to bring production back to North America. The cost of shipping a standard, 40-foot container from Asia to the East Coast has tripled since 2000 and will double again as… more

More than 60 million Americans volunteered between September 06-September 07, and they spent a median of 52 hours volunteering. Most likely to volunteer are women (29 percent vs. 23 percent) and those 35-54 years old. The rate of volunteering now stands at 26.2 percent, down almost 3 percentage points from… more

While some Chicagoans continue to protest the name change from Marshall Field's to Macy's at the city's landmark department store , I am learning to love it. See, I live across the street at State and Randolph.

Now, I know that the very idea of a department store seems quaint.… more

The GreenHouse Project is one example of an emerging initiative combining the use of public space both to engage the community, through an urban park, and leverage local participation in applying urban solutions. The project is taking a more integrated and homegrown approach to tackling health, sustainability and waste management.… more

Seems like in every city I visit, someone utters the words "Live-Work-Play" as their development strategy. I would like to suggest one important addition: "Walk." If a development is not walkable, if people have to drive short distances from one destination to another, then it will miss vibrancy.

And while… more

Wonderful New York Times article here written from the perspective of an urban parent of two on a playground tour of New York City. The author does a fantastic job of weaving her own history, the benefits of the city for herself and for her children, and how the… more

Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future speaking at the Climate Change Festival, emphasizes that a "low-carbon revolution" needs the active and enthusiastic support of more "carbon-literate citizens". So how do we educate people to a degree that engages general citizen participation in finding solutions and in a… more

I just shared a panel at The Chronicle on Higher Education's Executive Leadership Forum with two CEOs for Cities members, VCU President Dr. Gene Trani and U of Akron President Luis Proenza. I always learn so much from both of them.

Dr. Trani admonished our audience of top… more

Attending the Chronicle on Higher Education Executive Leadership Forum in D.C. today, I had a chance to hear Dan Pink again. Dan is the phenom who wrote A Whole New Mind, and he is always an engaging speaker.

There is a metaphor for what’s going on in global economy, Dan… more

You gotta see it. Totally cool.

The Atlantic Monthly has a disturbing story that asks why a new and unexpected pattern of crime is emerging in America.

While crime rates in large cities stayed flat, homicide rates in many midsize cities (those with populations of 500,000-1 million) began increasing, sometimes as much as 20… more

Chicago got the word yesterday that it was among four finalist cities to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. (The others are Tokyo, Madrid and Rio.) But Chicago also learned that it has much to correct if it hopes to land the games. In particular, technical evaluations by an IOC working… more

From Center for an Urban Future comes a new monograph on the need for kitchen incubators in NYC. Recipe for Growth: Kitchen incubators are helping NYC food entrepreneurs grow their business, but more are needed

Writer Mark Foggin urges city economic development officials to support the creation of additional… more

In Cleveland Ned Hill of Cleveland State University and Dan Cuffaro of the Cleveland Institute of Art have set their sights on a stronger economy, increased innovation and a re-positioning of the region by fostering a design culture. These efforts are embodied in the developing District of Design, which will… more

Trend hunter (and good colleague) Wakako Takagi has some gorgeous photos of street drainage infrastructure (yes, you read that right -- street drainage) on her blog, ToyBox.

We are beginning to hear a lot about green infrastructure. But can't it also be beautiful? This certainly is.